Almost stepped on this guy hiking yesterday

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I didn't know black snakes would rattle their tails until last summer. I walked around my garage and surprised a black snake, which struck a defensive poise and began rattling his tail in the leaves.
I asked a friend about that and he said it was very rare to see a black snake rattle his tail.
We had a Black Racer crawl into our pool deck a couple of weeks ago. When I tried to encourage him to exit through the open screen door by waving a broom at him, he reacted by rattling his tail and snapping at the broom. He felt cornered so his reaction was very different than when I encounter them in our yard where they are quick to run away (hence the name Racer, I guess).

My wife and I are trying to help others get over their fear of snakes and to especially stop people from killing them for no reason.

We were at Epcot once when a group of people in front of us started yelling and jumping away. There was a small snake on the sidewalk. My wife picked it up and placed it in the grass so it wouldn't get hurt.

When we first moved into our house, we had a beautiful Indigo snake in our yard. It was about six feet long at the time and was about eight feet when we last saw it. But I think it has moved since we have cleared and cleaned up much of our yard.
 
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A real experience is when you come across a nest of rattlers. Very strange to see that many of them in one place. Saw one in the Mojave back in the 60s. I didn't bother them and they didn't bother me.
 
This is one of the strangest videos i have ever seen regarding snakes.
Read about those snakes here.

Eastern Galapagos Racer Snake:​

Pseudalsophis-Occidentalis.jpg


-Don- Auburn, CA
 
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Ordinarily snakes swallow their prey whole, since you see several snakes attacking the one Iguana I'm curious to know how they consume the lizard.
They could fight over it. In some cases, the snake that has eaten the lizard will get eaten by the other snake. Even with snakes that normally don't eat other snakes.

-Don- Auburn, CA
 
If you watch the whole program on Eastern Galapagos Racer Snake, its freaky to see them chase the lizard even when the lizard jumps on a big rock, the snake is so long it just bends itself in mid chase and right up on the big rock it goes, even rocks that are 6ft tall its still in the chase. Pretty freaky. Its almost seems like a animatromic snake in a movie, but its real.
 
That’s correct Don. I lived in California for many years around rattlesnakes, king snakes, and gopher snakes. We saw more gopher snakes than anything, and they often rattled their tails to imitate the buzzing of a rattlesnake,attempting to intimidate whatever or whoever was present around them. Again,another snake that is harmless,but good at keeping mice and rats etc under control.
Scott,Orlando
 
That’s correct Don. I lived in California for many years around rattlesnakes, king snakes, and gopher snakes. We saw more gopher snakes than anything, and they often rattled their tails to imitate the buzzing of a rattlesnake,attempting to intimidate whatever or whoever was present around them. Again,another snake that is harmless,but good at keeping mice and rats etc under control.
Scott,Orlando
Yeah, gopher snakes are probably the most commonly seen large snakes wherever they are located. They like nice sunny warm days just like we do. Rattlesnakes could be just as common, but they are more nocturnal, so less commonly seen, unless looking for them. There are many common snakes that are rarely seen because many species spend most of their lives underground.

The CA common kingsnake is also fairly commonly seen, unlike the CA Mountain kingsnake that is rarely seen. But is still very common in many areas, it just spends more time underground. Then there is the Longnose Snake, which is very rarely seen as it never comes out during the day, totally nocturnal even spends most nights underground. But is believed to be quite common, we just don't see it often. But no moon on a dark warm night will increase the odds of it being on a dark, little used, paved road.

So see it below as it is unlikely to be seen anywhere else. I have yet to see one in the wild, yet both my houses are within its known range.

Long nosed snake:

Long-nosed-Snake-Rhinocheilus-lecontei_-Smoke-Creek-Desert-NW-Nevada_-Alan-St.-John-1024x722.jpg


-Don- Auburn, CA
 
Yeah, gopher snakes are probably the most commonly seen large snakes wherever they are located. They like nice sunny warm days just like we do. Rattlesnakes could be just as common, but they are more nocturnal, so less commonly seen, unless looking for them. There are many common snakes that are rarely seen because many species spend most of their lives underground.

