The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Last weekend, I was showing our farmsitter, Beth, what needed to be done to take care of our buffs when she spotted this running along the ground:

Click on the pic for a closer look. It's a red velvet ant, a.k.a. the cow killer. This is probably one of the prettiest insects around but it's also quite dangerous. While its name is inaccurate--it's a wingless wasp, not an ant--its reputation is apparently quite well deserved. The sting will not kill you but it is said to be so painful that you will wish you were dead. Fortunately, these beautiful creatures are quite shy and will only sting if you step on them or try to pick them up.

I have seen one or two of these before for just a brief second or two. They're very adept at going to ground quickly when spotted. The picture doesn't do justice to the intensely beautiful orange-red color and the velvet-like texture (judging from looks only) of their hairs. It would be very tempting to touch one if the consequences weren't so dire. Red velvet ants like sandy soil and here on Sandy Mush Creek, we've got plenty of it, so if you come for a visit, we definitely recommend keeping your shoes on when you're outside.

The next morning, I went out to take water to the buffalo, reached down to grab the black metal handle of my garden cart, and gave a small black snake a big surprise. Actually, it was a mutual surprise. I swear I heard the snake say "ACK!" just as I did. The little snake couldn't have been more than 14 or 15 inches long and was very skinny. I thought it might be one of the young black rat snakes. Perhaps it was using the handle as camoflauge.

I think I'm going to start calling Old Creaky the snake tree because this happened under the same tree where we had our snake-on-snake violence. A week or so ago, I also found this under the tree:

Yup, it's a snake egg. It had a hole in it out of which was poking a bit of fetal snake. It clearly wasn't in good shape and when I opened up the egg, it was obvious that the snake-to-be was not to be. I began to wonder if the king snake in the tree was a mama snake and she booted this one out when it was clear that it wouldn't develop properly. Or was it stolen? I don't know enough about how snakes care for their eggs or not to make an educated guess.

So, back to my little snake. It slithered off toward the mimosa tree and I went on with my morning. That afternoon when I was mowing the lawn near the well house, the little snake darted out in front of the mower. I turned off the blades and watched the snake stop just a couple of feet away. I waited for it to move, so I could continue without worrying about harming it. It reared up a bit and then I noticed--it was just about to finish eating another small snake!

Now I'm wondering if this was a young king snake that made a food run over to the well house where I know we have rat snakes. It's that or it was preying on a sibling. I felt less kindly towards it at this stage but no sense in losing two snakes in one day. I went and mowed in another area for a bit to give this reptilian gourmand a chance to relocate. Fortunately, it disappeared--into the snake tree, no doubt--and I finished my mowing of the yard.

Then, it was off to the driveway portion of the mowing (our gravel driveway has a grassy strip in the middle). Sure enough, as I got up towards the big barn, our biggest rat snake, King Rizzo, was crossing the driveway. I backed up to give him room to run and he eventually returned to the ditch from which he'd come. After I passed up and back, I looked back to see him attempt the crossing again. As he headed toward the barn, I noted that he, too, had recently dined as evidenced by a large, rodent-shaped bulge in his belly. Do snakes have bellies? No matter. You know what I mean. Made me think of the elephant inside the snake in Le Petit Prince.

Anyone up for a picnic at our place?????

Snake-on-Snake Violence

As I walked out to the workshop yesterday, I saw a strange dark object on the ground near the apple tree. A dead bird, perhaps? Suddenly, it started to rise up and thrash about. This was no bird--it was a large Eastern king snake. Its movements were so herky-jerky, I thought it might be injured. Then, suddenly, it became clear that there were two snakes writhing about. I wasn't sure if it was mortal combat or something friskier (not knowing much about how snakes do the nasty). Upon my approach, they moved off to the base of an apple tree which we affectionately refer to as Old Creaky.

I ran in to grab my camera and when I returned, I realized that what I was watching was one snake eating the other. Bite by bite, I watched the king snake devour what appeared to be a snake of nearly equal size (roughly 5 feet long). At first, I thought the other snake was one of our black rat snakes, but on closer inspection--you can get pretty close to a snake when its mouth is occupied eating another snake--the main course appeared to have faint versions of the yellow dotted lines that characterize our gourmand.

I hope you can see the mouth on the diner above just behind the tall blade of grass--he looked like a little gator in action. The tail on the left belongs to the victim and the tail on the right is that of the victor.

Here goes the last bite. As the king snake swallowed the tiny tail end of the other snake, it prepared to make a hasty exit. Up it went into Old Creaky. It didn't just climb the tree--it actually sequestered itself in the hollowed-out trunk. Not a bad place to hang out and digest. The standpipe where we fill our water buckets is just a few feet away, so there's almost always standing water there for anyone needing a digestif.

I hate to see this kind of snake-on-snake violence, but I gather that preying on other snakes is a hallmark of the king snake (it's good to be the king). I'm also starting to wonder if the chase had been on for several days. We had a bunch of empty bottles knocked off of shelves in the pump house as well as some small tools in the workshop. Both of these outbuildings are favorite hangouts for our black rat snakes, so maybe the king snake was hungry and went hunting there first. Just wish the snakes would stick to rodents. Maybe they've been doing too good a job lately as the mouse traps have been staying empty. OK, sweet dreams, everyone!