snake: to drink there

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Like today—a hot, sultry day in July—the black rat snake slowly worked its way down the slope, through the forest, over the rocks to drink from LeConte Creek south of Gatlinburg, my home town. Its movements were cautious, but deliberate.


I won't say slither, there was far too much grace in its movements.

Did it know the creek was there? Could it smell it? Sense it? Or was it doing it from memory? Or like any good outdoors-person, know that if you travel down hill, you eventually find water.

It prompted me to think of the 1923 poem by D. H. Lawrence. It also takes place in July, but on the other side of the world.

 I first read the poem in college, and perhaps, just perhaps, it was the first place I learned to truly respect, even admire snakes. After all, they were not here to harm me, but rather to peacefully coexist.

“A snake came to my water-trough

On a hot, hot day, and I in pyjamas for the heat,

To drink there.

In the deep, strange-scented shade of the great dark carob-tree

I came down the steps with my pitcher

And must wait, must stand and wait, for there he was at the trough before me."

In the deep, strange-scented shade. Wow. That's a poet.

-For the complete poem go to Snake.

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snake up a tree

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Kimberly Womack sent me this photo of a black rat snake climbing a tree to get at the nest of a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers.

Her questions (and I do not know the answers, so if you do let me know and I'll pass it along):

How does the snake know that there's a nest hole high up in the tree? Vibrations? Or does it just climb trees at random, which seems unlikely.

And why did it pass a nest hole that was lower on the trunk to get to one that's higher?

Rikki? Are you out there?

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an important lesson

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Vicki McKernan telephoned recently. She said she had a silly question.

The McKernans have a six-foot long black rat snake that lives on their property. Vicki occasionally sees it. She doesn't like snakes but she knows it's only doing its job catching and eating mice, moles, voles and shrews. Yum! And, indeed, they have not seen any small rodents around their home in a long time.

But her black lab is beginning to get curious about the snake and Vicki knows its a constrictor.

Vicki wondered: "Is there any danger of the snake trying to squeeze her dog to death?"

No. The snake only kills what it plans to eat in this manner and a black lab is far too big to consume or even to squeeze to death. If harassed, the snake will either try to move away quickly, rear up and head butt the dog or perhaps strike and bite it. The bite will hurt but not kill the curious lab. But, most importantly, it'll teach it a valuable lesson.

Thanks, Vicki.

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exhausted

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This is about a snake.

Yes, a snake, so please don't go running and screaming from the room. Don't get creeped out or the heebie-geebies.

Snakes are okay. Really. They have an unique niche in the natural world.

They are like lizards except they do not have legs and you can tolerate lizards can't you?

At the nature center, we have a female black rat snake that was once an illegal pet. We acquired her through Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

On a recent Saturday, she surprised us by laying a clutch of 18 eggs. It took most of the day and we were amazed because she does not have a mate, which means the eggs had not been fertilized.

She stayed with her brood until she had laid the last oblong egg and then, as in nature, she moved away, presumably exhausted. This allowed Pam and Louise to remove the eggs that would never hatch.

Laid end-to-end, the 18 eggs seem to just about equal her overall body length. Oh, the labor!

How did she do it? Or, better still, why did she do it? What a waste of precious energy. Such work for no return.

For another amazing black rat snake story, visit high wire act on the farragutpress web site.