Peekaboo

I didn't get a better photo before he noticed us. He slithered away so fast I could hardly believe it.

I am really, really glad that venomous snakes don't tend to move that fast, or at least, not that fast towards you. (I have seen Copperheads move fairly quickly, but away.)

Anyway, this is a Water Snake, I think the Brown Water Snake (Nerodia taxispilota).

They supposedly have poor dispositions (they'll bite if you pick them up), but if you ask me, any snake that runs away from me has a disposition that I enjoy.

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Submitted to the Friday Ark.

Surprise in the driveway

Timber rattlesnake! Crotalus horridus.



A big one.



His tail was raised but he never rattled it.



He was beautiful.



And a little scary.



I really wasn't that close - this is max telephoto zooming.



I didn't realize that snakes had eyebrows.



They make him look agressive, even though he wasn't.



Do snakes bristle their scales? It seemed like he was doing that.

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They are sometimes called Canebreak rattlesnakes in south Alabama, but are apparently the same species.

There are six poisonous snakes in Alabama, but I've only encountered three of them. And this is only the third time I've ever seen a rattlesnake. (I've run across lots of Copperheads and Water Moccasins, a.k.a. Cottonmouths.)

I looked it up, and the eyebrow scale is called the supraocular scale.

Reptiles in the garden

Me: Look at this plant!

Friend on garden tour with me: Wow.

Me: The leaves look like they're made of scales. What do you want to bet that it's got snake in its name?

Friend: Or alligator!



We asked our hosts, and sure enough, it's Microsorium musifolium, Alligator Fern.*

Cool! I think I would have used snake, though.

Speaking of which, I spotted a big rat snake sneaking under the chicken coop yesterday. (Actually he was just sitting there, but he had a very sneaky air about him.) I ran for the camera, but he had slithered away by the time I got back.

We've been using golf balls as laying enticements. They say, "lay your egg here, this spot is great" in language that chickens almost can't help but agree with.

Lately though, the golf balls have disappeared. That snake had a suspiciously round lump near the end of its tail. And a stomach ache, I imagine.

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* Also known as Crocodile Fern. You will also see the botanical name as Microsorum musifolium (without the last "i" in the first word).

World Snake Day

Just another vine hanging out on the fence... nothing to worry your pretty little heads about, my sweet little tweetie birds...

I was going to post this tomorrow, but I found out from Bug Girl that it's World Snake Day today so I had to put it up a bit early.

I wrote about Black Racers earlier this spring. (Still not sure if this one is Coluber constrictor constrictor or C. constrictor priapus.)

He didn't like me standing so close. I raised my arm to point at a Green Heron flying over and VOOM! The Racer was gone.

Black Racer

Hi, my name is Coluber constrictor.


I'm the first snake of the spring.


It's really warming up, so you'd better watch where you step.

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Not sure if this is Coluber constrictor constrictor (northern black racer) or Coluber constrictor priapus (southern black racer).

I don't have a "snake name meanings" dictionary like the one for birds, but fear not, there's a beauty of an online guide that covers reptiles and amphibians. I especially like the page on mythological references. My husband always jokes that I want to find a new plant species so I can name it after myself. Previously I've always claimed that I'd name my hypothetical find something descriptive. But now I'm not sure that I could resist slipping the name of an ancient Greek fertility god in there somehow.

Birthday snake

He was still a young rat snake (Pantherophis obsoleta spiloides).


But was relocated away from the chickens, just in case.


Hubby's birthday snake.

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If you missed the one from last year, check these pages -- he was much more exciting!
First encounter.
Eating.

Water snake

I finally got a snake to pose for me!



Northern water snake (Nerodia sipedon). Click for a larger picture.

This rocky little beach was the perfect camoflage for him.



I didn't even seen him at first. Then I briefly thought that he was a Copperhead.

I tried going down to the beach to take a closer picture, but he didn't think too much of that idea.



There are four subspecies:
Nerodia sipedon sipedon, Northern water snake
Nerodia sipedon pleuralis, Midland water snake
Nerodia sipedon insularum, Lake Erie water snake
Nerodia sipedon williamengelsi, Carolina water snake

My ancient Audubon reptile book shows only the common sipedon subspecies in this part of Alabama, although some websites suggest there should only be the Midland version here. The pleuralis is supposed to have "dark back markings narrower than spaces between them," which this one does not.

They don't lay eggs, but have live babies instead.

