My son and I were cleaning up the yard after a birthday party for my husband when we noticed this strange object on the ground beside the oak tree.
Have you ever seen or come upon one of these? YIKES! You are correct if you guessed the object is a snakeskin. I don’t know if you can ascertain the length or not, but I know the size after stretching it out alongside of myself, almost five feet long, just about four inches shorter than I stand.
We stared at the skin in fascination and noticed it was very fresh, it hadn’t even collapsed upon itself yet. Uh-Oh! We looked around and sure enough, just a few feet away we saw this guy or gal in the grass. Double YIKES!
A black racer…he didn’t like us anymore than we liked him. Racers can be mean. They have been known to charge those who get too close, hissing and trying to bite. The bite might hurt, could become infected, but racers are not poisonous.
I said to my son, “Don’t let it get away until I get a photo,” and ran into the house to grab my camera.
When I came back my son had a strange look on his face and asked, “What did you expect me to do if it started to get away?”
We both laughed, the strange, strangled laugh that quells up inside when you find yourself in a situation you don’t want to be in. I took a couple of quick photos, but the racer took offense at my proximity and slithered away into the ivy.
I had recently noticed the chipmunk problem in my yard had diminished. Now the mystery of their disappearance is solved. Snakes might be scary, but the harmless kind are beneficial in keeping the rodent population under control. Even though I don’t want to find this guy under my feet, he is welcome in my garden.
