ho hum

A blogger's dream come true -- degreed journalism "follows up" and matches a previous experience.

This weekend, during a retrace walk along St. Lucie Boulevard, more mangos were found on the sidewalk, one quite obviously and intentionally nibbled. As a squirrel watched from nearby foliage, a quick check of slough revealed nothing unusual and the 'damaged' mango was dispatched into a patch of marshy humous. Returning the exact same way (there is only one sidewalk on the farthest side of the roadway from the river), a small colorful snake about a foot in length was encountered belly up on the sidewalk nearest the traffic flow. Young corn snake, no rigour mortis, yet apparently lifeless.

A boy on a bicycle pedaled past on the sidewalk, since the roadway is curved and popular with cruisers. The snake was placed in the nearest grassy yard, beside a cement water-main cap. Only weeks ago, a larger version of the same snake variety was encountered on Kingswood Terrace Road, alive on the asphalt; later in the week the same snake was found steaming in 80+-degree heat in the soil at the edge of the road, stinking of partially-digested rodent. The yet-flexible body was removed to dusty ground at a tortoise tunnel dug undeneath a chain-link fence. Reptile to reptile, dust to dust, unless... .

Today's Palm Beach Post newspaper described a more unusual encounter, including a photograph that showed two (more) small snakes of the same variety found near the river. This story tells us that a bather in Ocean Crest, FL, was surprised by two colorful small snakes easing from the bathtub faucet into the water as she soaked.

Corn snakes are considered to be harmless, but they do have fangs of significant size and will repeatedly strike/bite if not handled with care (e.g., do not squeeze them). They are also constrictors and will immobilize and swallow rodents skittering nearby. It is suspected that the corn snake metamorphasizes into a rattlesnake phase if mistreated -- the coloration and markings are similar.