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“E-I-E-I-O!" - The Snake Verse

9/15/2014

5 Comments

 

“With a hiss hiss here, and a hiss hiss there…”

Yesterday evening, as I returned to the house from my walk and photo shoot for a calving update blog post, I nearly stepped on this:
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Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera were gasping their last charge and I had forgotten to stick a couple in my pocket. As a result, the zoom wouldn’t work without shutting down the camera. I had to creep up close and personal for these shots. Apparently, the snake was agreeable to being the subject of a photo op because it didn't move, not even when I opened the compartment to reposition the dying batteries between shots!
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I’d never seen a snake like this one and Bill couldn’t identify it either. We researched his Pocket Guide to Kansas Snakes and discovered it was a king snake, which both of us had heard of.

Later we worked on a new iris and daylily bed, laying down weed mat and covering it with mulch. As Bill scooped up mulch into the loader on his tractor, he saw white, oval-shaped objects.
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He thought they might be snake eggs, so broke one open and found a baby, possibly a rat snake. He went back to the Pocket Guide and verified his theory that it was a rat snake. By then, decent light was gone but I was able to get pictures this morning. Yes, I had fresh batteries and used the zoom!
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Picture
Interesting marking on the head!
Rat snakes are primarily constrictors and feed on rodents and birds. Judging by the number of eggs Bill found in the mulch pile, I doubt that many rodent families set up housekeeping there. Or, if they did, those snakes are well-fed! One interesting note: The female rat snake can lay from three to thirty eggs at a time. Wow! No wonder there were so many eggs in that mulch pile!

I remarked to Bill the markings on the rat snake are so close to those on a rattlesnake, if I encountered one in the yard it would scare the crap out of me!

“…Here a hiss, there a hiss, everywhere a hiss hiss!”

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5 Comments
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6/28/2018 06:22:24 pm

I have this fear towards snake. Though I don't see them often on reality. They appear most of the time in my dreams and it creeps me out. But when I try to read dreams interptetation, I knew that snakes represent fear in all aspects. It doesn't mean any harm as what was said on the websites I've read. By the way, it was a good thing that you have a proper knowledge towards handling snakes. You were equipped with the right things to do.

Reply
June Hilbert
6/28/2018 06:57:42 pm

Hi! I was deathly afraid of snakes since a close encounter with a rattlesnake on my grandparents' farm when I was ten years old. Luckily, I didn't get bitten. Early in our marriage I encountered a snake in our yard one evening. That adventure is a chapter in my book called, "Snake Slayer." I later found out it was a relatively harmless bull snake but, as I was the only one home at the time, I didn't know what kind it was and didn't want our dog to tangle with it, I dispatched it to snake heaven. Since that encounter, I've developed a healthy respect and a little less fear toward snakes. Thanks for reading my blog! June

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