Rott’n Manor’s Wild Kingdom

Charrie found a large beautiful Rat Snake sunning itself in the yard of Rott’n Manor this afternoon. I was able to grab my camera and follow it around to get a few great shots of it.  Depending on the source this either an Eastern Rat Snake, a Black Rat Snake or a Gray Rat Snake.  I’m just going to say it’s a Rat Snake and leave it at that… an non-venomous species that is welcome to hunt at Rott’n Manor.

When I first approached it, Charrie had irritated it a bit by batting at its tail and it was posed in typical Rat Snake fashion, frozen in wrinkled kinks and giving off a foul-smelling musk.  As it moved off thru the grass, it vibrated its tail in dead leaves trying to mimic the sound of a rattlesnake. And finally, it climbed a tree showing its’ full length, off hunting for its lunch which could include birds, eggs, lizards, frogs, chipmunks, squirrels, mice, rats and other small mammals.

Links:
http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/elaobs.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantherophis_obsoletus

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