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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.
7 Comments
Is the tail long enough to be a (juv) Coachwhip?
I agree, I think it's a juvenile racer.
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-...
-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.
Tail too.
Harmless snake.
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...
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.