This is what I saw when I first walked up. I've never found two or more snakes in the same place before. At first glance it looked like a fight or maybe some hanky-panky. Notice that the lighter colored snake's head is at the upper right and the darker snake's head is at the left middle of the photo.
The lighter one began writhing and coiling so that its head was protected/concealed by the rest of its body. The other one hung around for a bit crawling over and around the lighter one.
Pretty soon, the dark one departed and the light one remained coiled out in the open with flies blowing around it. The grass was freshly mowed so I thought maybe it had been injured. After about twenty minutes of seeing it there as I came and went; my curiosity got the better of me. I grabbed a three foot wood stake and my leather gloves from the truck. A bit of prodding with the stake revealed that its head was caught in the fine plastic mesh of the seed mat that had been installed in the swale. I opened the scissors on my knife and placed them close by, then I uncoiled the snake enough to get it behind the head with one hand while I cut the mesh loose with the other. It took one cut to free it from the ground and several more careful cuts to remove the mesh that was entangled around its head and caught under its scales.
As it started to head for the brush line it almost got tangled again so I picked it up and moved it into the bushes.
That's King Snake. You did well. Thanks.
Andy
I had the pleasure of watching a black snake eat a smaller copperhead once. The copperhead coiled around the black snake to keep from being eaten, it took about 20 minutes for the black snake to finish lunch.
Andy Bruner, post: 377495, member: 1123 wrote: That's King Snake. You did well. Thanks.
Andy
Grey Rat Snakes, Corn Snakes, King Snakes, and other "black snakes" ......There's so much variation in color and pattern in this area that I always have to look them up and compare photos to be half way sure what I found. I just make sure I know which ones are harmless.
Did you stand there and sing him a few bars of "Born Free" as he slithered off into the brush? 😉
You did good. I am a bit too "overly cautious" of snakes in the wild to have done that.
Yuk Stephen. [sarcasm]We can no longer be friends[/sarcasm].
Brad Ott, post: 377651, member: 197 wrote: Yuk Stephen. [sarcasm]We can no longer be friends[/sarcasm].
Careful, I'll bring you a pet so you'll like me again. 😛
Pssst. Brad. That's why I said nuthin'. Don't need no pets.
Maybe the dark colored was was the reptile world's version of Brock Turner....
After you untangled the snake and it resumed its snakelike activities you can bet there is a picture of you hanging on the wall of the community center for snakehood that has great big letters on it that say "DO NOT BITE THIS PERSON". 😉
Happy to see this post instead of the usual saw a snake and killed it post.
I believe the other snake is a known reptile sex offender taking advantage of it's helpless prey entangled in the plastic mesh. He is a real snake in the grass.
This fell out of one of neighbors trees last weekend
Now we know why the snake climbed the tree. I spy a bit of squirrel tail hanging out of the business end of that snake.