A little background on the story.....
This Saturday, Aug 27, I was returning from George Washington National Forest after a day out with some other Jeep friends doing some (legal) offroading. Returning home at about 6:30pm or so, late evening close to sundown, we turned onto I-295 to get around Richmond heading south, and only a few miles along the top of it, I was in the middle lane, traveling about 65mph or so in the "convoy" if you will.
On the shoulder of the road I saw a snake. I know a snake when I see it, I've done lots of road cruising. I couldnt immediately identify it though. My heart stopped. I CANT PULL OVER TO CHECK IT OUT!!!!!!!! I'd cause all kinds of trouble with all the vehicles around me. As I blew past it, in my side view mirror, I saw it lift its head and casually turn away from the highway I guess to head off back into the grass.
Heres what I know I saw, and maybe you folks can help me out with what it is.
The snake was about 3 feet or so. Straw in color. No discernable pattern on it, but the speed had something to do with that. The only straw colored snakes I've ever seen in Va are the garter snakes in my area, and copperheads. This snake was too fat to be a garter, and not fat and pancaked enough to be any kind of basking viperid. I saw no obvious hourglass' like would be on a copperhead either. I'd actually seen a yearling (10" or so) on the dirt roads leaving the forest earlier in the day at about 20 mph and again couldnt stop to shoot it with the camera. Back to the mystery snake....the head definition was not really clear unlike a rat snakes would be, so I ruled that out. The first words out of my mouth when I saw the snake was "yellow rat!" although being WELL aware it was way out of it's range, that was just my first impression because of the overall coloring and shape. Then I calmed down a little and thought about it ruling out the species I could.
By now I was cussing myself for not finding a way to pull over and ID the snake, and I was just now deciding it was possibly a mole king. This snake WOULD have been a lifer for me!!!!!! The frustration was palpable with me. I'm still mad at myself.
So, as you can imagine, at 65mph with a lane of moving traffic next to me, I barely had a good look, but I do have very keen sight with wildlife on the road, so Im pretty confident at what I saw is an accurate description. All I can think is that it had to be a mole king.
ARRRRRGGGHHHHH, Im SOOOO mad for not stopping.
Any thoughts? Confirmation of locale and species? I checked my "Snakes of Virginia" and it confirms moles in that general vicinity of the state.
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Tom
"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"
