Okay, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Are you crazy!?! The only good snake is a dead snake!" Well, I do understand the fear. Down here we have cottonmouths, pygmy rattlers, diamondback rattlers, timber rattlers, copperheads and coral snakes. But we have non-venomous ones as well. And here, unless your life or your family is in danger, it is illegal to kill a snake. I might add that while my sister and I were on vacation my sister, who does not garden, introduced me to snake id groups on Facebook.
It proved beneficial in less than a week. Mom stepped into the garden and was witness to a brightly colored snake feasting on a mouse. She came in and identified the snake from a picture. First thing she told me was she didn't think it was venomous. That was a first for her, I think, as she used to label every snake a copperhead. From the pictures, we determined that the snake was a milk snake, and Milkshake the Milk Snake was taking care of a tasty mouse he'd spotted. I voted to let him live. They barely break skin, and it's rare that they do. He's not venomous...what's not to love about this guy? Please note this isn't my picture. It came off the internet.
The first thing I learned is check for strong banding around the mouth. If it has strong, clear banding, it's not venomous. The shape of the head has nothing to do with whether or not it's venomous. It's all in learning patterns on the snake. I try to look for 3 identifying characteristics to identify snakes. Oh and another thing that doesn't work is "red on black, friend of Jack, red on yellow, kill the fellow."
So the identifying characteristics on this guy are, for me, he has good banding on his mouth. He has red and black spots on a white background so this eliminates the possibility of it being a coral snake. Plus, when we saw him, he was constricting his prey. Milk snakes have this pattern and are constructors. This enables me to say that this is a milk snake.
And Milkshake the Milk Snake is out on patrol.
There are other beneficial snakes out there. It might be best if I talked about them individually, but if you're interested in snake identification you can find most states have a snake id group on Facebook. Just don't call them danger noodles or nope ropes and start looking at patterns and you'll do fine.
Until next time, happy gardening!
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