Re: NANFA-- snakes
Mysteryman (bestfish_at_alaweb.com)
Tue, 20 Apr 2004 14:42:00 -0700
David Strickler wrote:
>
> It's probably a yellow rat snake. They can be quite striking (not biting)
> in the right light.
>
> David
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Prizma_at_aol.com>
> To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 1:09 PM
> Subject: NANFA-- snakes
>
> > my buddy down in carrabelle sent me this snakey report. he gets out and
> rides
> > his horse a lot in the appalachicola forest. i hope to get some of you
> down
> > there this fall...
> > waders are a must! its a great place to visit and ive learned it well.
> > does anyone have an idea what kind of snake he speaks of as orange?
> >
> >
> > Saturday I went riding by myself with Aijalon to the county line road and
> > back.Going out right at the power line road there was a 3' diamondback
> > rattle snake slithering across road 22.When we came back the boundary road
> > way the sun was setting low and the sun shown down on a 5'
> > snake,non-poisonous,that had a brilliant orange color,none like I'd seen
> > before.There was a darker orange line across his back.The sun may have
> added
>
I tend to agree, Yellow Ratsnake is the most likely culprit, although I
wouldn't have guessed they were so far up north. My other suspicion is a
color morph of Corn Snake. ELAPHE's tend to exhibit a lot of color
morphism, and they interbreed quite a bit.
The dark orange line down the back tends to eliminate Corn Morph,
though, and point right back at Yellow Rat Snake.
One of the niftiest snakes I ever saw was a Grey Rat/Corn hybrid. It
was, first of all, HUGE. It had the typical black and white checkerboard
belly pattern, but the top was weird. It looked mostly grey, but the
dark grey blotches of the pattern were all edged in orange! Yep.. a
light grey snake with dark grey blotches, each blotch with a bright
orange edge about 1/4 inch wide. Some guy caught it and tried to sell it
to us at the zoo.
Anyway, watch your step and you shouldn't have to worry about anything.
I stepped right on a Copperhead last year and survived. ( now if I can
just do something about that pesky Natrix erythrogaster that's hanging
out by my driveway, stinking up the place...)
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