[a PS to previous post]
Of course, some creatures just position themselves to get your attention…
Or they sneak up on you …. like this garter snake. I’d just finished answering the call of nature, when I zipped up and turned around – and there he was right on the path, flicking his forked tongue in the air. I guess he was trying to figure out my scent… but that was a little too close to my extremities. yikes!
Once I saw he was harmless, I stood appreciating those pretty checkerboard markings. I like garter snakes. This one was a bit larger than the usual two-footers. And I don’t think I’d ever noticed before – they have tongues that are red, forking into black:
Here’s some trivia: of all the snakes in the Southern Appalachians, only the rattlesnake’s bite can be fatal, and only if it goes untreated.
The copperhead bite is unpleasant but not deadly. The cottonmouth, Georgia’s other truly toxic snake, is not found this far north.
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