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michael-ray — C. o. annulata
Published: 2010-06-16 19:47:17 +0000 UTC; Views: 1986; Favourites: 67; Downloads: 59
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Description
Chionactis occipitalis annulata - Colorado Desert shovelnosed snake from San Diego County, California.I'm a huge fan of small, fossorial snakes. I found this girl in eastern San Diego County a few nights ago.
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Comments: 41
Oh my goodness! This is such a beautiful little snake! I wonder why I haven't heard of it before. O_O
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Well, they're only found in a couple states in the desert habitats of the SW. California and Arizona mostly, and they're almost 100% fossorial, and a not very studied species, plus a species that's rarely, if ever, offered in captivity. Haha
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Amazing! 
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Kind of, yep! One major difference between the two is diet though. Shovelnose snakes eat mostly centipedes, spiders, scorpions, etc, where as scarlets feed almost exclusively on reptile eggs.
I have found one scarlet so far, in NW Arkansas. It's in my gallery somewhere I think.
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Fascinating!
I'll have to go looking for that one soon. I'm really enamored with scarlet snakes.
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The best way to find shovelnose is to roadcruise them on warm nights with little to no moon. Just about any roads through desert habitat in southern California and western Arizona will turn them up.
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If I ever travel out west again, I'm going to have to give that a try!
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They're definitely awesome snakes.
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I can't seem to find much in-depth info on them; what do they eat?
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Invertebrates. Mostly centipedes, however they've been known to eat spiders, small scorpions, etc.
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Cool. But definitely a reason to NOT try finding one for sale.
Centipedes creep me out...
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I've only seen them for sale once, and they were being sold as wild caught for wayyy too much money. They don't make the best captives anyhow. They spend almost all their time burrowed under sand, and are rarely out. The only time we find them is when they're bolting across a road because it's blocking the same way they'd be going through the sand. They also stress easily when they're out. You don't have to feed them centipedes though, they do perfectly fine on a diet of roaches, small crickets, etc.
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Hmm, if they'll eat roaches/crickets and such I might have to keep my eyes open in case I see one for sale. Gotta admit that I'd rather grab my own if I lived in their zone, considering how stressed a lot of the stuff for sale is in general.
I'm one of those weirdos who likes some of the "difficult" stuff.
I've done well with a brown snake I caught (learned how to breed slugs in the process) and had a tiny pair of chorus frogs make it nearly three years after a guy at the local pet store handed them to me in amplexus in a cup of dirty water: "here, have some frogs", had a rescued adult Gray's Treefrog make it 5 years after the day I carried him home in a water bottle from the middle of a hot parking lot.(I figure he fell out of a pick-up truck or something.)
I currently have a tiger salamander I rarely see, and an adult European Fire Salamander I've had for over two years. So stuff that stresses easily is no problem.
Centipedes, scorpions or spiders would be the deal breaker.
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Nice! Yeah, they can be really common within their range, so they're not rare or anything.
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I eventually want to get a chance to do some herping out west, so I'll just have to remember to bring an extra take-home-box for some of these beauties.
It would be awesome to get a captive breeding program going to provide for those of us who don't mind a challenge.
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You're only legally allowed to collect two from California and I think the same for Arizona, so definitely make sure you get a pair. haha
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Hmm, does their range extend into Nevada or New Mexico?
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Nevada, yes, New Mexico, I don't believe so. They're in Arizona, though. There are 4 or 5 subspecies within the US, at least one being protected in Arizona.
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Hmm, so that brings it up to 3 pairs if I really wanted to work at it, which is just enough for a captive breeding program.
Now if I could just find more info on them!
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Good luck. Feel free to ask me if you have any more questions.
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They're fun to find but a pain to shoot.
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I mean it! I love his markings, and he's got a cute face! Almost looks like he's smiling. haha.
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Who isn't a fan of small, fossorial snakes?
The color pattern is really neat on this guy. Great shot! Looks like you had your camera pretty much on the ground.
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Yeah, as you can tell from my DevID and avatar, I'm often found laying in the dirt or mud to get the shots I want. hha
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What pretty colouring! Such a nice snake, and another great photo.
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