[NatureNS] Snake question

Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 22:05:54 -0300
From: morrison <b_d_morrison@yar.eastlink.ca>
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
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Snake question        HI FLORA;
TO ME IT SOUNDS AS IF THE SNAKE WAS GUARDING ITS DEN OF EGGS/BABIES. IT =
WILL BE INTERESTING TO HEAR WHAT OTHERS HAVE TO SAY.
    DONNA
  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Wild Flora=20
  To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca=20
  Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 8:31 PM
  Subject: [NatureNS] Snake question


  I had an unusual (for me, anyway) experience with a snake this morning =
and wonder if anyone can shed some light on it. I was taking the dog for =
her usual morning walk, passing as always over a bridge that crosses a =
small brook. On one side of the bridge the road crews have installed a =
safety barrier, and there is a lot of rock there-great snake habitat. As =
we were passing the end of the safety barrier, I noticed an abrupt =
movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see that a moderately =
large snake (I'm pretty sure it was a common garter snake, and it was =
probably about the size of my thumb at its widest point) that was coiled =
up in front of what might have been a burrow. The odd part was that the =
snake had its mouth open and kept striking in my direction. It didn't =
come anywhere near reaching me - I was at least a foot too far away - =
but it kept striking anyway. Mind you, neither the dog nor I had done =
anything to disturb the snake other than walk past it. I found this very =
odd because, despite having grown up in Texas, home of the diamondback =
rattler, I've never seen a snake be aggressive in this fashion. So I was =
wondering if anyone else has seen this and what would explain it. Have I =
suddenly begun to resemble a very large mouse?


  Flora

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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Snake question</TITLE>
<META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; =
charset=3Diso-8859-1">
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<BODY bgColor=3D#fff8f0>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; =
HI=20
FLORA;</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>TO ME IT SOUNDS AS IF THE SNAKE WAS =
GUARDING ITS=20
DEN OF EGGS/BABIES. IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO HEAR WHAT OTHERS HAVE TO=20
SAY.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; DONNA</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=3Dltr=20
style=3D"PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
  <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
  <DIV=20
  style=3D"BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>=20
  <A title=3Dherself@wildflora.com =
href=3D"mailto:herself@wildflora.com">Wild=20
  Flora</A> </DIV>
  <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=3Dnaturens@chebucto.ns.ca=20
  href=3D"mailto:naturens@chebucto.ns.ca">naturens@chebucto.ns.ca</A> =
</DIV>
  <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, July 13, 2007 =
8:31 PM</DIV>
  <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [NatureNS] Snake =
question</DIV>
  <DIV><BR></DIV><!-- Converted from text/rtf format -->
  <P dir=3Dltr><SPAN lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us><FONT =
face=3DArial>I had an=20
  un</FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us><FONT=20
  face=3DArial>usual (for me, anyway) experience with a snake this =
morning and=20
  wonder if anyone can shed some light on it. I was taking the dog for =
her usual=20
  morning</FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN =
lang=3Den-us><FONT=20
  face=3DArial> walk, passing as always over a bridge that crosses a =
small brook.=20
  On one side of the bridge the road crews have installed a safety =
barrier, and=20
  there is a lot of rock there</FONT></SPAN><SPAN =
lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN=20
  lang=3Den-us><FONT face=3DArial>=97</FONT></SPAN><SPAN =
lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN=20
  lang=3Den-us><FONT face=3DArial>great snake =
habitat.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN=20
  lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us><FONT face=3DArial> As we were=20
  passing</FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN =
lang=3Den-us><FONT=20
  face=3DArial> the end of the safety barrier, I noticed an abrupt =
movement out of=20
  the corner of my eye and turned to see that a moderately large snake=20
  (</FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us><FONT=20
  face=3DArial>I</FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN =
lang=3Den-us><FONT=20
  face=3DArial>=92</FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN =
lang=3Den-us><FONT=20
  face=3DArial>m pretty sure it was a</FONT></SPAN><SPAN =
lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN=20
  lang=3Den-us> <FONT face=3DArial>common</FONT></SPAN><SPAN =
lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN=20
  lang=3Den-us> <FONT face=3DArial>garter snake,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN=20
  lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us><FONT face=3DArial> =
and</FONT></SPAN><SPAN=20
  lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us><FONT face=3DArial> it =
was</FONT></SPAN><SPAN=20
  lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us> <FONT face=3DArial>probably =
about the size=20
  of my thumb at its widest point)</FONT></SPAN><SPAN =
lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN=20
  lang=3Den-us> <FONT face=3DArial>that</FONT></SPAN><SPAN =
lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN=20
  lang=3Den-us> <FONT face=3DArial>was coiled up in front of =
what</FONT></SPAN><SPAN=20
  lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us> <FONT face=3DArial>might have =
been=20
  a</FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us><FONT =
face=3DArial>=20
  burrow.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=3Den-us> =
<FONT=20
  face=3DArial>The odd part was that the snake had its mouth open and =
kept=20
  striking in my direction. It didn</FONT></SPAN><SPAN =