My go-to site for snake identification is The University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. In addition to a list of snakes in my state, it has tips for how to remain safe around snakes. So I'm happy to say that the Eastern Kingsnake is a "good" snake to have around. It is a constrictor and is resistant to the venom of pit-vipers which it readily eats (copperheads, cottonmouths, and rattlesnakes.) It will rattle its tail, release musk, and bite upon capture, but it is not venomous.
I think if I am the true animal lover I claim to be I need to study this list so I can protect wonderful animals such as this. I admit that my initial reaction to snakes is fear, but I commit to working on that.
(pictures courtesy of the above mentioned Savannah River Ecology Laboratory)
3 comments:
We almost stepped on a baby snake while running tonight. I think it might've been a copperhead. It wasn't hurting anything, though, so we shooed it back into the woods.
-Shirin
Good for you. Eeww, copperhead? Still working on the fear factor...
Good deed, Shirin, the right thing for the environment and humanity, I would say. We just have to coexist. That is one reason I have been redoing the backyard to make it unlikely for anyone to step on a hidden innocent creature, snakes, and be bitten.
Saeed
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