Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Snake by Farm House - Friend or Foe?

I was using the tractor to move some piles of old, rusted metal that were dumped next to the farm house for some reason. When the grass in the front yard was mowed a few weeks ago, this area had to be avoided due to all the  large metal objects.

Twin bed spring frame, sections of corrugated sheet metal, and a grinding wheel were about all I could make out so far in the junk pile. I was using a chain to drag piece by piece to a junk pile in front of the barn. Eventually, I'll load up all this rusted junk and take it to the dump. Of course, I'll need a flatbed trailer and I'll need to figure out where the dump IS but...all in due time.

I was about 20 minutes into cleaning out this pile of junk when I met Mr Snake. I was on the tractor and perched nearly dead center on top of the shrinking pile, amidst the tall grass when I saw him come slithering out, heading in my direction. I quickly shifted from reverse to forward and jumped out of there so I could get my eyes on him.

After circling around the pile several times, I found him and took a (admittingly poor) picture:

He appeared green-ish in color with a lighter colored belly
He was a little too close to the house for my liking. I had just filled some foundation holes with expanding foam a few hours earlier. Until I am sure there are no more unapproved entry points to the house, I sent this snake to snake heaven.

You're looking at the belly side




I'd say he had a solid seafoam green-ish body with a much lighter underbelly. No obvious markings.  Anybody able to identify the genus and/or species? Is it the Rough Green Snake?

~OJD

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