Today I went down to check the skimmer on the pool and found two frogs, a dead lizard, and a tiny newborn black king snake. The little king snake was curled up in the recesses of the skimmer out of the water. It startled me at first. But after a quick rundown (no yellow tail like a moccasin, no rattle, and no copperhead, skinny body and head not triangle shape) I settled down and got to observe him. He sat like a ribbon that had been dropped on the ground. My dog came over to investigate and the tiny thing reared up and shook his skinny little tail and even snapped forward to try to scare Quincey. Of course Quincey just sniffed and wandered somewhere else. I took a couple pictures and let him slither off, whispering my mantra that I say to all rat and king snakes in my yard, "go kill the poisonous snakes!"
I still get a little skin crawl looking at a snake, but if it's not poisonous, I don't kill it. I would rather have a hundred king snakes in my yard than one rattler or copperhead! It hasn't made my city friends very happy because they think the only good snake is a dead snake. Se la vi. I have come to love the wildlife in my yard and if they don't want to share it with me that's their problem!
Aww what a cutie!
ReplyDeleteI'd be scared too, if I lived in an area with a lot of poisonous snakes (I don't think there's any where I live). I'm glad to hear that you can identify them, and don't hurt the ones that aren't poisonous. :)
- Sasha
www.lacewinged.com
Sasha, snakes are nearly all over North America. You would be surprised at how many live close to humans without anyone ever seeing them. Luckily they only come out when its warm!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bcreptiles.ca/snakes.htm
Looks like you only have one poisonous snake in your area and it's not a fighter. Thanks for visiting my blog!