Maybe some kind of corn snake? He's in southern California, and the bike path was along the San Diego river.
this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2025
215 points (96.9% liked)
pics
25116 readers
522 users here now
Rules:
1.. Please mark original photos with [OC] in the title if you're the photographer
2..Pictures containing a politician from any country or planet are prohibited, this is a community voted on rule.
3.. Image must be a photograph, no AI or digital art.
4.. No NSFW/Cosplay/Spam/Trolling images.
5.. Be civil. No racism or bigotry.
Photo of the Week Rule(s):
1.. On Fridays, the most upvoted original, marked [OC], photo posted between Friday and Thursday will be the next week's banner and featured photo.
2.. The weekly photos will be saved for an end of the year run off.
Instance-wide rules always apply. https://mastodon.world/about
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Google lens says gopher snake. Google lens and iNaturalist are great ways to help ID all kinds of animals, plants, and fungi.
Edit for clarification. Don't trust any of these image recognition algorithms. They get many things wrong, but they can help narrow down what a thing is.
I don't think I'd trust image recognition enough for anything potentially dangerous (deciding if the snake is venomous, deciding if a mushroom is edible, etc.), but good suggestion for satisfying general curiosity!
Yes, I don't trust any of them, but they can give you a general idea and you can narrow down yourself afterwards.
You've nailed it. Looks like a San Diego Gophersnake - Pituophis catenifer annectens. It was morning, and he was warming up on the asphault. He didn't seem too worried about me, and gave me time to stop my bike, pull my phone out of my backpack, and snap the shot.
Don't trust Google.
I don't trust iNat either, but it can give you a general idea. Yes, you must do some leg work if you want to be certain.