If you don't feel like hearing today's field herping story, just skip to the second paragraph.
So here's the story. I was heading out to do some errands a few hours ago and I saw a coiled up black snake on the road. Having seen one too many flattened snakes this summer I decided to pull over and help it decide the road wasn't a good place for it to bask. The snake was black with a white belly and a checkered pattern where the two colors met, a really beautiful snake. I think it was an eastern king (Northeast Georgia), but I'm really not a king snake expert. I thought walking up would be enough to scare it off, but it just kind of looked at me flicking its tongue as if to say, "yeah right buddy, you know good this early evening asphalt feels," so I grabbed a stick, slipped it under his head and picked him up by the back part of his body.
As I was walking him into the woods I started to smell something sort of like a skunk or rotten meat. I dropped him off about 200yds from the nearest road and started heading back towards my car. When I got in I really noticed the smell. There was nothing on my hands or shirt, but they both smelled very strongly. Has this every happened to anyone? Was it the snake or possibly a plant I rubbed against? I washed my hands really well with disinfectant soap and changed clothes. All my reptiles have been fed and spot cleaned tonight, so I think I'm going to leave them alone until tomorrow. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
