That prairie king is beautiful Whitecliffs. Only seen two in my life. Both were in NE Texas around the Marshall area and they were brown colored with the markings. Your specimen is amazing!

Young greatplains ratsnake - south Texas



Young bullsnake



Checkered garternsnake



Schott's whipsnake



Texas blue indigo



Western coachwhip



Another Indigo


Coral snake



Western ribbonsnake


Western diamondback

I notice your not holding the diamond back.lol

Snatched them up like crazy when I was younger. Had a couple of close calls; just use tongs and forks dealing with them now.

I'm wiser now; one thing I've learned about snakes is that western diamondbacks are like women. Some are chill; others will cut your throat in a heartbeat for no reason! HA!

Chancey -

Your photos were fantastic! Thanks. In photos 5, 7, and 9, is that a drift fence for catching snakes?

Jack

Great pics Chancey!

Thanks Leftlane. Yes, Indigos are rattlesnake eaters. Back in 2006, south Texas had a pretty bad drought and one of my buddies would kill the rattlesnakes he found in his yard and carport and hang them on the fence.

Those old timers thought it would help bring an end to the drought. I have a photo of an indigo eating one of the rattlesnakes off the fence. Pretty cool cause I have never known them to scavenge, but I guess bad droughts are hard on snakes too. This was in my pre-digital camera days so I'll try to dig that photo up and scan it to put on here.


Yes Gulo! That is exactly what that is. I do a lot of P/A and T&E surveys for industry and we build big snake traps 6'x6'x2'(depth) and run four 50' wings off them. Works just like a big perch trap and they catch snakes like crazy!

Ick

Chancy ! You have Indigos ? Really ?? They were the loveliest and most tame of snakes I caught when I lived in FLA.

Absolutely gorgeous. In the sun, they shined metallic indigo blue and that sunset orange on the bottom. The big ones were so placid and were the best at keeping mice, rats and other poisonous snakes far from the area. Since I moved from there, Indigos after that became on the protected list, so legally I wouldn't have been able to keep any . That wouldn't keep me from catching them, enjoying those deep rich metallic colours , then turning them loose.

My favorite snake to see, besides now the boa.

Great pictures!

Georgia will light you up for just touching an indigo. Threatened species and they are doing everything they can to protect them.

There's a huge reward out now for one killed last year. Almost all have been radio tagged.

I found out that there is another species of INDIGO snake in the U.S., the Texas Indigo Snake (Drymarchon melanurus erebennus) .More information about it can be found at https://landmarkwildlife.com/rattlesnake-killer-texas-indigo-snake/

The great plains rat snake has very similar markings to a Burmese python ... very interesting.

Yeah Chancey. I've run many a drift fence for various snakes for a variety of reasons; mostly research. I agree; it's a really efficient way to document certain species.
Thanks again for the photos and the education!

Jack

Love those checkered garters

Yes Ma'am,

We have them down here, mostly in south Texas where there are still large contiguous blocks of habitat. They will also range a little ways into the southern Hill country. Got a buddy in Bandera that manages a 10K acre ranch and he sees both indigos and Texas tortoises on occasion.

They really are incredible, gentle, giants. I've handled many of them and as long as you are gentle with them, they never bite are get agitated. They are so powerful though. When you hold them, loosely and carefully, they constantly try to use your body as leverage to pry against you. Very strong. I have to constantly adjust to keep them in my hands and not tick them off.

Yes beautiful, some down here will get orange colored bellies mixed with the blue metallic coloring. They are really cool and mostly out in the daytime and they don't have a problem with someone following them around. I've followed a lot of them and they are just shear force hunters. Incredible creatures.

Yep, they are state protected here as well; although I think that TPWD is gonna delist them. Got to have a scientific research permit to hold and move them technically.

Thank you Gulo for all your educating photos and posts! I learn so much from you on here, just by reading what you say!

All my life, I spent in the woods, and still do a lot for my job. But one cool thing I learned about following indigo snakes in south Texas is that Harris hawks watch them and follow them to get the critters they jump out.

Down here, we have a lot of southern plains woodrats that build big mittens full of cactus and thorns. It is no obstacle for indigos, I have followed them and watched them and they just dive head first in there shaking everything up, and the rat starts running out. I don't think think the snake is after the rat, just maybe looking for a cool spot to stay the day. Seems like after 11AM in the summer, their activity is way down as the ground is so hot.

Anyway, one day when I was a kid I was arrowhead hunting and saw several Harris Hawks mingling about in a tree and jumping on the ground. I walked over there cause curious and saw a wood rat with only its head eaten off and saw a big indigo working a rat mitten. I followed him around, and the birds did too. I told my buddies about it that are in south Texas and later my professors in college and they all never seen that. But I knew it was what was happening cause I watched it.

Many years later, doing a camera trap study for cats on the border I got a photo of a bunch of Harris hawks in one spot. I zoomed in real close and sure enough I could see an Indigo working! Nature never stops teaching!

Copperhead

Orange belly water snake


The boa and rattler was up in your neck of the woods Jack.