Yesterday, I found a bunny that slithers (formerly
known as a snake) on the concrete walk just outside my front door. The snake was an Eastern racer. Racers are, in the scheme of all things
snake, small and slender and non-poisonous.
Their scientific name is Coluber
constrictor. Though the name implies
they are a type of constrictor, they are not really a constrictor. They earned the name from a species habit of
using a loop of their body to press struggling victims against the ground.
The snake on my walk, something a bit over two-feet
in length, seemed unconcerned about me at first. The racer became nonplussed only when I
reached down and touched it, at which time the snake started twisting around as
if caught-up in an invisible blender and then it faux rattled its tail. Racers will often vibrate their tails when
feeling threatened. If they are in dry leaves,
this may make them sound like a rattlesnake.
Worried that my cats might find the snake (bunny), I
scooped it out into the grass. That is
when the bunny (snake) earned its name.
Racers are fast! The racer more
or less vanished at once, whipping off into the grass and sage expanse.
Fortunately, I was able to capture a photograph with
my twice-as-smarter-than-me-phone before I pushed the snake off into the grass.
--Mitchell
Hegman
Glad we don't have snakes in Hawaii!
ReplyDeleteThey are not all bad. They don't bother me all that much. I fins it interesting that so many people are super afraid of them...
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