Florida Gardening - Beneficial Partner - Snake

Florida Gardening

Beneficial: Snakes

We see quite a few snakes where I live. We have a pine snake that we call Steve that patrols our hood. He is usually elusive, so I don't have a picture of him. However, he moves between our neighborhood barns looking for rodents. He looks very well feed and we love to see him.

I seen this snake crossing the road on my way home. I've seen many snakes in our area and they keep the rodent population down. I got a couple of pictures and it was very accommodating and patient with me. Snakes can also eat some other beneficial predators, such as frogs. However, I think their benefits of keeping the most nuisance pests, such as rodents under control puts them in the beneficial category for a gardener. Of course I give them plenty of space, since they can bite and some are poisonous.

I'm not a snake expert. However, I think this is a rat snake, but I could be wrong. Can anyone identify the species of snake this belongs to?

I appreciate your time to read my blog. I hope you enjoyed it. I had fun spending some time with my "model". I'm not sure he enjoyed it as much as I did. :)