Snake ID

Yeah, pretty bad shot. He actually extends from the right margin halfway across the frame, with a kink. There is easily 2 feet of snake there! It amazes me when I see those kids handle that water snake in the vid above. Fearless! In the last thirty plus years I have briefly handled one albino python. I'm good with that!

So, FL Shaver... you wont be trying this?


That's me holding a 100lb, 17ft Reticulated Python.

Yeah. I'm out. That's why I look up sometimes when running. Don't those guys drop from trees onto their prey sometimes?
Pretty cool animal, though!

FL shaver said:

Yeah, pretty bad shot. He actually extends from the right margin halfway across the frame, with a kink. There is easily 2 feet of snake there! It amazes me when I see those kids handle that water snake in the vid above. Fearless! In the last thirty plus years I have briefly handled one albino python. I'm good with that!

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Yeah, the kids are doing what, I thought. I have run into those ruddy things and while they certainly try to get away from you if they can they will not hesitate to bite like a rabid dog if you corner or step on one of them. Nasty, ugly danged things.

Cheers, Todd

I have three boa constrictors just behind me as I type this, and a Mexican black kingsnake to my immediate left.

Toirtis said:

I have three boa constrictors just behind me as I type this, and a Mexican black kingsnake to my immediate left.

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Awesome! I have three corn snakes and a ball python. A boa is the next on my want list.

Largest grasshopper I've ever seen. An Eastern Lubber I am told.

FL shaver said:

Largest grasshopper I've ever seen. An Eastern Lubber I am told.

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I hear they can bite a thumb right off a man! be careful.

That was funny, Jason!
Easy one. Found laying across the single track at the offroad bike park. He wasn't moving without a nudge.

Ohh I love the Snake photos A good Friend in Tampa FL owns the "Snake Pit " store and I am A Life time Member at Gator Land in Orlando FL I have VIP status there (I get to work with the Reptiles and Snakes there )

So, FL Shaver... you wont be trying this?

That's me holding a 100lb, 17ft Reticulated Python.

Click to expand...

OK, I have to tell one of my snake stories. This is from a friend of my ex (and a very nice guy) -

Let's-call-him-Ed worked in a pet store. A guy he didn't recognize comes in one day and wants "the biggest snake he can get." The store manager recognizes the guy as a prior snake customer, and says to order it. They get some 150 lb python (? 20+ feet) and put it in a refrigerated glass case.

Customer comes back with a huge dog crate for transport for the back of his truck. Ed tells another store employee that all they have to do is to move this cold, sleepy snake six feet from the refrigerated glass case to the dog carrier and close the door. Ed takes the front half of the snake, holding the head in one hand and coils of the front half on a shoulder, and the other guy takes the back half of the snake.

In that six feet, the other employee hits his shin on an aquarium case and drops his half of the snake. The python is now warm and has been dropped from about five feet. It coils around Ed instantly, making him look like the Michelin Man with the hand holding the head sticking out between coils.

Ed said that when he toppled over (150+ lbs of snake weighs . . . apparently 150+ pounds), he never felt himself hit the ground. Snake is apparently an excellent shock absorber. It also didn't squeeze him much. Whenever he would exhale, the snake would very calmly tighten down a bit and take up that little extra room so he couldn't expand his lungs that much anymore.

As everyone else is panicking and yelling, Ed is loudly gasping, "Get the head! Get the head". They finally uncoil the python, and get it into the dog carrier and close the door.

Ed has multiple bruises all over his torso. Ed quits his job at the pet store several weeks later.

Curiously, Ed keeps several medium snakes at his house, along with at least 1 tarantula and . . . 2 cows in the front yard. I have never understood why the 2 wire fence didn't completely enclose their area and why the cows didn't eventually simply walk through the 6 foot gap in the fence, down the driveway, up the road, and take the Interstate from Oregon up to Seattle.

Funny story!

I saw my second coral snake at the same park I saw my first last week.

Having trouble with this ID. I walked right up to him. He was so still, I thought he was dead. I moved him a little and his tongue flicked out. He felt pretty rigid. I moved him a little more and off the trail and into the brush he went.

Glass lizard?

This description from wildflorida.com seems dead on:

"They can sometimes be seen basking on the edge of paved country roads, or crossing sandy roads in the late afternoon. Glass lizards will allow themselves to be approached, but if you try to pick one up, it will thrash around wildly and probably scare you into dropping it."

Yeah, that's no snake. It's a legless lizard of some sort.

Eastern glass lizard, I now believe. Didn't know there was such a thing as a legless lizard!

aihpcfl said:

You have to weigh the situation and the location. All things considered, I would rather see the venomous snake moved to safety, for the snake and people. That is not always possible, and I understand that. The point is that the default action is not always kill the snake, or at least it shouldn't be.

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Unfortunately it usually is. If people realized how much snakes help control mice and rats I bet they'd think twice before killing them. Would you rather have a snake in the yard/bushes or rats in the (cellar) house?

FL shaver said:

Glass lizard?

This description from wildflorida.com seems dead on:

"They can sometimes be seen basking on the edge of paved country roads, or crossing sandy roads in the late afternoon. Glass lizards will allow themselves to be approached, but if you try to pick one up, it will thrash around wildly and probably scare you into dropping it."

Click to expand...

Did you notice any eyelids? Or ear openings? Looks like a glass lizard to me.

That's positively an Eastern Glass Lizard. I never see them around anymore, for some reason; they used to be abundant. You couldn't turn over a log or piece of tin on the ground during the summertime without seeing one. They are pretty cool creatures.

Man, I wish we had hots running wild in our area. The wife and I used to breed boas, pythons, geckos, and a few others back in the day. Handled hots in controlled settings, but always just missed the chance to see one wild. And that Tiger tic is a stunner!