Southern California Opinion - Lower Desert tonight or Upper?

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TC Reptile
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Southern California Opinion - Lower Desert tonight or Upper?

Post by TC Reptile »

Howdy Folks....New Member here but long time herper\breeder\field observer and collector. Very cool forum here.

I'm TORN as to where to go tonight.....My heart wants to go to spot out passed Palm Springs but my head says go Upper desert. As you all know the weather has been strange in SoCal this year and cooler than usual. About 3 weeks ago I caught a beauty of a Rosy Boa in this spot and saw a nice Speck and Leafnose.....went back last week and found nothing on a good temp night but 1/2 moon.

Tonight there is virtually no moon and daytime temps will get to about 100....only getting down to 77 at night.....my thought is that it may be too hot and too late to do well in the Lower Desert.

High Desert will hit 97 and cool off much quicker....

I can do either....let me hear your opinions.....it is probably the last chance for me for Lower Desert this year but I'll hit the Upper a few more times.

Thanks in advance for your opinions!

Peace, TC
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monklet
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Re: Southern California Opinion - Lower Desert tonight or Up

Post by monklet »

Just go where I don't and you should find a lot...everyone else does ;)

btw, best not to mention specific localities such as that road. In fact I think the forum rules prohibit that. I suggest you edit your post asap to remove the road name and use a more general reference. I know, it sucks but there's good reason for that.
TC Reptile
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Re: Southern California Opinion - Lower Desert tonight or Up

Post by TC Reptile »

Thanks Monklet....Edited appropriately and you are right.....I just thought everybody knew of that spot....well....come to think of it.....EVERYBODY knows another spot....but MOST know this one too hahaha.

OK - Opinions wanted....I have my spots.....but is a LOW temp of 79 and Road Cruising temps in the mid 80's all night TOO hot to find herps? My experience has been when it's this hot herps won't come out until 2-3am? It's typically a late date in June to be hunting low desert but it's been unseasonably cold up until the last couple weeks.

Peace, TC
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monklet
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Re: Southern California Opinion - Lower Desert tonight or Up

Post by monklet »

TC Reptile wrote:EVERYBODY knows another spot....but MOST know this one too hahaha.
No doubt, but might as well start out right - and in case you didn't catch it - the whole forum got puffed recently and so all the old posts are gone, so it's basically a fresh start for the forum too.

I'm going to the upper desert tonight myself for a quick overnighter. Temps look good there to me - SO, point being, you'll probably want to do the opposite ;)

btw, welcome to the forum :)
craigb
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Post by craigb »

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TC Reptile
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Re: Southern California Opinion - Lower Desert tonight or Up

Post by TC Reptile »

Monklet thanks for the Welcome.....sorry to see the recent server issues you guys have had.

Graig....congrats on the Trifecta! Mind if I ask if those were found in the Lower Desert or Upper?

What were the temps?

I went Upper last Monday and we didn't see anything until AFTER 10pm....2 Shovelnose, 1 Glossy, 1 Gopher, and 2 Mojave Greens (Scutalus)
billboard
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Re: Southern California Opinion - Lower Desert tonight or Up

Post by billboard »

Do both; that's what I do. It's pretty basic............start high, work it down.

Have fun.

I wish I would have looked sooner, I could use a new spot!
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Post by craigb »

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Fundad
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Re: Southern California Opinion - Lower Desert tonight or Up

Post by Fundad »

I would do one, but not the other, but thats just me.. I know what I would choose..

But its truly impossible to answer your question completely without knowing your target species..

What ever you choose, take notes of the weather, and that will help for next time..

Good Luck
Fundad
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Geo66
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Re: Southern California Opinion - Lower Desert tonight or Up

Post by Geo66 »

Upper desert. Some places in Riverside county been having roads torn up and new asphalt put in. I went out last weekend, dropped wife off at the casino and went east, perfect weather for low desert with 90 the high, only to find the road had been repaved with new black asphalt, smelled real bad too and usually see 6-9 speckleds a night, only saw 1 and it was off the road...
TC Reptile
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Re: Southern California Opinion - Lower Desert tonight or Up

Post by TC Reptile »

Thanks for the replies....mostly Rosy Boas is what I'm looking for....found 2 this year....but nice Kings and the "6' PLUS" Desert or Basin Gopher I never seem to find but all my non herp friends do haha

Bill....you know the spot....it's actually a popular Rosy locality....no...not the MOST popular one....but close haha...just a longer drive for me.

Fact is I don't have any great Rosy spots in the Upper Desert....because I just never had much success with them there to have a spot to go back to.

Anyway.....looks like I'm going Upper...gonna hit an old spot where I used to find Black and White Cal Kings with 55+ Band Counts with one as high as 67 once...

Good luck to all tonight and this week....should be fairly productive out there...good temps and no moon.

Peace, TC
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Fundad
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Re: Southern California Opinion - Lower Desert tonight or Up

Post by Fundad »

Good Luck..
gonna hit an old spot where I used to find Black and White Cal Kings with 55+ Band Counts with one as high as 67 once...
55 bands would be a record, and 67 would shatter the current record by 19.. Please take pictures if you find one, and we'll get your king
find noted.. :thumb:

Fundad
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Geo66
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Re: Southern California Opinion - Lower Desert tonight or Up

Post by Geo66 »

Good luck.

I'd love to see a King with that high band count too. I've seen a 44 band count Head to Vent on one from Nevada before.

I am actually going to San Gabes in a little bit, after a DR appt, need to find a male king for a black and yellow female I found last year...
TC Reptile
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Re: Southern California Opinion - Lower Desert tonight or Up

Post by TC Reptile »

Fundad....will do...and whoops....just looked at my old notebook from 1983....(ok STOP laughing at the old man will ya!) and it was 57 and 63 band count. 2 triad bands noted on each both males. Cannot be sure that I didn't count bands past the vent in my youth...but i'll hope to find something out there representative of those two tonight.

Good thing is....I don't think anybody else really herps there much....got the spot from an old motorcycle nut about 30 years ago that used to live in the Palmdale Lancaster area and went out riding to collect....happily enough it still isn't too populated and has good habitat that, much to my joy last week looked to be un bulldozed on the sides so far this year. Normally they clear the roads way too far back from asphalt to brush out there.

Ok - Better get going....I'll post my results.

Peace, TC
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