Snake

I had to run out and try to plant some wildflower rescues before it rained. But I was stopped short by a very pretty black and yellow snake at the edge of the woods.

"Hello, little snake. You're very pretty. Thomas will definitely want to see you. Don't go away. Stay right there!"

He didn't listen to me though. By the time I got back with the camera, he was gone. I tried calling him, but it didn't work.

"Come back, pretty snake!"
(Snakes are above flattery.)
"Thomas will be so disappointed!"
(Snakes are impervious to guilt.)
"I'll make you a big star!"
(Snakes don't suffer from vanity.)

Oh, well. As with Thomas and his recent misadventures, things don't always work out like you plan.

OK, so what do I already have a picture of, that a first grade boy might like?

Maybe this.


Teeth on a deer skeleton.


Guess who dragged it into the yard.


Yep, that's who.

OK, Monk is coming on. It's the Halloween episode - I have to go watch Danny's house!

Unknown snake

Hubby accidentally ran over this snake with the bushhog last week. I came to the conclusion that it's a lot harder to identify snakes with no heads.

At first I thought he was a Cottonmouth, but the tail is wrong. (They have odd tails, which narrow down from the body somewhat abruptly.)

Anybody else know what it is?

Hubby said he remembered something about being able to tell whether it's a poisonous snake or not by the scales on the tail. So I took a picture of that.



Turns out he was right. At the tip end of the snake, if the scales are divided in two, like here, the snake is not poisonous. If the scale is unbroken all the way across, it is a poisonous snake.

Memory tip:
Two scales = two words: Non-venomous.
One scale = one word: Venomous.

Please post a comment if you know the identity of this snake! The part of him that was left was about 2.5 feet long. He was in some tall grass not far from a drainage ditch.

Snake skin

Hubby found a snake skin lying just like this in the yard.



About three inches of the tail end broke off when we picked it up. Still pretty long! We think it was a Gray Rat Snake (like the one I wrote about before, here and here). It was in the vicinity of the duck pen.



Arrrr!



It smelled really... snakey.

Serpeniferous? No, that's not right. Serpenoleic? Serpenodoracious?

Blue Snake

The first time my husband and I saw a blue snake, it took us forever to figure out what it was.

"There's no picture in this book of a blue snake. Argh!"

"The internet shows no blue snakes in Alabama. Arrrgh!"

"There's no such thing as a blue snake. Arrrrrrrgh!"

Only by reading the fine print did we realize that the Rough Green Snake (Opheodrys aestivus) turns blue after death.

The Smooth Green Snake (Opheodrys [Liochlorophis] vernalis) does the same thing, but they're a more northerly or westerly snake and are not in Alabama.

The snake's green color is made up of blue and yellow pigments in its skin. When it dies, the yellow fades more quickly, so the snake looks blue.

This one looks like he had a little run-in with the postal service. They've also been known to come out on the wrong end of duels with lawnmowers.

(And talk about holding your breath until you turn blue!)

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This site sugguests that the snakes can also turn blue when excited.

Here's another cool pic of the snakes.

Yellow Daisy

We're back!

The Yellow Daisy craft show was lots of fun, as always, and I managed to not quite spend all our profits buying other peoples' crafts. (There were three coffee mugs I couldn't resist though.)

Reminders of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath were everywhere. Driving to the show, we saw several military convoys and an armada of Power Company trucks heading south. When we arrived at Stone Mountain, I realized I'd forgotten to pack some essentials, so we headed out to Walmart for pens and a toothbrush. The young couple with a toddler ahead of us in line turned out to be hurricane evacuees. Then the cashier turned out to be one too. She said that the employees could continue their jobs at any Walmart in the country. I thought that was pretty nice. She said her house was underwater, but that she felt blessed to be alive.

At the show there was a large jar at the entrance, for donations to the Red Cross. One customer wrote them a $2000 check!

Hubby and I are both bird nuts, and have been birdwatching at Dauphin Island many times in the past. The island, especially the west end, got hit hard by the hurricane. Boardwalk Realty has been doing a great job chronicling the changes on the island. They seem in remarkably good spirits too, considering that their office was destroyed, 37 of the 90 houses they manage are gone, and most of the remainder sustained heavy damage.

They posted some interesting pictures of the hurricane damage (including an alligator under one of the houses), and are keeping a journal of the island's recovery.

A soapmaking colleague's husband sent these pictures from an oil rig near New Orleans.


