Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My boyfriend and I just purchased a new house last week, and the couple we bought it from was nice enough to plant us a garden before they moved out. Long story short, we seem to have a nice nesting area for the local crawling wildlife... I found our first friend yesterday while I was working in the garden...

Hopefully this little fellow and his siblings will grow up and help the cat get rid of the population of rats with racing stripes, aka chipmunks, in my yard before they find a way into my house.

And to keep it close to on topic, my favorite pic of my albino cali

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~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings (Spot and Fry)
1.0 Florida King (Gamble)
1.0 Ball Python (Mitch)
0.1 Red Belly Piranha (Fluffy)
1.0 Australian Shepherd (Spooky)
1.0 Springer Spaniel/Beagle mix (Snoopy)
0.1 Cat (Ecco)

Pretty cool Maggie. The good news is that you have snakes around your new house. The bad news is that you should not depend on that snake and its sisters and brothers to rid your house of rodents because it looks to me like a dekay snake and they don't eat rodents. I am sure you have other kinds of snakes around that do though. Nice cali.

Northern Brown Snake
Storeria dekayi dekayi

I agree thats what your new find is. They are real common here in Iowa. They like to feed on worms.

Take care.
Chris
MIDWESTERN MONSTERS

Thanks for lettin me know what they are, I wasn't sure... eating worms explains why I found a half a dozen of the little guys under the fence I tore down, there were worms and grubs everywere...

I'm pretty happy to have found them so soon, we just moved in Friday... Keeps my hopes up that I'll find other species close... Now if I can encourage ones that'll kill the rodents, I'll be happy...
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~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings (Spot and Fry)
1.0 Florida King (Gamble)
1.0 Ball Python (Mitch)
0.1 Red Belly Piranha (Fluffy)
1.0 Australian Shepherd (Spooky)
1.0 Springer Spaniel/Beagle mix (Snoopy)
0.1 Cat (Ecco)

Brown snakes are well known for their tolerance of everything manmade and they feed on worms and grubs...which you have. Brown snakes are pretty tasty for kings and milks, and in most cases you have one or the other....not both. While you might find a ringneck or redbelly your species will be limited, J

I'm expecting to find Garters and black snakes, and possibly Timber Rattlers... Last I checked, there haven't been kings in PA in decades, and I've never seen a milk anywere in western PA... I'll just encourage the ones I know are here to stick around and be happy I have them...
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~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings (Spot and Fry)
1.0 Florida King (Gamble)
1.0 Ball Python (Mitch)
0.1 Red Belly Piranha (Fluffy)
1.0 Australian Shepherd (Spooky)
1.0 Springer Spaniel/Beagle mix (Snoopy)
0.1 Cat (Ecco)

Thanks, I love that Cali, she's a hag, but I love her attitude...

As for the visitors, I don't care what they eat, I think they look cool and I'm glad they're around...
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~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings (Spot and Fry)
1.0 Florida King (Gamble)
1.0 Ball Python (Mitch)
0.1 Red Belly Piranha (Fluffy)
1.0 Australian Shepherd (Spooky)
1.0 Springer Spaniel/Beagle mix (Snoopy)
0.1 Cat (Ecco)