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Spotting

Notes:

Spotted on the lawnmower by my father. He thought it was a rattlesnake from the diamond patterns, so he captured it, so that the dog wouldn't attack him. About as thick as a pencil and not much longer. Very defensive.

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7 Comments

Liam
Liam 11 years ago

Is the tail long enough to be a (juv) Coachwhip?

ShannonE
ShannonE 11 years ago

I agree, I think it's a juvenile racer.

Aaron_G
Aaron_G 11 years ago

No need to apologize. I just like to clear that up because I hear it all the time. It's my way of helping people understand animal behavior and get them away from incorrect and negative descriptions. Snakes need all the help they can get! :-)

This looks like a juvenile racer to me. Here's a link that gives more information:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology/fl-...

Onthetrailto
Onthetrailto 11 years ago

-PerilsOfPlastic
The markings look very similar, but the head on the gopher snake appears more narrow than mine. That could just be due to the fact that mine is a juvenile.

-Aarron G
I apologize for the misnomer. I wasn't actually there when my father encountered it. I'm actually 200 miles away from him, in college. My dad is a little less politically correct than I in many things that deal with animals and nature in general. I would imagine that the little guy was simply trying to not become a meal in his (or her) own mind.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 11 years ago

Tail too.
Harmless snake.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 11 years ago

Are there Gophers in Florida? This looks like a gopher from the markings on the face, Especially the horizontal line across.
Compare to this spotting.
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/129...

Aaron_G
Aaron_G 11 years ago

Lovely snake. :-) I would like to quickly clarify the snake's behavior. It was not acting aggressive in the least. It was merely frightened and was reacting to the giant animals that were handling it. That's being defensive.

Onthetrailto
Spotted by
Onthetrailto

Cooper City, Florida, USA

Spotted on Sep 22, 2012
Submitted on Oct 5, 2012

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