The CA common kingsnake is also fairly commonly seen, unlike the CA Mountain kingsnake that is rarely seen. But is still very common in many areas, it just spends more time underground. Then there is the Longnose Snake, which is very rarely seen as it never comes out during the day, totally nocturnal even spends most nights underground. But is believed to be quite common, we just don't see it often. But no moon on a dark warm night will increase the odds of it being on a dark, little used, paved road.

So see it below as it is unlikely to be seen anywhere else. I have yet to see one in the wild, yet both my houses are within its known range.

Long nosed snake:

Long-nosed-Snake-Rhinocheilus-lecontei_-Smoke-Creek-Desert-NW-Nevada_-Alan-St.-John-1024x722.jpg


-Don- Auburn, CA
That's a beautiful snake.
 
That's a beautiful snake.
Nocturnal snakes are often colorful because it helps break up the outline that it is a snake. It's a defense against predators.

Here are some other examples of nocturnal snakes:

Organ Pipe Cactus Shovel Nosed Snake (found only in OPCNM, AZ in the USA <also in Mexico>):

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AZ Mountain Kingsnake:

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Western Ground Snake:

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Banded Sand Snake:

Redband_Sand_Snake_%282%29.JPG
 
What's the saying.. ? Red on black, friend of Jack. Red on yellow, you'll be a dead fellow. This is only for Coral Snakes tho?
 
What's the saying.. ? Red on black, friend of Jack. Red on yellow, you'll be a dead fellow. This is only for Coral Snakes tho?
There are exceptions to the rule. There are many "morphs" with snakes.

See here for the striped Diamond back that they have in ABQ, NM.

Some are extreme such as a striped gopher snake or striped CA king snake:

Common Gopher snake-but the striped morph:
striped%20gopher%20snake.jpg

CA common Kingsnake, striped morph:
717411ebe75cacba293a618a370b0873.jpg


And the Organ Pipe Cactus Shovel-nosed snake shown in my previous message can have yellow instead of white bands.

And outside the USA, coral snakes can look like this:

fed05f0a4d7e738089e8903825db4db6.jpg



So don't always bet your life on it!

-Don- Auburn, CA
 
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Red on black, friend of Jack. Red on yellow, you'll be a dead fellow.
Countless variations of that old saying. The first one I heard was "red to yellow will kill a fellow. Red to black is venom lack".

But there are countless ways to recognize that it could be a coral snake, such as its black nose. I can tell at a quick glance without even seeing the head, but I am quite familiar with most USA snakes.

SE coral snake:
flat,1000x1000,075,f.u3.jpg


AZ coral snake:

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Compare heads to the harmless Florida Scarlet Snake:

florida-scarlet-snake-joe-bledsoe.jpg



AZ Mountain kingsnake:

R.d8822aceaf65a6a2430e0dc61a226132
R.d8822aceaf65a6a2430e0dc61a226132

Arizona-Mountain-Kingsnake-Development-Reproduction.jpg

R.d8822aceaf65a6a2430e0dc61a226132


Louisiana Milk Snake could require a closer look, but still holds true:

LouisianaMilkSnake.jpg


-Don- Auburn, CA
 
But there are countless ways to recognize that it could be a coral snake, such as its black nose. I can tell at a quick glance without even seeing the head, but I am quite familiar with most USA snakes.
-Don- Auburn, CA
I'm pretty sure you know this but inspired by your great images, I asked Google...

3,000 species
There are more than 3,000 species of snakes on the planet and they're found everywhere except in Antarctica, Iceland, Ireland, Greenland, and New Zealand. About 600 species are venomous, and only about 200—seven percent—are able to kill or significantly wound a human
 
I'm pretty sure you know this but inspired by your great images, I asked Google...
They left out Hawaii. Hawaii has NO native snakes, never did. Islands were not there long enough for snakes to evolve and is separated too far from all other land.

In fact, Hawaii has no native LAND reptiles or amphibians of any type.

BTW, there are common garter snakes in SE Alaska. It is not clear if they are native or not. My guess is they are native because they are so close to the northern end of their known native range. They are reproducing in AK, so it is working out for them either way.

-Don- Auburn, CA
 
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Not to change the subject but since the discussion was about color (and those are some beautiful colors on snakes). Jumping spiders also have incredible color patterns. One of my favorites is the turquoise version.

Jumping_Spider_%28Salticidae%29_%288676318252%29.jpg
 

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