Backyard Wildlife: Snakes??!!

Because our backyard is separated from a forest like area, we seem to have an abundance of wildlife visit.  Recently I wrote about raccoons coming to play.  In that post I had mentioned a snake.  Well here’s that “but that’s another post” blog post about the snake.

Unlike squirrels and birds, snakes are not frequent visitors.  Thank goodness!  I’m not sure I’d want to have to deal with snakes on a regular basis.  My father’s family is from Kentucky.  There are a lot of snakes in the mountains out there.  Whenever we visited my  grandparents, Papa (pronounced poppy!) made sure we knew how to watch out  for snakes.   My father’s cousin (an adult male with children older than I am!) would tease us horribly.  We’d be walking down the dark dirt road and he’d come up behind us and pinch our heels so that we’d think a snake had gotten us.  (He really isn’t mean and he makes the BEST chicken and dumplings.  Of course he learned from his mother, my grandmother’s sister, who learned it  from her mother.)

I remember one summer playing in the creek.  I saw a snake!  A scary one!  I thought it looked like a rattlesnake.  I yelled for Papa and he came running with a shovel.   It turns out that it wasn’t really a snake.  It was the shed skin of a snake.  <shudders>.

Back to the present.  My children, warned of the dangers of snakes, still find them fascinating.  I am certain they get this trait from my their aunt, my sister, who once had a baby boa for a pet.  <shudders>

Several years ago we had a snake in our backyard.  It was there for a few days and then was gone and for years we never saw another one.  Until this summer.   Though this is NOT the same snake from years ago, this one has made more than one visit these past couple of weeks.  The pictures are from his first visit a few days after the 4th of July.

black snake in grass

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What creatures have you seen in your backyard? I’d love to hear what wildlife frequents your neighborhood.

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