habits of territory and range

[Hollis_Steed]

Can anyone tell me if a gopher snake has a range that it usually stays within or if it just wanders indiscriminently (sp)? If I see a gopher snake crossing the road is it highly likely he lives in the area and I will see him again, or is it most likely a stroke of luck that I saw him at all and most likely won't see him again??

[Spankenstyne]

They tend to stick to the general area once they're into their summer foraging areas. The info I found says Utah should be looking at about a 1-3 ha range with summer hunting areas less than 200m.

(page 3 & 4 here: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/frpa/iw...ophersnake.pdf )

[Hollis_Steed]

ok, good information. Now...what the heck is a ha???

[ssssnakeluvr]

stands for hectare...but I don't know big a hectare is.....

[Selkielass]

A hectare is a 10,000 square meters , or 107,637 square feet.
An acre is approximately 4,840 square yards or 43,560 square fee and is used in most English-speaking countries.
If you work out the calculations, you will find that there are 2.471 acres in 1 hectare.

A hectare is 1 square hectometer or, 10 000 square meters or, 100 meters, squared
1 hectare = 10 000 m2

From; WikiAnswers - What is a hectare

[Hollis_Steed]

so bottom line seems to be that this particular snake is most likely living within a 6 to 10 acre area...???
that being said I can assume that there is a good possibility that I may see this snake again.
That's what I'm looking for! Thanks for helping out with this. now I know!

[Spankenstyne]

Oh sorry yes, hectare. The funny thing is I thought the "meters" might be more of a problem with the translation.

The 1-3 hectares is what you can expect as an average distance from their winter hibernaculum to the summer foraging/hunting grounds.
Now that they're in the summer areas you are likely to find it living within a 200m range (218 yards).. So basically it should likely be living within a couple of football fields of where you saw it.

[Hollis_Steed]

Great! thanks. I'll be going "herping" this evening! wish me luck!

[adamanteus]

I've always found that snakes are generally pretty sedentary, and will return repeatedly to the same 'favourite spot'.

[Hollis_Steed]

I've always found that snakes are generally pretty sedentary, and will return repeatedly to the same 'favourite spot'.

Now I just have to search several acres for that "favorite spot"! I guess that's why is called "hunting" and not "finding"