Snake!

The other day while out at the farm we were inventorying some old corrugated metal sheets to see if they would work for the new brooder roof. I've been here in the country long enough to know to lift anything in tall grass with my boot and not my hand. I had three helpers with me, helping by playing football in the field. As I turn over the last piece of sheet metal, I see a flash of black. There are several varieties of snakes that we have seen around that are black: rat snake, cottonmouth, and my personal fav - the king snake. I immediately called the kids over to see it. I assumed it was a king snake, but he started shaking his tail like a rattler. This puzzled me as the kids came running. He was pretty nervous and kept trying to tunnel under the grass and the sheet metal. The kids finally made it and as I was pointing him out to them with my boot - he struck! He hit my boot, recoiled back under the grass before I even flinched my foot back. I laughed and said excitedly, "Boy, did you see that?" The kids all in unison said, "Make him do it again, Daddy!" Yep, they are adjusting just fine to the farm life!

We got home and they excitedly told momma about our adventure. Of course, they were mostly talking football, but then got around to the snake discussion. So we looked it up in the Arkansas snake guide and it turns out he was a black rat snake. When startled or when they are defensive, they shake the ends of their tails like a rattler. Nothing's on the end of their tails, but ours was just a shaking it. So if you ever see a black snake that is shaking his tail nervously without a rattle, he might be a safe guy to keep around.