Today, Tom and I were out in the garden looking at some flowers and cutting herbs for drying, when all of a sudden Tom hollered “Holy Cow! A big snake!”
It was a California Kingsnake (pictured above in its full glory; below is the smidgen of it I actually saw), a fabulous creature to have in the garden. It’s non-venomous and eats rodents (YES), lizards, and even rattlesnakes!
Ok, so we never saw its face
Our snake is between 1-2 feet (these snakes never get super large: according to CA Herps, they are most commonly 2.5-3.5 feet) and seems happy in a protected spot underneath a hedge of flowering woody perennials. Hopefully it’ll find a mate and lay some eggs around here. Kingsnake babies! Squee!
As you know, I’ve been trying to attract snakes to the garden for years. It’s quite possible that we have them and never see them. The only other snake we’ve ever seen here is pictured below - a sharp-tailed snake, about the size of my palm, which eats snails and slugs. Also fabulous, but maybe not quite as arresting as a California kingsnake!
