Tuesday, November 1, 2011

a snake tail.

UPDATE! : I've been told that this is not a young bull snake but is an adult brown snake. I've got some smart friends. nov.2

The dog and I have been taking a lot of walks. Every time there's a walk there's an adventure. Saturday, Mudd's ears perked up and he began to paw at dry grass. Of course, this perked my human interest and I bent over to separate the grass blades and maybe figure out what the dog was looking at.
This is what I found. But it's kind of an odd story. The snake was small, about seven inches long, maybe 9. I reached down to pull the snake off the grass and had a hell of a time trying to get it to release it's grip. A small snake couldn't hold on that strong, right?

I was partially correct. I finally got the snake off the grass and it was super heavy. I looked at the bottom of the snake and a small grey mammal was voraciously gnawing, biting, shaking, and HANGING from the snakes tail. It was a shrew and it was trying to eat the snake! Wow. Eventually the shrew released it's death grip and disappeared into the tall grass. I stood there, befuddled.

I shook off the shock, photographed the snake and returned it to the wild.

6 comments:

  1. better to witness struggles in nature than to participate. ick

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  2. oooo... I love snakes. I don't think I have ever seen a bull snake before. I didn't know they played dead. How interesting.

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  3. @tom: next time I'll participate by eating the shrew.

    @ tracy: the craziest part is that the bull snake is a constrictor snake. they squeeze their prey to death but imitate rattlesnakes when they're intimidated. Wacky stuff.

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  4. also, did you guys check out the gnarly battle wound the shrew left on this poor guys tail. by the time I let him go it had scabbed nicely and he slithered into the grass without a limp....can snakes limp, though?

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  5. what i want to know is, how does a snake let a shrew get the better of it...pretty embarrasing

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  6. i'd agree with you. I mean, at least bite the shrew instead of letting it eat you alive. perhaps I'm underestimating the shrew. it was a nasty lil' thing.

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