This little treasure came up out of a crack in a old log I rest on and spent some time time playing finger jungle gym and posed for a few pictures with me before going down into another crack in the log. Thought I would share since Worm Snakes are one of the least seen snakes in North America simply because they spend most of their lives burrowed underground or deep in rock piles or down in and under old rotting logs. She is one of the biggest ones I have ever seen
Only had her out of the shade for a couple minutes to take a few pics Was hoping the picture would show the eggs she has in her. Semi translucent belly lets you see them but the camera obviously can't My guess is she is out and about today looking for a place to lay those eggs. That old log I sit on would be a good place for her since it has several hollow knot holes that go pretty deep into it.
I had one of these when I was a child. My Granny told me it was a stinging snake because it would poke it's tail into your hand sometimes. It didn't break the skin but folklore had it that if it stung a tree while you were on your way to church Sunday morning, when the service was over and you returned, the tree would be dead. Stinging snakes, hoop snakes and spreading adders were by far the most venomous reptiles ever to never inhabit our region.
Used to catch them all the time as a kid. I ended up killing one of the biggest ones I've ever seen the other week ,, grading and digging stumps with the bobcat,, he was cut in half before I seen him.
Yep they will poke you with the tail if you get them worked up and can make a real potent stink from a set of glands. I hear they make pretty good pets as far as snakes go. LOL love the spread head snakes first one I ever saw when I was a kid was just after watching the Rikki Tikki Tavi cartoon show with the Cobra and a hour later I have the Biggest Cobra in the world in front of me. Course it was only a foot long and not a Cobra just a old spread head playing intimidation with me. Caught it with a forked stick, grabbed it behind the head and ran to Grandpa with my Cobra catch. He told that story and laughed about until the day he died. Never have seen a Hoop Snake but we had plenty of Blue Racers that were so deadly that if you would run they would chase you jumping up at you the whole time trying to bite you LOL.
That is what she was probably thinking, and then now that I have this stupid human what am I going to do with him!
Funny thing is the Hognose actually is venomous, at least to frogs and amphibians. They have back fangs for deflating toads too. Toads are their preferred diet, and they seem immune to the toxins in toad skin. I like to watch them play dead after they figure out their huffing and puffing doesn't work.
Found another one of the more common snakes here. Pulling some weeds in the cucumber and a Rough Green Snake was supervising the work. LOL I have a goal over this summer to get pics of all 15 species of snakes that live on the farm. Just have to remember to throw the camera in the pocket when I head out over morning The Copper heads and timber rattlers I will have to journey over to the West side to find, pretty much have to hunt them down. Really want to have the camera for the Big Old King Snake, she is always somewhere in or under one of the buildings and is a impressive old gal at almost 8 feet long. Her only Rival in size here is a big Black Snake that is just short of 7 1/2 feet. The black Snake will be a easy pic since he is always somewhere in the hog barn. Totally harmless bug eating machine Generally very shy snakes that like to stay hidden. A lot of these here but they blend so well they are rarely noticed. Nice balancing act on that cattle panel!
