Neighbor Darcy shares this photo of a big-ass snake she saw today on Bernal Hill:
This is the big snake I saw at about 12:30 today on Bernal Hill, on the west side just off the paved part near the wood steps. He appeared to be sunning himself.
Most of the snakes Bernalwood has reported on in the past have apparently been gopher snakes, but this one is even more big-ass.
PHOTO: Neighbor Darcy
Bernalwood 
OMG! scary! anyone know what kind it is?
Gopher snake?
Gopher snake… http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/images/pccateniferch2.jpg
Looks like python to me.
This wiggler is a gopher snake, entirely harmless to adults or children. If you want something to get rid of those gophers this is the guy to do it. However, it is not a toy and does not like to be played with by humans or dogs.
It’s a gopher snake; nice healthy adult (they can reach 5-6 ft long) and it’s good to be there, keeping the rat, mouse, and pocket gopher population balanced. Leave the snakes alone and you’ll be fine – they will usually flee if confronted. Part of their defense mechanism is to imitate a rattlesnake by coiling up and shaking their (non-rattled) tail against the grass to make a similar sound. Gopher snakes are NON-VENOMOUS – they constrict their prey. Their bite would actually harm the snake (by possibly breaking it’s teeth) more than it would harm you, but like any fearful animal, gopher snakes may bite if harassed or cornered.
There are NO rattlesnakes on Bernal Hill.
Johnny Disaster got it, definitely a Gopher Snake.
runaway pet?
As my son and I learned from the Randall Museum this weekend (SCIENCE SATURDAY FTW!!), the gopher snake looks like a rattle snake and sometimes will hiss and shake it’s tail to scare away predators, however they are constrictor snakes and don’t pose a threat to humans (as other have said here). We even got to pet one that the museum specialist was holding as it wrapped around his arm.
Good going snake! Get all them nasty gophers!
I’m glad that Bernal is still a little wild. That is a beautiful picture. Thank you neighbor D. snapped that shot. Now people just leave that snake alone.
Allow me to pipe up here and put in a word for our industrious brethren, the Bernal gophers, especially when they minding their own business in a wild place as opposed to a neighbor’s garden. They’re just tryin’ to make a livin’ too, ya know. So I’ll not be telling the snakes to sic-em, regarding those gophers; if the snakes ever deign to lend me an ear, that is. Nor will I be instructing the birds of prey to zoom in on the snakes, nor to leave ’em be. I leave them all to do their natural thing, and trust them to let me do mine, and celebrate our mutual freedom.
After the Gophers ate my entire garden, I was told to get a gopher snake. I did not, but I’m glad someone did, as I see no gophers around no longer. Thankssssssssss