What's that snake?

[Roba' Kai]

I come out my front door yesterday, completely unaware that I had hit this poor guy with the door. Coming back from the driveway, I almost did it again. When I noticed him, I was startled.

Living in Sedona, we have found that shoes must stay on the porch. Anything white quickly becomes pink when Sedona dust is allowed inside. This guy was intertwined in our row of shoes on the porch. I couldn't see his tail and at first glance, I thought I had just beaned a HUGE Mojave Green with the front door. Having seen almost every type of rattle snake BUT a green before, I didn't know for sure. It was green and had the markings of a rattler, that was enough for me.

I was only inches away from him, barefoot and in shorts. I was sure he would take his revenge....I would if I were him. I don't like getting hit by a big wooden door.

I slowly backed away off the porch. His head followed me, becoming erect for almost a foot off the porch while the rest of him remained in the shoes.

After I went around back and grabbed my camera, he was already tired of it all and decided to find a new resting place in the more uninhabited area behind my house.

So, what is he? I suspect he is a gopher snake, but I've never seen one so green before.

Anyone wanna play, what's that snake?

http://www.hikearizona.com/dex2/album_p ... ic_id=1533

http://www.hikearizona.com/dex2/album_p ... ic_id=1534

[Al_HikesAZ]

Liz spelled a word wrong?

No - she was using her Poetic License.

[kingsnake]

Another good snake ID'ing site: http://www.phoenixsnakeremoval.com/snak ... hoenix.php

[Canyonram]

Here's a cool site that provides a 'quick and easy' identification tree for snakes.

http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?guide=Snakes

Of course, sometimes you don't get all of the necessary markers in a photo or quick glance on the trail. For some species, final identification requires a specimen---when I took a Herp course in college I remember spending too many hours in the lab going through the collections and counting pumpkin port (gee, the program edits A - N - A- L into pumpkin) plates, etc. The prof had made numerous trips to the Southwest and had illegally collected dozens of snakes, lizards, etc. He had half-a-dozen Grand Canyon Pink rattlers and bartered them with his fellow professors.

I was driving outside Casa Grande one day and observed a rattlesnake hit by a car. Of course I had to get out to look and grabbed my hiking pole to move the snake from the highway. I pushed the dying snake to the side of the road---keeping a good distance---and as I was leaning down to get a look, a roadrunner ran up and snatched the snake and made a mad dash across the desert with his dinner. I know how Wiley Coyote feels when outsmarted by the Roadrunner.

[kingsnake]