Greetings & Salutations, Y'all!
Well, as the title of this post has pointed out, my backyard buddy, Loki (aka Mr. Kitteh) found a visitor to my backyard....and not one of the feathered variety that I usually post about.
Earlier this morning I was looking out of my kitchen window when I spotted Loki starring at something in the grass. That something turned out to be a nearly three-foot long juvenile Eastern Kingsnake (lampropeltis getula). I quickly collected my trusty Sony DSC-H300 camera and captured these two shots of the encounter: the first with Loki and the snake from the kitchen window, and the other a close-up of the Kingsnake from the backyard in all its lovely black and white glory.
Don't worry about either of them. Loki kept his distance and retreated to the back door once I poured some dry cat food for him. Neither the kitty nor the snake were harmed in the making of this blog post and both ended up going their own ways after the encounter.
The Eastern Kingsnake is actually quite common in my little corner of Dixie, with a range that spans from eastern Maryland down through the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. They can also be found in the southern Appalachian regions.
The normal color pattern of the Kingsnake consists of a glossy black, blue black, or dark brown ground color, overlaid with a series of beautiful white, or yellow, chain-like rings. Variation is found in their patterns across geographic ranges. Kingsnakes from the coastal plains have wider bands, while those found in mountainous areas have thinner bands, or may be completely black.
As you can see in my photograph, this particular variety of Eastern Kingsnake has thinner bands consistent with the Piedmont region of the Carolinas where I live.
If you were to encounter one, don't worry. The Eastern Kingsnake is non-venomous and actually preys on venomous snakes common in the American Southland such as the Eastern Copperhead, Cottonmouth Water Moccasin, and even Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes. So if you ever run into one of these outstanding Colubridaes, its best to leave them alone and let them go about their business.
My thanks to Loki for his sharp kitty eyes and finding this lovely beauty to photograph and share with all of y'all.
