Ramble On

Monday, June 3, 2013

Seasons of the Road Kill: Black Rat Snakes

It’s a seasonal thing, these migrations, or whatever they are, that provoke the creatures we share this planet with to mosey out onto the pavement.  All jokes aside about what may lie on the other side of the road, a lot of them just don’t make it across. 

This week, Mary and I took a drive down to Lexington, Virginia as one of our vacation outings. While we were there, we visited a little garden on the edge of town called Boxerwood; on our way back, we saw a large black rat snake crossing the road.  I know from black snakes, so I slowed down and let it pass.

Not so with many of my fellow drivers.  On Wednesday I drove into Luray to take Tessie on a walk on the Greenway.  Driving in via Ida Road, there were no less than three black rat snakes dead on the road, including one that was freshly pinned to the yellow stripe.  So fresh, there was still residual nervous movement.

Blogger's Note:  Since I wrote the post this morning, I forgot to make note of a couple of things.  First, friends Marty and Evan both posted photos of large black snakes that they had seen over the weekend...definitely confirming that the snakes are on the move.  And at least two other friends have mentioned the unusual number of roadkill snakes this year.  Finally, one colleague said, "Black rat snakes eat other snakes and rats.  Slow down, people!"

So I'm not the only one seeing this roadkill phenomenon.

The snakes are on the move folks. That means it’s black rat snake road kill season.

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