Mo' NorCal HERPing!
Watch me work this Gopher snake I found on the road today.
A soft touch with smooth movements helped it to calm quickly.
Unfortunately my I ran out of memory before I could tell you about him but at least you can see my handling technique while I read it's body language.
The goal is to keep them horizontal and securely balanced.
You'll notice that I will use the ground to make it feel more secure again several times.
When I walk towards the camera it looks like I'm dangling him but he's actually at about a 45 degree angle towards the camera.
I used a tool I learned from Kevin at NERD where when the snake gets uncertain and shifts into defensive mode I circled in the direction the snakes head was facing until the snake relaxed again, which is a pretty unique thing he figured out on his own..
A stunner of a snake.
So glad I saw him while cruisin'.
There was also a HUGE black bear in the road a couple miles down but I didn't get the video going in time.
I need a GoPro to record my incredible life!
