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Lampropeltis getula
Thinner but fairly long snake with a smaller head. Had distinct alternating chocolate and olive triangles on it's sides. No rattle.
The second of two snakes I saw while on my bicycle within 15 minutes.
Spotted on Sep 7, 2012
Submitted on Sep 8, 2012
4 Comments
thanks so much for your help sunswimer. the snake in the main pic of your first link matched the shape of the markings on my snake perfectly and I've watch some video of the common kingsnake and the movements seemed similiar too. the light bands on mine seemed much darker than typical, being olive rather than yellowish but I think I'm comfortable enough ID'ing this as a common kingsnake at this point. I still wouldn't mind confirmation from any herpetologists out there! :)
http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Snakes-Subpa...
I just did a random google search and this came up.
http://wc.pima.edu/Bfiero/tucsonecology/...
This might look like it...in your 2nd pic I can see more of what look like bands which kind of look like the pattern on the L. getula (misspelled in the website...).
http://www.cfa.arizona.edu/herp/circanim...
This seems kind of old but they list seems good. I couldnt find anything that really matches your photo but that could just be because I can't see it that well, and you might remember the snake better and be able to match it.
(And I never thought about how far west cottonmouths are found, but after I looked I can see that their distribution is nowhere near you lol, whoops)
Good luck ID'ing your snake!
the head was pretty small and the body was slender and long. sorry for my poor photo quality! I'm trying to look at as many pictures as possible to compare and so far the closest I'm seeing is the kingsnake. Not sure what kinds we have here in Tucson, AZ.
It kind of looks like a cottonmouth to me but its hard to see... Did it have a triangular head?