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Gene's notes
May has been an active, unusual month. Temperatures during much of the month were moderate during the day and cool at night. During the last week of the month temperatures increased both day and night. Overall, the month was also dry. I saw very few Box Turtles during the month. The most unusual observation was the distribution snake species seen. The number of Black Rat Snakes and Black Racers encountered was lower than expected and the number of King Snakes was greater. More peculiar was that I saw mostly Mole Kings while Win and Hope saw only Eastern Kings. During the last half of April and first half of May I found seven DOR Mole Kings and one Eastern King. Win and Hope must have seen a dozen or more Eastern Kings, AOR and DOR. Hope even found a small one swimming in a lake. I also received several emails from persons who had encountered Eastern Kings.
I saw a few DOR Black Rats and Racers, one DOR Cornsnake, and a DOR Rough Green Snake. What I did not see was any of the small snake species.
Win found a beautiful 45-inch Eastern King on the road near our driveway. More correctly, Win came upon a local who had a stick and said he thought he would capture the snake and see if he could sell it at a local store. The person had no idea what kind of snake it was. Win dissuaded the person from capturing it and took it from the road.
When I got home after work, Win showed the snake to me. For several weeks, I had an inspiration for a picture that I wanted to make and had been hoping to get a snake large enough to make it possible. We kept the snake for a couple days until I could make the picture.
The idea was to drape a snake on a highway sign for a curving road, a “snake road.” I backed my pickup close to a sign with character close by home. Win placed the Kingsnake on the sign while I photographed. The draping was more difficult that I had planned since the edge of the sign was rather narrow and had sharp edges. We finally managed to get a picture with the snake half on the sign.
Then, while repositioning the snake in hopes of getting a better position, the snake began crawling into the space between the sign and the channel of the post. The snake hooked itself around the through bolt and could not be pulled out without damage. We decided our only option was to let the snake crawl down the channel and out the bottom. As goes with many plans, things went awry. The snake found a crack between the post and sign large enough to crawl through. The problem was that when it got about a foot out of the crack, there was no place for it to go, so it just stopped. We found a dead tree limb and propped it against the sign. With tickling of its tail by Win, the snake finally crawled out of the sign. |
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The last weekend in May, Win, Hope, and I headed to Hellhole for the annual gathering with Jeff Holmes and friends. We had a great time. I will be writing special notes about the weekend. On my way down I made a side trip into Aiken County. I was hoping to find a Pine Snake, but no such luck. I stopped at an access area on the South Edisto River where I have seen Brown Water Snakes basking. No one else was a the landing, but I did not see any snakes. I did find a decapitated Musk Turtle that was still moving. I expect a fisherman hooked it and cut the head off. On my way back home on Sunday, I again detoured into Aiken County. I found a DOR Yellow Rat Snake at the southern county line. Further along, I found a DOR Coachwhip. I left Aiken County and passed through the Town of Saluda. I found a DOR Eastern King Snake. The about 3 miles south of the Town of Chappells, I spotted something I have never found in the Piedmont, a glass lizard. It was a DOR Slender Glass Lizard. About 4 miles north of Chappells (about 15 from my home), I found an AOR adult Slender Glass Lizard. I stopped as quickly as safety allowed. Fortunately, there was no other traffic at the time. I ran back and grabbed the lizard. I wanted to capture it and I wanted to get it off the road quickly. When I had a hold on it, it began trashing wildly and broke its tail off. The disembodied tail continued to thrash with great vigor. It was very understandable how the tail can distract a predator from the lizard. |
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Gene Ott
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