i talk to anoles, too. :) in fact, we- me & the kids- put them and green tree frogs in the cool greenhouse for the winter to help with bugs. don't know that it's worked, but it is fun looking for them. the big male likes to sun on my bird's perch, and he likes to flirt with me, bobbing his provocative throat pouch at me so i'll be impressed. i bob back at him and tell him he's handsome. hb- i can't say that i'm too surprised the racer was striking under those circumstances. i think i'd try to bite, too. lol. glad he didn't take off. i haven't seen ours around since he got in the net, but didn't see him before that either, so no biggie. we sight a big king snake once or twice a summer- i think it's probably the same one we've been seeing for a number of years. we kept a couple rough green snakes as pets for a summer in our terrarium with some anoles and skinks, and they were so cool. they hung out and curled up into knots together- the thing that surprised me most- and were like living sculptures. the anoles got used to them within a day or 2. they were also complete pigs, which is part of why we let them go, fat & sassy, ready for fall. when we released them, they hung out in the same tree for a couple of days- i guess they thought it was a big cage. we got some good pix of them there. my kids and i wouldn't mind having another snake, but i don't want anything that eats furry things, which eliminates most of them, unfortunately. as an aside, i haven't found a single garter snake in the 13 years we've lived here. lots of other kinds, but no garters. i thought they were ubiquitous. probably one of the coolest was the ultra tame milk snake we found one day. gorgeous markings! worm snakes are cool, too. tam

And for me it ends the curse of the Speckled Kingsnake. My first in over 5 years of living in Missouri. Go figure. What a lovely snake. Finding that alone made my day, but when I turned up that big fat Hognose Snake under a rock I was truly in disbelief. Such an impressive snake that put on a great spread hood display and no camera (damn). A great day herping though with two terrific finds and a lot of "filler" (ringnecks, box turtles, salamanders, racers, worm snakes and stuff)

Very pretty hognose. Toad specialist. Will often "play dead" when disturbed.

If it was bright blue and only 5-6" long then the snake you were seeing is very likely not a blue racer - racers (Coluber constrictor) undergo an ontogenic color change with maturity and hatchlings/juveniles (even with the blue racer) have a very distinct pattern as can be seen here: http://herp-pix.org/coluber1/juvblue3.JPG If you saw a snake with a solid blue coloration at that size, I think it is possible you could have seen a smooth green snake (Liochlorophis vernalis), which can often have a blueish coloration. http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS/sp_Smooth%20Green%20Snake%20(Liochlorophis%20vernalis)004.jpg Hope that helps, ~Mike