I managed to get a snap of Bob while he was lounging out in the pond
this morning. The snake is about 4 1/2 ft long. He just sits there,
motionless, until something comes within reach.
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...ekhuis/Bob.jpg
Discerning observers will notice that this is not a southern black
snake. As a matter of fact, it looks very much like a cottonmouth. So
here's what happened. I was sitting out by the pond when I noticed
this (rather elegant) long, thin, black snake. Over the next few days
we named it, and I became rather attached to it. Then I didn't see it
for a few days. Then I thought I saw it, but it seemed different
somehow. The very next day I got a better look, and the snake had
definitely put on weight, so much, in fact, that it didn't even look
like the same snake. It wasn't. I have no idea what happened to the
southern black racer, honest (the big snake probably ate it, snakes do
that). The big snake even has that angular head shape so common to
venomous snakes. But it isn't a cottonmouth (water moccasin). It is
a Florida water snake, non-venomous (I won't say "harmless 'cause they
bite -- hard) and almost identical to the venomous cottonmouth. One
can tell the difference by the round eye pupils (cottonmouths have
vertical elliptical pupils) and the lack of the heat sensitive "pit"
between the eye and the nostril. Anyway, it seemed easier to just
name the new snake "Bob" rather than go through all of this, at least
that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
--
Galen Hekhuis
I may have mispoken