finally got time to shoot a little bugger
Today's Backyard Wildlife
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finally got time to shoot a little bugger
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Nice little tree frog. Can't tell for sure but it looks like he caught an earthworm.
Saw a beautiful mountain garter snake on the golf course today. The colors were brilliant, it must have just shed its skin. I didn't have any camera with me to take a photo but here's the link to the Cal Herp page:
mountain garter
Saw a beautiful mountain garter snake on the golf course today. The colors were brilliant, it must have just shed its skin. I didn't have any camera with me to take a photo but here's the link to the Cal Herp page:
mountain garter
The link shows several color possibilities. Which one matches the one you saw?
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Stark black with 3 bright yellow stripes, black head. Very pretty snake, maybe 24 inches long. I put it back over into the long grass so nobody would kill it. Looked alot like this one but brighter.
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We have a very similar phase in the Poconos. We call it a ribbon snake.
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I think garter snakes are some of the most widely spread snake. This map shows the range of the western terrestrial garter and its various subspecies
I suspect there is a similar map for all the various garter snake varieties east of the Rockies as well. I know I saw garter snakes when I was stationed at Ft Belvoir, VA.
Growing up in Louisiana when I was a kid going to Ville Platte High School in the late '50's, I used to pull the grass away from the building foundations, and within a couple feet, there was usually one there. Keep going until about 4-5 feet away, another one. They were prolific. I don't remember what I did with them. ............ Nubs
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I grew up in Tacoma, WA, and saw garter snakes frequently. As a kid I liked to pick them up. Lost interest big time when one bit me on the hand! They aren’t poisonous, but the bite was a big ouch for a 9 year old! Chuck
is there a western extraterrestrial garter?
There probably is. I was coming home from Colorado once sometime about 1999. I wanted to go through my Elk hunting unit then as in about a month I'd be hunting in that unit. It was just below Winslow and as I was about to enter the National forest boundary, I saw a snake on the road. I stopped, and noticed it was dead and the skin wasn't damaged. I figured I'd put it in a bag, then the cooler, and skin it out after I got home.
While on the way home, I needed some water, which was in the cooler. I stopped, reached in and got a bottle, but noticed a scratch on my hand. Didn't think anything of it. Got home, left the stuff in the truck, and went to bed. The next morning, my hand was almost twice the size. I couldn't believe I'd gotten bitten by a dead non poisonous snake. So, it could have been Extraterrestrial as a dead snake can't bite............. Nubs
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I've been bit by garter snakes many times, mostly as a kid growing up, we'd catch them in the irrigation ditches. Never had a problem or worried about it after the first one grabbed my hand. But that Cal Herps web site says they actually are venomous, it's just the venom doesn't seem to have much effect on humans. It does seem to stun frogs, lizards, salamanders, tadpoles, etc. Another paragraph in there talks about garters who have been documenting eating western newts that have toxins in their skin. The report says the snakes aren't effected by the toxin and even seem to accumulate the toxins which makes them unappetizing to birds of prey, other snakes, etc. Don't they say the same thing about horned lizards that dine almost exclusively on ants?
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Feel bad for this mangy guy that passed through today. Called the Game Warden and said they’ll come to see if they can trap him. Regularly see healthy foxes but first time seeing him.
Grrrrrr
Is this a residential area? Why trap him?