Today's Nature Find
The weather today was beautiful, and I couldn't resist getting outside during my lunch break. As I walked along the boundary between the cared-for school lawn and the wild, overgrown nature area, I heard something in the grass just ahead of me. I glanced up just in time to see the tail of a reptile slithering under the kudzu debris for cover. It wasn't any threat to me, so I just continued along my way. There wasn't much out to take pictures of, so the hike went rather quickly.
On the way back, you would think I would have been bit more watchful as I approached the area where I had seen the snake. Nope! I had totally forgotten about it. So, when I saw a snake's tail intertwined in the weeds no more than 2 yards away from me, I jumped. I mean I literally jumped up into the air. Admittedly, it wasn't one of my proudest moments. But, the snake didn't budge! I froze and watched to see what it would do. It did nothing. Then I began to notice how ghostly the skin looked, and it dawned on me.
It was just a snake skin!
A rather large snake skin! And, it was completely in tact! I had never found a snake skin that still had the head attached, but this one did.
It Has A Head!
I measured the skin by stretching a string along its length and used a ruler to measure the string. It came out to 1.16 meters (right at 5 ft) long!
Now, I'm not very good with reptile identification; however, if I had to venture a guess, I'd say this was probably a rat snake (known in these parts as a chicken snake). There aren't many snakes in this area that grow to the length of this skin, and the skin appears to be a fairly solid color without any markings to speak of.
Close-Up
ALSO,
Don't miss out on the scavenger hunt that I'm trying to get going. You'll have some fun, make some new connections, and maybe even win some SBD!! The more people who are involved, the more fun it will be and the more money you could win! So, come on and check it out!
Love the close ups - delightfully weird
I would have jumped, too! and maybe pee'd a little. Whoops!