Wayne...up to now the wisdom from my other pals was it's a Juvenile Rat snake...it does look more like a racer....interesting...I saw an adult in the same area last fall....and man...she was BOOKING....I had my camera with me and I couldn;t even get a pic....and just like that she dissappeared....couldn't find her anywhere...looked by every small shrub etc... hbwright...I started using the lasagna method with newspapers...in this case, I had some cardboard, and I weighted it down, but never got to mulching it, as it was in an area thats a Work In Process......perhaps some discreetely laid cardboard would attract some vole eating machines....I've had adult racers and corn snakes as well...but I'm yet to see the dreaded "lasagna snake"!!!

Well, a power loss caused me to lose the post I was typing detailing the recent lions in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Anyone can read cougarnet.org to get the background behind them and the current situation. The difficulty around making official statements about cats being here can be shown by looking at the one best-known confirmation here in Oklahoma. It was a tagged cat that was born in the Black Hills of S. Dakota and managed to travel here in a few months time looking for its own territory (young male). It was killed by a train in northern Oklahoma after it's location had been recently pinpointed in North Dakota. What are authorities supposed to say to accurately provide information to Oklahomans and Kansans after that. The official statement is that we have occasional ones pass through but no resident ones except some possibly starting to make permanent homes in the far NW. There have been a few confirmation in other parts of the state that were not reported but they were more likely to be from the exotic pet trade than native, wild ones based on the evidence, so the wildlife people do not publicize them. The guy that killed the one in Kansas last year did so illegally, but got in almost no trouble because he cooperated and provided the remains to the wildlife people who were so eager to confirm the first one proven there in many years that they didn't press the issue. In Oklahoma btw you can kill any lion that is posing a danger to you or any livestock you own. It is perfectly legal. In fact, if you call the game warden in my local area to say you have one posing a danger to you or your animals, you will be told to kill it if needed and then call them back after you have. I'm sure there are many sightings in Oklahoma that are accurate and not mistaken identity, but the vast majority are incorrect. This is obvious by the fact that more black ones are reported than any other color, and there is no large black cat that exists anywhere near here except for the ones (not cougars) imported to this country as part of the exotic pet trade. That is absolute FACT. Even these are now heavily regulated so they are almost non-existent. Sorry, I have been out of town and didn't get a chance to read this thread the last few days. No hard feelings from this end. I just want people to know the facts of the situation. There is a big difference between being mistaken and lying. I am mistaken a lot, but I don't lie. Nobody is saying that most people who say they have seen cougars are liars, it is just mistaken identity. The truth should not offend anyone, and eventually when we start seeing evidence of resident populations, I will as happy as anyone. I think it is starting, but I think our population density combined with their needed size of home range will make it almost impossible for them to increase in population very much in most of Oklahoma. After all, between 20% and 30% of all the highly studied cougars in the remote Black Hills area were killed by autos over a three year period. BTW, I killed another pygmy rattlesnake last week!

Hi Wayne, I also love snakes and do my best to relocate them, but a few years ago we came across a very pretty snake that was after a toad in my yard. I live in deep south Texas, 7 miles from the Mexican border just to give you the territory of where the snake was found. This snake was about 2 feet at most and was a light tan color with extreme pronouced brown diamonds. It was the end of February and a cool morning (low 70s) so it was moving very slow. My kids were looking at the toad and I noticed what I thought was a stick next to the toad and grabbed it to move it out of the way when I suddenly realized what it was. I dropped it right away but it moved very slow due to the cool morning. we put it in a container and took it out to a shrubby area just outside of town. Somehow I have always wondered what that snake was as I have never seen one like that before. My thought is that it may have been a copperhead snake since they range from really light to reddish copper to really dark almost black colors depending what part of the valley they are found. Still those diamonds were very pronounced on a short and thick snake. We have quite a few species down here but few poisonous ones. Any thoughts? Josie

Ok - Here is how I recieved my first snake bit (for those curious) I knew it was going to happen (even before I stuck my hand in the aquarium). A friend of mine ran a apartment complex in Georgia. He had found a Red Tail Boa in a apartment that had escaped, and the owner had been evicted. He took it home, put it in a 10 gallon aquarium, the snake was a good 5' or more. He had crammed the tank full of towels, and put in a hot rock, and had a 150W light bulb shining in the poor snakes face 24 hours a day (for warmth he said) He added a coffee cup of water for the snake to drink out of - and of course - the snake had tipped it over. David, while his intentions were good - he was afraid of the snake. He had not fed it, and it was "not happy" I knew that I was going to get nailed before I even put my hand in the tank to remove the wet towels, and clean up the water. The snake did exactly what I expected him to do. He struck me, and wrapped my arm very quickly. I stood there (my daughter watching) with a snake stuck to my arm. I gently pryed his mouth from my arm - and after cleaning the cage, returned him to it. I made sure not to even cringe - as I did not want my daughter to develop a fear of snakes! I never made a sound, and I think my calmness helped both me, the snake, and my daughter. I told Richard and his elderly mother that the snake needed to be with someone familiar with handeling snakes (I had grown up with boa's because my brother had one when I was a little girl) They sold me the snake, I put it on a plane to Texas, took it to my brother - who then placed it with a person who handles boa's and takes them to schools as a part of a teaching program. I have a fondness of snakes, and would hate to kill it unless it poses a danger to our lives. My snake bite was expected, thankfully I do not meet any of the "reasons that people get snake bitten" - but thanks for posting - because I think you are exactly correct. Most (but not all) snake bites are due to stupidity - many of the others are probably just due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We almost stepped on that poor snake in my images before we noticed it. Its only defense would have been to strike - this would have just been - being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thank goodness for all of us - our situation ended up ok. I will just have to keep a closer eye out before I go treading through my garden. RT