Snake ID ??

Can anyone tell me what kind of snake this is? Sorry for the bad shot, he'd just scared a a woman nearly to death and I saw one of these yesterday at a different place, but it (the one I saw) was the biggest (about 6 feet I think) snake I've ever seen in Colorado (including the Rattler I ran across one day).

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It's a bull snake. They can get pretty big. I've seen some in Texas that were easily 8 ft. long. They're non-venomous, but will sometimes rattle their tails against dry leaves to make you think they're a ratttlesnake.

Jaci

Thanks Jaci, that was my guess, but I'm not very familiar with snakes. We don't actually have that many of them along the front range. Garden snakes and and a few other. Have rattlers in the dry/prairie areas.

Thanks Again!

Yeah, I'm in Colorado now too (since 1996) & today was the 1st time I've seen a bullsnake here & it was dead on the road. I love snakes. I used to raise them & spent 8 years working in a pet store that specialized in reptiles. I am better at ID'ing native Texas snakes, but since bullsnakes are in both places this one was easy for me!

Jaci

Cool! and thanks again!

Do you shoot mostly nature shots or ??

You're welcome! Yeah, nature/animals & my son are my favorite subjects. I haven't had much time to get out this summer though. Where did you see this bullsnake?

Jaci

The one in the picture is at Jewell Wetlands, he was on the bank of the small pond. The one I saw the previous day was in a dry creekbed near Watkins.

So did you pet him?

Is he turned around toward you in the grass with his mouth open, can't really see it very well. Snakes have only one lung, and in all the years I lived in the mountains, I never saw a snake above about 5000 feet or so. Probably more from the cold nights, but still.

Yeah Mitch, that's it's tail you see. This one looked to be about 4 ft or so, I was across the small pond when the lady walking her dog freaked. There are not that many snakes around the front range, but we do have rattlers and a few others.

This was just before my coyote adventure.
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=543577

I would have freaked too! Yikes!

BeccaNH wrote in post #5998661
I would have freaked too! Yikes!

They are actually pretty harmless.

canonloader wrote in post #5998616
So did you pet him?

Is he turned around toward you in the grass with his mouth open, can't really see it very well. Snakes have only one lung, and in all the years I lived in the mountains, I never saw a snake above about 5000 feet or so. Probably more from the cold nights, but still.

I saw a garter snake once in Rocky Mtn. National Park. So that had to have been at about 8000 ft. or so. Apparently that is the only species of snake found there. Which, like you said, because of the cold nights, not really that surprising. I could probably count on one hand the number of snakes I've seen on the front range since moving here 12 years ago. A bit different than when I lived in Texas!

Jaci

Yes, I worked the 4 Corners Oil field for 8 years and moving from Illinois, you would think the place would be crawling with snakes. In all those years, and I worked out in the boonies, far away from towns and roads, in all those years, I saw 5 snakes, most crossing roads.

smallpotatoes wrote in post #5999660
I saw a garter snake once in Rocky Mtn. National Park. So that had to have been at about 8000 ft. or so. Apparently that is the only species of snake found there. Which, like you said, because of the cold nights, not really that surprising. I could probably count on one hand the number of snakes I've seen on the front range since moving here 12 years ago. A bit different than when I lived in Texas!

Jaci

Yep, I grew up in Southern Oklahoma, Rattlers, Copperheads, Water Moccasins, Black Racers (which were the ones that scared me the most as a kid) etc. etc.

I've probably only seen about half-a dozen snakes total in the 3+ decades I've been in CO and I do a lot of hiking and outdoor photography.