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Snakes Alive!
Apr. 19th, 2009 01:46 pmI stepped out of house this morning to get the Sunday paper when I saw a snake crossing our driveway. I knew it wasn't a rattlesnake by the look of the tail, but didn't know if it was venomous or not. It's not. I was told it was a bullsnake by someone on Twitter. My Audobon Southwest book did not have it in there so I wasn't able to ID it. I thought it was going to be like identifying a bird. The pictures and illustrations sometimes don't really help. There can be a lot of variation within a species.
This is the first snake we've seen since moving to Tucson. I'm not going to worry about snakes in the driveway or in the front of the house. I'll just avoid them and they'll go away eventually. Though I suppose if I'm expecting visitors I'll have to warn them. If one gets into the backyard, garage, or--shudder--house then I'll have to do something. Anyway Melissa did not freak out. I guess it helped there was a screen door and 20 feet separating her from it.
I also took a short video of it so you can see its tail better.
So far I've seen rabbits, jackrabbits, quail, lots of other desert birds, chipmunks, ground squirrels, and a bobcat in our neighborhood. I've heard but not seen coyotes. I think my foothills experience will be complete when I see javalinas.
This is the first snake we've seen since moving to Tucson. I'm not going to worry about snakes in the driveway or in the front of the house. I'll just avoid them and they'll go away eventually. Though I suppose if I'm expecting visitors I'll have to warn them. If one gets into the backyard, garage, or--shudder--house then I'll have to do something. Anyway Melissa did not freak out. I guess it helped there was a screen door and 20 feet separating her from it.
I also took a short video of it so you can see its tail better.
So far I've seen rabbits, jackrabbits, quail, lots of other desert birds, chipmunks, ground squirrels, and a bobcat in our neighborhood. I've heard but not seen coyotes. I think my foothills experience will be complete when I see javalinas.
