Yesterday afternoon, the grass looked calm. One could even overlook the slight trembling of blades, the soft rustle. But the slithering- that undulating motion that usually indicates a snake- was unmistakable. There was a snake in our front yard!
Fortunately, just around the munchkins werel screaming, "Snake!", neighbors strolled by and seemed to be interested in the action. A neat gentleman crossed the grass and bent down to pick up the snake.
"It's a rat snake", he said.
"Oh, I know about those," Max replied confidently.
Apparently, rat snakes are medium to large constrictors that feed mainly on rodents (hence the name) and birds. Smaller species, like this one, which looked to measure about 5 ft. make nice pets. According to wikipedia, "other species can be very skittish and sometimes aggressive but bites are seldom serious. As with nearly all colubrids, rat snakes pose no threat to humans. Rat snakes were long thought to be completely nonvenomous, but recent studies have shown that some Old World species do possess small amounts of venom (amounts so small as to be negligible to humans)".
My guess is that our friend was a Elaphe obsoleta spiloides, or Gray rat snake. According to the Alabama Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources, the gray rat snake:
Occurs in most kinds of terrestrial habitats but attains greatest densities in areas where forests and farmland are generally intermixed and small rodents are relatively abundant. Skillful climbers, rat snakes ascend trees or rafters of buildings in search of birds, eggs and mice. They may nest high in tree cavities, a position that may reduce mortality from fire ants and other ground-foraging predators.
Apparently, they are mostly nocturnal, but our friend seems to have chosen a change of scene.
After showing us the underside of the rat snake's head, the gentleman said he probably wouldn't hurt anyone but that it might be wise for him to drop our snake friend off in a wooded area up the street. And then the rat snake and the gentleman were gone.
Shame on me for learning the name of the snake without learning the name of the snake charmer.
