I was not happy killing this snake, but it was large and the dogs have no sense about these things, so I did the dirty deed. It was, after all, quite large and most important, headed straight for the house.The head is not in this picture.
The color and markings are so muddy and indistinct I am having a hard time identifying it. Help?
It was about 4½ feet long. 1½ inches diameter in the middle. Its head was not that triangular shape we have been told to notice.
3 comments:
Given the area, I'd guess a rat snake, either black or a hybrid; I'd bet on a black rat snake, in a more muddy phase.
http://9balance9.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/reptiles-at-rest/
Their mottled markings are python-like, and pythons don't have triangular heads either. Hopefully pythons aren't that far north now.
I think you are right. Most of the ones around here are very black, and this one's brown color threw me off. Now I know they come in various shades. Perhaps this one needed more sun.
I used to work at a place where they'd invade in spring. I took one home because the rabbits were eating my garden. A few weeks later i found the guy in the other apartment had "adopted" a snake and tried to feed it a whole chicken egg. Conferring with the (idiot's) roommate, we agreed to put that snake back out near my garden. The rabbit damage did subside quite a bit.
(I was pretty sure it was the snake I had released by my garden.)
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