Found This Little Creature in the Yard..

Mullen · May 23, 2008

Ain't he cute?

castrol · May 23, 2008

Non venomous... you didn't kill it did you?

Mullen · May 23, 2008

Well, my dogs spotted it right after I took this picture. I knew it wasn't venomous, just didn't want my dogs to get bit anyways..

MACollum · May 23, 2008

Looks a bit like a black rat snake (though they tend to be solid black with some red on them and usually not so glossy looking). My husband would know, he's an amateur herp expert. There's nothing in the picture for scale, how big was it?

We have the reptiles and amphibians guide from the OK Dept. of Wildlife (highly recommended if you're into identifying reptiles that live in OK).

Mullen · May 23, 2008

MACollum said:
There's nothing in the picture for scale, how big was it?

Approx. 5ft long

MACollum · May 23, 2008

Could be a black rat snake (or a king snake, they look similar). Many species look different in different habitats.

I didn't know where Westville was so I had to look it up. You're almost on the AR border (I've heard the scenery in AR is pretty in the mountain area). Of course, eastern OK is very beautiful in the summer, and drastically different from western OK. I'm located in the middle so it's easy to get the best of both

JimmyO · May 23, 2008

Great shot

Hobbes · May 23, 2008

Mullen said:
Well, my dogs spotted it right after I took this picture. I knew it wasn't venomous, just didn't want my dogs to get bit anyways..

LOL you didn't really answer his question :lol:

but I guess you did kill that poor thing :greenpbl: well snakes are gross anyway

MACollum · May 23, 2008

Hobbes said:
LOL you didn't really answer his question but I guess you did kill that poor thing :greenpbl: well snakes are gross anyway

You wouldn't like my house then, LOL. We have at least 4 Kenyan sand boas (could be more, we have babies every year and I can never keep track of what we actually have), 2 Sinoloan milk snakes, and 3 corn snakes, in addition to 3 green anoles, 2 green treefrogs, and a leopard gecko (my daughter's pet). And a dog too. :wink:

My dh is always looking for snakes. Every time we go to the lake and goof off in the woods, you'll see him turning over rocks and boards looking for them.

JimmyO · May 23, 2008

MACollum said:
YI can never keep track of what we actually have

Thats pretty scary

Mullen · May 23, 2008

MACollum said:
Could be a black rat snake (or a king snake, they look similar). Many species look different in different habitats.

I didn't know where Westville was so I had to look it up. You're almost on the AR border (I've heard the scenery in AR is pretty in the mountain area). Of course, eastern OK is very beautiful in the summer, and drastically different from western OK. I'm located in the middle so it's easy to get the best of both

Whatever kind it was it scared me when I nearly stepped on him..while wearing shorts and sandals.

Yeah, Westville was part of Arkansas before statehood. There is some pretty mountainous landscape in the Ozarks (NW AR). I want to photograph the mountains in SE Oklahoma around Broken Bow, forgot my camera last time I went there.

JimmyO said:
Great shot

Thanks

Hobbes said:
LOL you didn't really answer his question but I guess you did kill that poor thing :greenpbl: well snakes are gross anyway

Actually, I just finished him off with a shovel after my brother shot it with his .22...

MACollum · May 23, 2008

JimmyO said:
Thats pretty scary

Nah, I don't mess with them. LOL. We used to have big snakes. The albino Burmese python we had when we first got married was about 10-12 feet when he died of an intestinal infection. I'm not really into snakes, but dh loves them. This picture was from a clutch we had a couple years ago. These are the Kenyan sand boas.