Inspiring animals, domestic and wild.

[urbpan]

Sometimes the dogs will surprise us. Charlie tolerates the puppy but doesn't really like him all that much. We let Charlie into the kitchen (normally puppy-only territory during fostering) and he laid in the puppy's bed. The puppy was not deterred by the bed being full of Charlie, and curled up next to him.




Here is my colleague from the Blue Hills Trailside Museum with a black rat snake. She brought it to the zoo hospital for it's regular checkup.


The black rat snake is an inspiring species to me, let me explain by telling a story. This story may or may not be true in the altogether, but it is how I remember things. My brother can correct me if he remembers differently. It was 1976, and all across America there were special events constantly because of the Bicentennial. My family went to a public park where some kind of festivities were happening. A nearby Mass Audubon sanctuary by the name of Laughing Brook sent some representatives to the park. One was an educator with a black rat snake.

The black rat snake is one of the largest native snakes in New England, reaching 8 feet. They are impressive animals, a protected and rare species in our part of the world. The educator saw my wide eyes and broad grin and let me hold the snake. I would have been six years old. That experience made an indelible mark on me, ensuring that at some point I would make wild animals the center of my life.

Comments

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

i've stopped a few people from killing something that looked a bit like that snake... though it could have been a water snake? was VERY long.

"sorry dudes, that's protected by law, $100k fine. i WILL report you. leave. it. alone."

my old neighborhood had several, they LOOKED both ways on crossing the road (i have a picture somewhere). awesome.

also: pitty dogs. so terrible :) puppy!

#

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for stopping people from killing snakes. In New England our only dangerous snakes are Federally and State protected, your snake was probably a racer or a water snake, which do bite but are not venomous or otherwise dangerous.

http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Wildlife/Nongame/snakes.htm

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

lots of water snakes and garter snakes (in a few shades), at my last place... it's esp fun to water water snakes hunts - alas, not so much with pictures on that front compared to birds. here's a few:

have only ever seen two hognose snakes - scared the crap out of me as a kid :D

here's a handsome dude:



this is the rare flattened tree snake:



they sometimes become very flat, then dry out ... figured it was best displayed in a tree :P i'm suspecting that was one of our larger water snakes before it met flatland

met this one in CT - pretty relaxed, got a lot of shots:



http://perspicuityphotos.smugmug.com/Nature/Fall-2007/3478078_5VxM5g#!i=200907939&k=xR5dQZP

clearly, i need to find more snakes.

#

[dinahprincedaly.livejournal.com]

yay charlie, yay puppy!

do the black rat snakes swim? is that what we have in our swamp and lake sometimes in CT?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

It's possible that they can swim, but it seems more likely that you're seeing northern water snakes, which are also very dark colored, and can be large.