Looking for Snakes in Northern California ( Part I ) 

I practice not getting bitten by any snakes that I handle regardless of the species. This later becomes helpful when handling non-lethal venomous snakes (Malpolon, Oxybelis, Trimorphodon, etc.) because a lot of them are pretty sketchy. Meanwhile, with centipedes across the world, it’s easy to know what you’re in for.

@@GeneralApathy, I grew up in Monterey, catching gopher snakes, California kingsnakes, striped racers, yellow-bellied racers, garter snakes, ringnecks, sharptails, etc... I've been bitten by gopher snakes, garter snakes, and racers innumerable times. I've never had a sharptail, ringneck, or kingsnake even attempt to bite me. I guess if you travel to other parts of the world where you have snakes that are somewhere in between harmless and deadly, or just venomous enough to cause some kind of reaction, it makes sense to learn to avoid snakebite, even by the ones you know are harmless, but for me trying to avoid being bitten would have meant modifying my behavior in a way that doesn't really help me engage with the animal. I mean, letting them bite me, when it's not easily avoided, is my way of telling the snakes, "It doesn't affect me so chill out -- I'm not a threat anyway." As for centipedes and arthropods generally, they've always struck me as creepy and potentially venomous, so I generally avoid interacting with them. I just notice them, and look at them briefly. That's about it.

​@@GeneralApathyAre there any centipedes outside of East Asia with medically significant venom? 🤔 (Like could hospitalize/be fatal to someone) Also why did you say you _have to_ pick up any centipedes under the rocks you flipped? It seemed they were mostly buried/partially buried i.e. if you just rolled the rocks on their side without moving them and _gently_ rolled them exactly back in place, then there shouldn't be any risk of smooshing the centipedes 🤔

@@Darhan62 Good points. The Ringneck is venomous but oh so slight. Not harmful to humans. Not sure how that small mouth to bite a human anyway.

Just a single Dog Tick crawling on my pants. I did not spare its life.

@@GeneralApathy everyone hates these things even you xD

Shoot some footage, CrabmanSteve, show us what it's like traipsing around your neck of the woods:)🐍🦎🐢🐊🦆🕷🦐🦀

exactly. I’m totally fascinated by the south I’ve only been to TX and LA briefly

Thank you. :D

Thank you. :D

seems like a good idea

I believe some / most of these you would be able to find, although I'm not sure of the specific ranges they inhabit. From the animals mentioned in the video, I've caught the ringneck snakes, slender salamanders, gopher snakes, newts, and jerusalem crickets (a different species) here.

there’s millions of acres that look just like this all over norcal you won’t be disappointed

Doing well, thank you. :D

wine country is packed w theee exact critters