Our little legless friends are out and about!!

[indianasmith]

I was mowing the yard this evening when I spotted this beauty slithering across our driveway and snatched him up after a quick chase - although similar in markings to a Texas Rat Snake, this is actually a much rarer Prairie Kingsnake, Lampropeltis calligaster callisgaster.  This may be the same specimen I caught in our yard last spring; if so, he is growing nicely.  He was a bit feisty at first, but quickly calmed down and I had my daughter snap these pics before I took him down and released him in our barn, where he can catch mice to his heart's content.







Remember, be kind to our no-legged friends, 'cause a snake could be somebody's mother . . . 

[Raffine]

Cool!

Here's a neat guy that visisted me about this time last year:



He struck a pose for the camera and then slithered off to enjoy some mousey goodness in the barn.

[trekgeezer]

No pictures, but I have seen a rat snake in my yard (he was under my truck).  He must've been 8' at least.   A few years ago I saw one of the prairie king snakes and did know what is was until I looked it up.   There was an empty lot next door with plenty of field mice, so he had plenty to eat.

[Leah]

You should've seen the snake me and my friends caught!

no, it wasn't the two headed snake, but it was a:

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

Curse you... my yard was serpent free ntil I read this.  Then today I saw one. 
-Ed

[indianasmith]

Be glad the little legless guys bless you with their presence!  they do a world of good in terms of rodent disposal . . . and their emergence is the most reliabe sign of spring!

[The Gravekeeper]

I haven't seen any yet, but that's no surprise -- we're still regularly getting frost, so our cold-blooded friends here will probably be sluggish for a while yet. I'm planning to take advantage of having a valley (complete with river!) just a stone's throw away from me and go herping (looking for reptiles) at least once this summer.

[Jim H]

We haven't seen any here in Missouri yet.  But we will eventually.  Last night we saw one of these in the basement though:



Think this is the right kind.  Anyway, it was a big fat skink.  Missing its tail.  Still don't know how these things get in our basement.  However, to be honest, I'm happy to have them down there for the most part.  We've got a lot of bugs that get in the house too, and that's what they eat.