Corn Snake (Red Rat Snake) Tongue Flicking

Video: Corn Snake (Red Rat Snake) Tongue Flicking

Corn Snake or Red Rat Snake surprise behind a piece of lumber stored along the back fence in Florida. Spend a few minutes with this gentle sweet snake and then leave it be till it warms up. Beautiful and beneficial constrictor snakes - the ones that inhabit the backyard have very unusual color patterns and are quite pretty. See this snake or its sibling at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQtQWZvxo5w

And probably its Mom at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z577-h9JiAQ

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Video: Corn Snake (Red Rat Snake) Tongue Flicking

Wild Florida Red Rat Snake Swallows Lizard

Video: Wild Florida Red Rat Snake Swallows Lizard

Video: Wild Florida Red Rat Snake Swallows Lizard

A young Red Rat Snake (also called a Corn Snake) captures and squeezes a Brown Anole Lizard not much small than itself and spends the next 15 minutes slowly swallowing it. Florida Red Rat Snakes are constrictors just like their large exotic cousins such as the invasive Burmese Pythons and they capture, kill and eat their prey the same way, just on a much smaller scale. This one does it all while hanging upside down from a backyard outbuilding. Mostly nocturnal, the snakes learn that the outdoor lighting attracts lizards and that is prime hunting ground. Unlike the invasive pythons that kill and displace native wildlife, this snake is a native and performs an invaluable service by keeping the lizards, mice and rats in check. The Brown Anole Lizard being eaten is itself an invasive species that is relatively larger than native lizards and more agressive and rapidly displacing Green Anole Lizards and timid Gecko's. These snakes should not be killed. Unfortunately finding a small snake like this doing its job in the backyard too often leads to the killing of the snake. This little backyard drama allows us a closeup look at the process. The camera was only 3 or 4 inches from the snake the entire time. This snake is undoubtedly the offspring of this large Red Rat Snake filmed earlier this summer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z577-h9JiAQ&list=SP9ODW2GQ3n8J3CB3zRtWfRjQphAFUqpSA&index=1

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Beautiful Florida Red Rat Snake or Corn Snake Makes a Visit to the Backyard!

Beautiful Florida Red Rat Snake or Corn Snake Makes a Visit to the Backyard!

Florida Red Rat Snake or Corn Snake

This is the second large Red Rat Snake I've encountered in the backyard in the past year. I was able to get excellent close-up video of this snake slowly winding its way to the back fence to escape. I'll post that in the near future. I was alerted to the snake's presence by Blue Jays making a bunch of noise as they sort of "mobbed" the snake as it moved across the open back patio. More as a warning than an attempt to thwart the snake, the Blue Jays act like the backyard alarm system. Many small animals such as squirrels and other birds react to the Blue Jay's alarm shrieks, not out of fear of the Blue Jays, but recognition that the Blue Jays see or sense danger.

The Red Rat Snake is an attractive snake, but can be "scary looking" to people who encounter it in their yard and unfortunately the slow lumbering nature of these constrictor snakes means that many are killed on sight. This is unfortunate as they eat small rodents and lizards primarily and help keep the backyard ecosystem in check. They are perhaps one of the more genuinely attractive snakes in the U.S. and will only coil and stand their ground if given no choice. The sad thing is the majority of them are easily killed by hacking or beating as they make a slow "run" for safety. The video will be along in a week or so. More information is at Wikipedia .