A "snake person" I am not! But I have learned to accept their presence and understand that in many ways they are "a gardener's friend".
Most of the snakes I've seen here are Garter Snakes. You can see how we "rescued" one last winter here and here, but the first one I saw this year is this one. I have identified it as an Eastern Milk snake (but if anyone has any other suggestions, please tell me).
I didn't measure it, but my guess is that he was about 75 cm long and slender. He didn't move around much, probably because it was too cold still - although the sun was out.
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How intresting, but then again, I dont have to live with them! No snakes here in Ireland, just worms!
ReplyDeleteØh..er den harmløs eller hvad, slangen.
ReplyDeleteVedr. Bark. har du adgang til pil som har et par år på bagen, så er det altså nu, du kan begynde at høste, du skal høste.
Har kusus her i et par dage, så der trækkes bark. Jeg har jo massere af stor pil.
Hi Sunny
ReplyDeleteI heard that St. Patrick took care of all the snakes in Ireland?
Lene
Hej Anne
ReplyDeleteSlangen er harmløs - ligesom alle Ontario´s andre slangearter, bortset fra een: Massassaga Rattler, som er en truet art, og kun findes et par steder.
Desværre har jeg endnu ikke nogen pil, som jeg ikke har høstet hvert år. Jeg har planer om, at lade lidt stå til næste år; men så går der jo endne 2-3 år, før den er stor.
Lene
Jeg beundrer dig, tænk at redde en slange! Jeg er dødsensræd for slanger og lad nu være med at spørge hvorfor, for det kan jeg ikke forklare ☺.
ReplyDeleteAf og til har der ligget en hugorm på terrassen ved sommerhust og solet sig og det er lykkedes mig at forcere mange høje ting, for at komme væk fra det stakkels kræ, der jo bare ville nyde lidt sol ☺
Annette, det behøver du slet ikke at forklare. Da vi først flyttede herud, nægtede jeg at gå udenfor uden mine arbejdsstøvler på. Som sagt så tolererer jeg de harmløse slanger - de flygter såmænd hurtigt. Der er klapperslanger i en mose ca. 7 km herfra, og jeg må indrømme, at jeg ikke er overbevist om, at de ikke kan bevæge sig hertil, så min skræk for dem betyder, at jeg er meget "vågen", når jeg er udenfor.
ReplyDeleteLene
It's definately an Eastern Milk Snake. These same snakes are sometimes confused with the Ringed King Snakes (another non-poisonous snake) or Coral Snakes (very poisonous snake), but the patterns on the Milk Snake are different. Usually the rings on the Milk Snake are not perfect rings, but are more uneven, and don't always make it all the way around the snake's body. The Ringed King snake has the same color patterns (red-black-yellow-black-red) as the Milk snake, but the rings are perfectly round and go all the way around the snake. The serpent you need to worry about the most (and I don't know if you even have them where you live) are the Coral snakes, which are one of the most poisonous snakes in the world. The Coral has the same colors as both the Milk and Ringed King snakes, but the order of the colors are different. On Coral snakes the color red is always next to the yellow, i.e., there are no black rings separating the yellow from the red.
ReplyDeleteI live in Arkansas, and we are plagued with Coral snakes (as well as Black Moccasins, Rattlesnakes, and Copperheads), so I've had to learn how to identify them correctly from the non-poisonous snakes, else I can lose my life. A little saying to help me remember: "Red on black, venom lack. Red on yellow, kill a fellow." Strange saying, but it works!
Thank you, J.R. for confirming this. In Ontario we only have one poisonous snake, the Massassauga Rattler and it is endangered. There is a small population not far from here.
ReplyDeleteLene