New Mexico herpers invading SoCal

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herpseeker1978
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:05 am
Location: Albuquerque

New Mexico herpers invading SoCal

Post by herpseeker1978 »

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My name is Josh Emms, we live in Albuquerque and have been herping pretty much since we got married 7 years ago. I am an officer in the Rocky Mountain Chapter and am also the newsletter editor and webmaster for the New Mexico Herpetological Society. http://nmherpsociety.org/ Here is one of my recent posts: http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... =2&t=21192 Here are my contributions to the HERP database: http://www.naherp.com/search.php?r_owne ... &r_county=

We are coming out next week! We will be taking our 3-year old daughter to Disneyland for her first time. We have never herped in Cali, so we are really looking forward to it! I've talked with Todd Battey a little about what to do, we took him out herping here in NM last summer. We were thinking of herping somewhere around Victorville on our way down on Wednesday (April 15). Thursday and Friday will be Disney. We want to herp all day Saturday. We are willing to drive a couple hours if we need to. The only herps I have seen in Cali are fence lizards, side-blotched lizards and a desert spiny lizard. I am excited to expand that. I have seen Cal Kings in AZ and CO, so it would be cool to see one in CA. Basically we want to go where it would be most productive. So, here are my questions:

1. Does anyone want to get out and herp with us on Saturday, the 18th? We love meeting other herpers.

2. Any tips on what habitats would be good? We want to go where we can be the most productive with the weather conditions.

3. Are Med Geckos found easily in the Anaheim/Buena Park area? I just want to know if it is even worth it to look for them around our motel.

4. Any chance of finding Alligator Lizards in open space around Orange County?

5. Would road cruising be worht trying this time of year? It still seems kind of cool at night.

6. Any other suggestions?

Please do not post specific areas here in this thread, if you want to, you can pm them to me, but I understand how protective over spots people can get and for good reason. That is why I am only asking for some tips.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Josh
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jonathan
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Re: New Mexico herpers invading SoCal

Post by jonathan »

Dang it Josh, I'd totally want to do it if I wasn't already committed on the 18th.

Our recent National Meeting had road cruising success in the lower desert, and some early-night success a little higher up, especially around dusk. It was a little cool at the higher elevations, but as long as temperatures are in the 65-75 range there should be some activity.

At this point in the year board flipping is going to be minimally effective unless the locale still has moisture for some reason. There still can be some stuff found in the rocks though, especially crotes, gophers, and whipsnakes out on the crawl, and of course all sorts of diurnal lizards are out and about in the rocks and sand both. And any place with a water source is going to still have a chance to produce herps.
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Fieldnotes
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Re: New Mexico herpers invading SoCal

Post by Fieldnotes »

California is use to invaders from Mexico, welcome. If you get a driver's license you get free car insurance too, courtesy of taxpayers.

I'm pretty sure Palm Springs is heating up into the 90's F now. Roadcrusing might produce in that area. I've been seeing active gators off-and-on now since February in the Santa Ana Mtns. Find a trash site that is in an remote area, flip, and you might find some.
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Fundad
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Re: New Mexico herpers invading SoCal

Post by Fundad »

I sent a PM Josh.
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Joseph S.
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Re: New Mexico herpers invading SoCal

Post by Joseph S. »

I bet alligator lizards live in disneyland proper. Some of the creeks in oc should produce them...scout googlemaps to find ones w good access and vegetation
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Helleri
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Location: Boulder Creek, CA

Re: New Mexico herpers invading SoCal

Post by Helleri »

Disneyland is not nearly as good as it used to be. Swiss family Robinson tree house is gone. Sub-marine ride is gone. they re-made pirates of the Caribbean to look like the movies. And I think they closed splash mountain, space mountain, and it's a small world rides (they were shut down last I was there any way).
hellihooks
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Re: New Mexico herpers invading SoCal

Post by hellihooks »

Dude...sorry I didn't see this eariler... you could have stayed at deep creek for a night, and got your Arroyo Toad (guessing that'd be a lifer)

Tomorrow morning I'm leading a Herp Walk at Deep Creek for our local field herping group..... uh yeah... just talked to Phil and figured out you're gonna be there... :crazyeyes: Cool... invite to stay the night (well appointed 2 bed 2/bath mobile) still stands... though we're having our big end of the (bird) season Hunt/Bbq starting bright n early Sun Morning... so gotta vacate pretty early Sun Morn... :?

See ya tomorrow... 18950 N Hgh 173 SB, Ca (not sure on zip out there) call me if you need more directions (760) 694-1169 jim
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