Damage on the rig.


Snakes! Big snakes!


For comparison, that's a 12-inch pipe the water moccasin is on.

Guest snake pictures

I'm still not feeling quite up to par. But Eleanor of Purple Pen has offered up a Copperhead picture in lieu of the one I took last year that I still can't find. And, she's thrown in a rattlesnake for good measure!

These were both taken at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Great Pictures, Eleanor!


Copperhead snake (Agkistrodon contortrix)


Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus)

Snake, it's a snake!

Art Lad, the talented 6-year old son of Magazine Man, started a blog recently. The post that started it all is here. (It's great, go read it!)

"I need to find that picture of the Copperhead that I took last year," I told my husband. "I'm going to make a post about how much Art Lad likes snakes, and send some people over to see his new blog."

Only I couldn't find the picture. I'd evidently put it somewhere really good. I just wasn't sure where. Dagnabit.

In between picture searches, I happened to look at my blog's statistics page. My traffic had exploded! Wait, they're all coming from... Art Lad???

Turns out he'd been mentioned on BoingBoing, one of the oldest and most popular blogs on the internet. He was getting thousands of hits, and since he'd linked to me I was basking in the reflective glow.

So, it's not like he needs the exposure now, but go visit Art Lad anyway.

Oh yeah, I still can't find the Copperhead pic. But here's a couple of Black Racers we saw yesterday.

Hubby found this one, curled up off the path.

His close-up.

I found the second one.

OK, I almost stepped on him.

He seemed darker than the first one.

I believe they are both Northern Black Racers, Coluber constrictor constrictor. Despite the name, it's not a constrictor!

The second one slithered away so fast that I was reminded how they got the name Racer.

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Edited to add:

Thanks to commenters Jenn and Ron, who pointed out that the first snake is probably about to shed its skin! Besides the lighter color, the milky eye is apparently also a clue.

You again!

Yesterday morning Jasmine sounded her "Snake! It's a snake!" bark again. This time at least she had the sense to be angry with the non-biting end of the gray rat snake. His mouth was otherwise occupied anyway.



Wayne from Niches asked in previous comments if rat snakes ate eggs. Yes they do.



The blue one he's swallowing is a Mallard egg, which is a bit larger and heavier than a chicken egg.



Pretty amazing.



Tell-tale lump:



While his business end was busy, I sneaked a peek at his belly.



And got a closer look at his scales. I hadn't noticed the slight ridges the other day.



Not too hard to get into the duck pen.



Obviously I need to start removing the duck eggs first thing in the morning. We feed them to the dog so it's not a big loss, I just don't want the snake getting into the habit. If he keeps it up I'm afraid he's going to find the chicken coop.

Of course I'm not really sure if this is the same individual from earlier in the week - not sure how territorial they are. (I tried Googling it but kept coming up with herpetophile Fred from Fragments from Floyd instead.)

We saw another large gray rat snake close to the creek last night. They must be doing well this year.

Parseltongue

Jasmine is the first dog I've had since I was a kid, but it didn't take long to learn that there is a definite difference in her barks. When I first heard her yesterday I thought, "meter reader at the gate". But no, it was more like a "you're new to me but I know you really don't belong here" kind of bark. And not in a cow sort of way.

So I grabbed the camera on the way out.



I saw this guy coiled up on the shop porch and striking at Jasmine, who was acting as if she didn't have the good sense to realize that a snakebite to the nose was really going to hurt.



After I tied her up, the snake relaxed a little, but he still kept a wary eye on me (and vice versa). I think that he's a gray rat snake, Pantherophis obsoleta spiloides. (The old name, Elaphe obsoleta spiloides, was apparently updated just a few years ago. It is more difficult than I would have imagined to ID snakes via the internet, so please correct me if I'm wrong about this.)



At the time I thought he must have just had a meal of several mice, but after examining more of the pictures I'm thinking it may just be his bunched up muscles that give that effect.

I tried to snap a shot when he was scoping me out with his tongue, but none of them turned out too well, and after a while he quit doing it.



His scales were fascinating - here you can see the orange skin underneath them.

I tried to prod him into leaving, but by that time he'd become too relaxed and didn't want to leave. So I picked him up on a long long stick to transport him to the bramble where the rats hang out. He was pretty heavy. About 6 feet long I think. There were a few attempts to wriggle off the stick, but he seemed fairly happy to slither off into the brush once I got him there.