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Gray rat snake at the bird feeders, again

Rich Z

Rich Z

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Looks like another gray rat snake prowling underneath the bird feeders outside the bedroom windows. It was raining outside, so I didn't go out and catch him to relocate him. Been checking the bushes and trees near the feeders since then, but haven't seen him since.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw6XlNfxw3U
 
It's funny how some snakes have a certain range, and you seldom find them in other areas. I'm still looking for rat snakes but have only found yellows. I finally saw a king snake in my yard, and he moved away very quickly.
 
Nanci said:
He's just trying to help you thin the squirrel population!!
Click to expand...

He's got some growing up to do before he will be up to that task. If they would stay away from the bird feeders, and just tackle rodents, they would be more than welcome to hang around here.

We once had a Carolina wren nest in one of the planters on the front porch. Eggs had hatched and the babies were inside the nest. One day they just vanished, and I found a rather plump gray rat snake resting peacefully underneath that planter. Connie wasn't too happy about that.

We've found several gray rat snakes because the Carolina wrens had found them and were squawking like crazy. They make a pretty distinctive noise when a snake or a cat is around.
 
I actually like that coloration. We don't have them like that here (Tennessee), at least I've not seen any. They are much darker in color, almost black. I have caught a lot of babies that look like that, but they always seem to darken up as they get older. I've never seen an adult snake around here that looks like that. We do have a lot of the "Red Rat Snakes" here though.......oooops, I mean corn snakes.
 
The gray rat snakes around here really are rather pretty. Yet if you just go 20 or 30 miles north of here around Tallahassee, they get darker. I've only found one really large gray rat snake here on the property and he was still rather brightly colored.

The prettiest example wild gray rat I have seen was a DOR out west of us near Cape San Blas. It was a very bright silver color with chocolate colored blotches on it. It was around 3.5 to 4 ft. long, if I remember correctly. Right on route 30A east of the turnoff to Cape San Blas.
 
Pretty markings indeed. I'm sure you guys in the south see all kinds of variations of snakes. In Pittsburgh, we don't have many and none are venomous, thankfully. Rich, I heard Fla has six flavors that you need to steer clear of, including the coral snake.
 
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