Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Skinny On Our Snakes

Last week while I was away, B called to let me know he had killed a young moccasin in our yard.

Last night, he found this old snake skin. It is larger than the snake he killed last week, but last year we had several different kinds of snakes, including too many moccasins.

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I have never identified a snake skin and so I am not sure about this one. I do know that moccasins have keeled scales and there is a line through the middle of each scale on this skin. This skin is about two feet long (but the tail is not complete) and rather wide for its length. Its head is not complete but it might be the right shape.

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Look at the pattern on the top of the head of this moccasin I photographed here last year. I think it looks similar to the head skin pattern. You can also see the keeled scales.

“I’ve got my eye on you!!”

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I’ll keep an eye out for you, too.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is a friendly place everyone feels welcome

jojo said...

hey thats cool you found one with the eye and head intact. i find them but not so intact. I have 2 lovely king snakes that live under my shed. Keeps the rats at bay. Better than any cat i've owned. Only down side periodically i lose eggs to him.

So can someone determine the shedding as to which kind of snake it is?