Monday, May 31, 2010

snake!

What we saw in our driveway a few days ago...
I tried looking up snakes online, and this is what I think it is--Northern Water Snake (Nerodia Sipedon).  It has a very cool diamond-like pattern and is about four feet long.  It stared at us for a while and then slithered into the  garden.  NEW NOTE:  My friend Linda's son is a herpetologist and says this is a black rat snake (Pantherophis obsoletus).  Check out his website Diamondback Trading Cards.  See a very good youtube video of this snake--Brandon's Herp Adventures.   Thanks, Linda!










LINKS:                                                            
information and photos by Jim Braswell 
some good photos and chat from Texas folks 
Animal Diversity Web website
snake identification chart by state--click on links from here  

If you know what this snake is, please let me know.
photos by me © 2010 

22 comments:

  1. Oops...
    It looks really scary !!!!
    Unique shots :-)

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  2. No idea what it is - but wow!

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  3. It reminds me of the Black Rat snakes my dad had, he was a collector & worked in the reptile house at a zoo. They are harmless, don't be scared Anya, the majority of snakes aren't poisonous and can be beneficial. Your pics are terrific.

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  4. I think you have some good photos... Snakes make me want to scream, even photos of them. I've tried to "grow up" but the best I did was when our kids were little. I'd hold the scream in my throat, smile, and act brave so they wouldn't follow my bad example. :)

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  5. How beautiful! And fantastic shots. Look at the way it curves so sleekly round the stones. very handsome.

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  6. Aw, he just wanted to be friends. ;) I like snakes, but I don't know what kind he is.

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  7. Even the pictures made my heart race and my hands are all shaky now! I don't do well with anything that slithers and doesn't have fur - they give me a bad case of the eebie jeebies!

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  8. Best to keep a distance. Snake bites are not pleasant!

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  9. you sound soooooooooooo calm...
    really, really calm...
    pretty snake though!

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  10. ack! Can you hear me screaming from New Hampshire?

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  11. He's beautiful! I really like snakes but they always startle me when I'm surprised by them.

    P.S. Margaret, hope it's OK to the following in the comments: I'm contacting anyone I can think of who may have contacts in the greater Maryland area to see if they can help a cat whose owner is dying find a home. It's a sad story, but I hope it results in a good outcome. Here is the link:
    http://hubblespacepaws.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-bean-is-dying-and-i-need-home.html

    (It's actually a very cool blog - the people who run it are on the staff of the science operations of the Hubble Space Telescope, and they are doing it to help the abandoned animals they find.)

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  12. that baby looks big! Diamonds on it's back? Silly me, I would have thought it was a rattler, but I don't know a thing about snakes!

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  13. Yuck! I do not like things that slither. Especially since one found its way into my former home.

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  14. Wow, what an impressive snake!

    Thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving me such a lovely comment! Your site is beautiful and I really enjoyed looking around!

    Smiles,
    Debbie

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  15. Hi! My son is a herpetologist and says "Yup! its a black rat snake (Pantherophis)" If anyone likes snakes, his site is Diamondbacktradingcards.com

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  16. that is one heck of a snake!

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  17. Four feet is a lot of snake! And that is the lumpiest slitherkin I've ever seen. Is it just the photo that makes it look like that?

    Snakes don't bother me, as long as they're outside. Inside, now, that's altogether different, lol.

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  18. Oh I HAD to comment on this post! We have SO many rat snakes here, they're everywhere. I don't mind having them around because they eat moles, mice, etc.... and they're harmless. I saw one kill and eat a bird a couple of weeks ago.....a real "wild kingdom" moment.

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