Look who showed up on my afternoon walk. I’ll admit, I was airborne for a moment, until I determined what kind of snake it was. The reptile had to be over four feet long. With that round belly it looks like we caught this corn snake after it enjoyed a meal. Or it’s pregnant. X-rays are the surest way to know.
Of the forty-four kinds of snakes found in Florida, only six are venomous: the cottonmouth, coral snake, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, dusky pigmy rattlesnake, timber rattlesnake, and southern copperhead. Except for the timber rattle snake and the southern copperhead, I’ve had each of these in my yard at one time or another, yep─good times.
I remember when we had a lengthy coral snake show up near our steppingstone path. My husband caught it and took the healthy specimen to a local reptile center. They gave us free tickets to return and pay our little friend a visit. Also exciting was a thick cottonmouth coiled in the bush by our water meter. Surprise!
The worst are those little pigmy rattlesnakes. They’re mean little vipers. We had several pretzeled in the bushes edging our screened porch one summer. But that was nothing compared to the one that bit my sister-in-law when we were walking in her yard. She was fine─ after a week in the hospital. Yikes.
My favorite snakes are the black racers. We have a huge one that lives in our yard and it startles me when I open the door and he’s enjoying the warm sunshine on the concrete pad of the entryway. He’s a beauty and I like having him around to eat the palmetto bugs.
Red corn snake (pantherophis guttatus) aka Corn snake, aka Red Rat snake, or Eastern Corn snake is a common nonvenomous snake you are likely to see near swamps, pinelands, agricultural fields air hardwood hammocks, and adjacent residential neighborhoods. They will bite as a defense if provoked, otherwise they are simply looking for their favorite meals of rodents, lizards or birds. These little fellas prefer to be nocturnal. You can spot them in trees and lying among the palm fronds on the ground. But we’ve had several slither up to our house to say hello.