We'll pull away from the birds for a bit with the first SSR (snake spotting report) of 2019.
Last weekend was truly spring-like weather so it stands to reason that ectothermic wildlife meant be out.
"I saw three of these snakes in a pile of juniper branches I was cleaning up," emailed Tim Reeves from North Knox County. The snakes were small, about the size of a silver dollar coiled up, "no more than a foot long if that with a pinkish grey belly."
Tim IDed them to be DeKay's brown snakes named to honor American zoologist, James Ellsworth De Kay.
A DeKay's is a small snake with stripes down its length much like a garter snake and a spot on the top of the head like a toupée. They really never grow much longer than a foot in length and coiled would easily fit into the palm of your hand. Nothing to be afraid of here unless you are a snail, slug or earthworm which you are probably not. (I do not get many gastropods or annelidas reading this blog.) Although if you are, please let me know.
Thanks, Tim!
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Tim IDed them to be DeKay's brown snakes named to honor American zoologist, James Ellsworth De Kay.
A DeKay's is a small snake with stripes down its length much like a garter snake and a spot on the top of the head like a toupée. They really never grow much longer than a foot in length and coiled would easily fit into the palm of your hand. Nothing to be afraid of here unless you are a snail, slug or earthworm which you are probably not. (I do not get many gastropods or annelidas reading this blog.) Although if you are, please let me know.
Thanks, Tim!
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