Yet Another Sequence

Snake feels itchy . . . kinda twitchy . . .

Time to shed skin . . . find a way in . . .

Climb up here. . . the place is near . . .

To the top . . . no time to stop . . .

In the greenhouse, scrape and slide . . .

Peeling, revealing brand new hide . . .

Leave the old tired skin behind . . .

On the shelf for her to find.

Standoff

This could have ended badly for our resident blacksnake.

We count on him or her to keep down the rodent population and to deter copperheads.

While Layla was definitely interested, she was also a bit intimidated.

The snake was in defense mode but really just wanted to get away.

John, who took these pictures, was able to get Layla inside so that Big Black could ooze away back to his/her job.  I hated to miss the action but was in the house with Josie and didn't want to bring her out in case Layla attacked the snake.  

Which, thanks to John, didn't happen.

Country living. . .

Divestiture...Of a Sort

A few days ago I encountered this handsome black rat snake on the rocks outside the little greenhouse. I noticed how shiny he/she was and looked for a recently shed skin in the greenhouse -- always a favorite place for blacksnakes to perform this maneuver. No skin and I forgot about it . . .

. . . till yesterday when I was heading for the potting bench behind the house and put my hand on one of the uprights of the gate. 

Yikes! That WAH! moment that kicks in as the monkey brain screams SNAKESNAKESNAKE! Then the reasoning part of my mind took over and I enjoyed the beauty of the shed skin, noting how the tail was hooked around the latch so the snake could wriggle free of the old skin like a fat lady peeling off her Spanx.

Only a lot more elegantly.

More from Around the Farm

Composition in Curves and Coils

This handsome black snake (rat snake) was  atop the rock wall behind our house, enjoying the sun.

The bulge in the middle is probably the result of lunching on a chipmunk or two.

 

Always Use a Bag - Repost

I'm fascinated by the beauty of many natural things -- old bones, shells, rocks -- and shed snakeskins. It's amazing to me how a six foot plus blacksnake can slip out of his old skin so neatly, leaving behind a perfect ghostly image of himself down to the lenses that covered his eyes.

There's been ample opportunity to study these shed skins -- we have one blacksnake who leaves a skin in our greenhouse several times a year while others twine their discarded finery into the crevices of our rock walls.

Blacksnakes are mostly welcome around our place -- they eat rats and mice and are said to deter copperheads. Unfortunately, they also eat baby birds and on occasion, one has taken up residence in our chicken house, swallowing the eggs one after another. When this happens, I try to catch the snake, put him in a bag, and take him for a ride around the mountain to release him in a wooded area.

I didn't always use a bag. It just didn't occur to me. But came the fateful day when I had hold of a great large snake lumpy with just-swallowed eggs. I handed him to my 15 year old son to hold while I drove the truck to the accustomed snake release area a few miles away.

We hadn't even gotten down to our mailbox before the snake began to poop. (Somehow, I'd never considered this possibility.) It was pasty and yellow and smelled (no surprise here) like rotten eggs. Appalled, my son let go of the snake's body but managed to hang on to his neck. "Arrrgh!" my son shouted. "Mum! Look what your snake is doing!"

And now the snake was regurgitating the last egg he'd eaten. I stopped the truck. "Just put him out here," I said, trying to sound really calm.

Easier said than done. My son had control of half of the snake -- the head end. But the tail end had slithered under the truck seat and was firmly wrapped around the jack.

By the time I'd gotten the indignant snake loose, the completely indignant son mollified, and the interior of the truck cleaned out, I'd learned a lesson.

Always use a bag.

 

This is a snake, lumpy with something he's just eaten -- probably mice. and this is a re-post -- there were no comments on its first outing three years ago -- maybe everyone was just grossed out.