8.24.2010
Little Things
Sometimes you see big things like bears, other times you see little things like these...
This is a worm snake. It is unusual to see them out on the surface during the day because they are secretive little critters. Size range on adults of these snakes is 7.5 to 12.5 inches.
Another snake I was surprised to see just hanging out on the trail was this ringneck snake. This one is young. The size range for these is 10 to 20 inches.
Of course, not all the little things are as pleasant to find. The brown specs on my pants are ticks -- probably a couple hundred of them. They are the larval stage of the lone star tick, known around here as "seed" ticks. They did not survive our encounter...
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7 comments:
Nice encounters! I mean the first two :) I wonder what do these snakes eat? Insects?
Hmm. . . . i wonder if you could sic the snakes on the ticks. Love those itty-bitty pretty snakes.
I love wormsnakes! I've never seen one, though, except in photos - they are on my life list of things to see some day!
Those ticks, though - shudder! Better you than me. :D
Gawd, that's a lot of ticks.
Do you just use permethrin on clothes and DEET on skin? Someone was asking the other day how to get that many off her childs skin. She got wrapped up!
I didn't really know what the best thing was. She had used duct tape and then tweezered the rest. Any suggestions?
The shot of all those ticks is a good reminder for why I live as far north as I do. It's not that we don't have them here (and they are becoming more prevalent as the climate gets milder) but yick! That many ticks gives me the heebie jeebies. I'll try to remember them as you're posting spring photos while I'm still buried in snow.:)
Love the wormsnake.
I've had at least 200 seed tick bites this summer. Hooray for drought!
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