harmless snakes – Lee Duigon

Jambo! Mr. Nature here–and today our safari need take us no farther than my own back yard.

These little DeKay snakes used to be pretty common around here. I liked to catch them and handle them a bit, then let them go. They’re really tiny–the biggest one I ever caught, a real giant among DeKay snakes, was only about a foot and a half long. Most of them top out around six inches.

Uh… Was I supposed to blog some nooze today? Ah, never mind. God’s stuff is nicer.

The DeKay snake in this video has just had babies, live birth instead of eggs. You really wonder how she could have carried so many babies–but don’t ask me to count them.

These snakes eat bugs and slugs, so it’s good to have them in your garden. I wish we still did.

Hi, Mr. Nature here–with an animal that possibly lives in your own back yard without your ever having seen it: DeKay’s snake, aka the brown snake.

I know, I know, quite a few of you are afraid of snakes. But these are very small, totally harmless, and of a very meek temperament: I’ve caught many of them by hand, and not one has ever tried to bite me. Anyhow, they couldn’t hurt you if they wanted to, and they seem to know it. Most of them, when caught and handled, calm down in a matter of seconds. They used to be pretty common in my neighborhood, but what with the perpetual war on nature that goes on in New Jersey, it’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen one. I miss them.

These little snakes live in leaf litter, where their small size and generally brown or greyish coloration helps them blend into the background. They eat bugs and slugs and grubs, and the occasional earthworm–in fact, they eat a lot of things that any gardener would want them to eat.

Again, they never try to bite when you pick them up. No self-respecting Northern water snake would ever let you get away with that. DeKay’s snake is not a very exciting snake–which is the way I like them.

So there you have it, more of God’s stuff–a little animal that’s pretty to look at, easy to handle, and does no harm whatsoever. It deserves the right to go about its peaceful little business unmolested.