Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Douglas County, Missouri
When OceanDiver suggested a few days ago that a snake diary was in order, I went through my photos searching for the many different types of snakes that I have encountered here in Missouri. I searched all the way back as far as 2014 because I don’t see snakes very often, even though I know they are around.
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Whenever I encounter a snake sunning on the road I will either shoo it off the road (large or poisonous snakes) or pick it up and move it off the road (small non-poisonous snakes). Unfortunately, in recent years I have seen more dead snakes than alive. The people who live in this vicinity are mostly farmers with large acreage who view snakes as deadly, no matter how small or beneficial they are known to be.
All the snake photos in this diary that do not have a location listed were taken either on my property or on the county road that I walk every day.
My first ever snake encounter was at 9 years old when I volunteered to be taught how to handle a non-poisonous snake during a program by a herpetologist who brought his large collection to show to all us kids. It was a moment of discovery in my life that has stayed with me ever since.
Shortly after that I rescued a garter snake from some neighbor boys who were swinging it around by its tail. I took the snake home in an old cigar box, took it to school for show-and-tell, left it there overnight and it escaped, never to be seen again… at least that was what my teacher told me. I like to think he took pity on it and released it after school was dismissed for the day.
The black rat snake in the title photo and the photo below was sleeping on the road when I first saw it. I tried to nudge it but it did not move. I touched it on the back but still no reaction. Finally I leaned down and stroked it, which suddenly brought the snake back from its nap. It lunged upward and backward in a large circle, landed back on the ground and took off into the high grass. It did not try to bite me, but I realized it was fast enough that it could have. Even non-poisonous snakes have sharp teeth!
This Great Plains Rat Snake (Pantherophis emoryi) is a singular sighting for me. Beautiful snake, seen in the same location as most of the others, but only once.
Another one-time sighting was this Eastern yellow-bellied racer, seen swimming in the waters at Bull Shoals Marina in Theodosia, Missouri. Even though the racer is not a “water snake” they are excellent swimmers. This one was swimming in circles under the bridge and seemed to be fishing.
This next one, a speckled king snake, was an early morning find outside our garage. When he saw me he retreated behind this large flower pot and stayed there until I left him alone to find his way back home. By the time I returned home from my walk he had disappeared.
The copperhead is one of the few poisonous snakes we see locally. They generally do not want to be messed with and are more likely to try to escape than to attack. But they will bite when cornered. This one was on our county road, but we have had a family of copperheads take up residence under our wood burning furnace in the back yard.
This eastern hog nose snake is the only one I have seen in this area. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation website they are distributed statewide in Missouri, but I don’t know if they are common or not. He was just a little guy.
This Western Pygmy Rattler is fairly common along our road — or it used to be. I have not seen it as often in the last couple of years as I did in the past, and more often than not I will find them dead. We don’t have much traffic on our road, but they do seem to kill snakes quite regularly. This is one of the smallest species of rattlesnakes in North America. They only grow to 15 or 20 inches.
One of the most common of the tiny snakes that I regularly see around here are the red-bellied snakes. This is a small, keel-scaled snake (8.0 to 10.0 inches in length) with a plain reddish belly. The shades of color vary significantly from one snake to another, but the underside should be an orange-red color. However, I have had a difficult time getting them to show me their undersides.
Here is another one of the red-bellied snakes. I took his picture before moving him off to the side of the road.
The ring-necked snake is slightly longer than the red-bellied snake, but still tiny. It grows to a length of 14 or 15 inches. I have not seen one of these recently.
A friend of mine who is a serious herper identified this snake for me as a smooth earth snake. Personally, I have a hard time telling one tiny brown snake from another. These grow to be from 7 to 10 inches — really small!
My last snake is one of my favorites, but I see them rarely. This Northern Rough Green Snake was moving too fast for me to get a closeup, and since there is grass in the picture, the snake is pretty well camouflaged!
That is just about all of the types of snakes I have seen here in Missouri. I could probably find other photos, but I think this may be a good stopping point!
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Now it is your turn! Have you got a favorite snake photo — or story — from any time and any date? If not, then just share what is happening in your part of the world today.