Really, I Don't Like Snakes

Identify the Snake ?
Originally uploaded by rkeithstewart

I spent Saturday morning recapturing leaves. What others call a “convenient curbside service provided by our city“, Benita calls “giving our leaves away”, so now instead of “raking” leaves I “recapture” leaves. Last fall I decided to place the raked leaves around the bases of the pecan trees and along the fence. We have added vegetable scraps and coffee grounds at various areas under the leafs to encourage microscopic activity in our yard. The nitrogen in the leaves is sufficient to fertilize our grass and to provide a great area for composting. We don’t do composting with the fancy compost barrels - ours is one step above throwing the scraps onto the yard. I guess our method could be described as somewhere between passive composting and extremely passive composting. We place the scraps under the leaves and pretty much just leave it alone.

We have wondered whether we are actually doing anything because we don’t check on the compost and we don’t spread it around. We haven’t seen many earthworms (which we expected). One clue that we may be having some ecological impact is the presence of little brownish/bronze colored snakes. I found one a few weeks ago under some boards in the backyard. This was in an area we the kids play and without knowing much about the snake I didn’t think it would be a good idea to let the snake remain. A few days later we found another snake like the previous one on the carport. I caught it and put it in a jar for examination (see photo) and then sent it on it’s way. Roger Clay, with the Alabama Department of Conservation identified the snake as a redbelly snake (storeria occipitomaculata). Which, according to what we have read is a reclusive snake that lives in piles of decaying leaves and wood (Wikipedia) and is non-poisonous.

So yesterday I was adding more vegetable scraps to the composting area in the front yard. Guess what I saw when I pushed back the leaves to place the scraps on the dirt - yes, another of the brown snakes. This time I just let him crawl into the undisturbed leaves. I guess we are having some impact. This is a really odd attitude I've developed toward snakes. Really odd because I really HATE snakes.