Garden Friend (Snake)

[AlittleSalt]

I was out to the garden about to start watering when I opened the gate and there he or she was. It's over 3' long, but less than 4'.
I think I'll use the other gate to get into the garden.

[dmforcier]

Nice friend.

Bet you have a noticeable lack of rodentage.

[AlittleSalt]

The other night, I almost stepped on a mouse while I was barefooted. Then today, I picked up a bucket in a wheelbarrow and small mouse was under the bucket. I hope I didn't scare the snake off because there's an all you can eat mouse buffet out here this year. Probably due to basically not having a winter this year.

[Cole_Robbie]

What is it? A corn snake?

[AlittleSalt]

I'm thinking it's a rat snake. It has a small head.

[Cole_Robbie]

ok. My rat snake is black, but from what I see they can have patterns, too, like this one:

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

What is it? A corn snake?

An eastern corn snake is commonly mistaken for a copperhead.


They are almost all in the same group/genus of snakes.
Pantherophis

I grew up calling them chicken snakes.
Worth

[Cole_Robbie]

It's confusing, because the same snake species can come in varieties of colors and markings.

[AlittleSalt]

Yes, they do come in varieties of colors. This link shows some of the varieties of rat snakes. http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/elaobs.htm

[Worth1]

Brought one of those orange corn snakes home one time in my hands and scared the hell out of my mother with it.
My biology teacher in high school gave me a book on snakes reptiles and amphibians of North America because I loved them so much I still have the thing.

Worth

[Cole_Robbie]

I named my snake Johnnie Cochran. I have an intense, ridiculous phobia of snakes, but I need to just get over it. I thought it would help to give him a name.

I feel a lot braver with gloves on. Snake-to-skin contact grosses me out.

[PaulF]

Photo of my friend the Red Sided Garter snake eating a frog. We hate frogs infesting out goldfish pond.

[dmforcier]

I wasn't too upset that members of my cat herd hunted vulnerable furry critters (except when this little smartass Minnie brought in chipmunks and started ranching them under the washer/dryer for a rainy day). That's what cats do.

But I hated it when they killed little snakes (apparently spelled "snacks" in cat language). Would rather have the snakes.

(P.S. Hoover was also death on frogs, but wasn't obsessed about it.)

[Gardeneer]

We have lots of frogs.
I don't like them snake swallowing the frog live..
Once i saw a snake, showing a big bulge in his throat. I caught him, holding it from its tail and shaking. He spit the frog out and the frog ran away happily.

[Worth1]

I like frogs too.

Worth