I am, apparently, our cat Murphy’s new best friend. Because it is spring break, the lovely Angela has taken the kids to Wisconsin to visit the rest of the family and generally have a blast. This means a couple of things. First of all, the cat has nothing to do all day. I would think that this would suit Murphy, who spends the majority of her time fleeing the kids or sleeping, perfectly. It does not. I know this because when I come home in the evening, she is lying just inside the door, tummy-side up, mewling to be rubbed. I know this because she follows me from room to room, jumping on the table when I sit down to eat and leaping on the sink when I brush my teeth. I know this because she tried to sleep on top of me last night. Turns out that she, like me, misses the rest of her family.
Secondly, I myself have very little to do in the evenings. I have a few projects I could be working on, and have spent some time on these, but the general family hubbub as well as the leisurely conversations with my wife after the kids are in bed are sorely missed. Frankly, without the family here, the house is too big, too quiet, and way too lonely a place to hang around. I have been abandoned.
However, rather than mope or beg for attention like a silly kitty-cat, I am spending some of my discretionary time while the fam is away doing some of the things that I rarely get to do. This Saturday, I am thinking of going to the Mad River to do some trout fishing, something I have not done in nearly four years.
And last night, I went to a nature preserve about an hour away to look for snakes.
This locale is the same place that my brother, Joel, and I found our first venomous snake, so you have already heard one rattlesnake tale from this area. However, it is also supposed to harbor Red-bellied, Kirtland’s, and Black Rat snakes—none of which have I seen in the wild. It was nearly 6pm when I first got there, having come straight from work, and I decided to start in the same portion of the preserve as I had found the Massasauga last year because of a) the variety of species I had seen there and b) a particular corner of the field that has some nice big sheets of tin for cover.
After having struck out at the tin area, I followed a narrow “alley” between two wooded lots to a small marshy pond. Here I found more tin sheets!
It was under the piece pictured above that I found my first ever Northern Red-bellied Snake/Storeria o. occipitomaculata. 
The snake was both pretty and small—they are the smallest species of snake in Ohio, even more diminutive than the Worm snake.
I also had a difficult time getting pictures of it. I would get it posed and before I could bring the camera around and get it to focus, the snake would be a foot away from where I had put it. Getting a shot of the red belly was even worse. The snake would just not lie belly up for me. I finally got it worked out by holding it in my semi-closed hand. This apparently scared it because it coiled up with its head under its body and wouldn’t move. I quickly flipped it over and took a shot while it was still too terrified to move. Talk about wildlife harassment!
Despite several more minutes searching the area, I found no more snakes, and decided to move on. I began driving slowly through the rest of the preserve, scanning the terrain for likely habitat and cover. It was after 7 pm when I noticed the corner of a piece of tin sticking up out of the short spring grass. After getting out of the car, I noticed several other sheets of tin; this looked like a very promising spot.
I began cautiously looking under the pieces of tin, first lifting them high enough with my new snake hook (thanks, Joel) to safely grasp them with my hand. The third piece held the jackpot—the endangered Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake. Since I did not have my camera with me last time, I was determined to get some good shots of this one.
The lateness of the hour and the resulting cooling temperatures were on my side, the snake seemed hardly disturbed by my presence, barely lifting its head to see what was disturbing its little hideout.
The first thing I noticed about this ’sauga was the coloration. It was almost the same tones as a fox snake. Most of the pictures I have seen, as well as the only actual specimen I have come into contact with, were much more a dull gray.
You may be wondering what this Rattlesnake is doing lying in what is essentially a mudpuddle. After all, aren’t rattlesnakes usually found in the desert or the mountains? While it is true that many rattlesnakes are found in such habitats, the Eastern Massasauga is one of the exceptions. In fact, one of the vernacular names for this snake is the “Swamp Rattler”. It is at home in swamps and moist meadows, and even hibernates in crayfish burrows in such environs.
As I said, the snake did not see to concerned that I had “blown its cover” and was taking pictures of it. It didn’t rattle, even when I carefully positioned (with my hook) its tail so that I could get a clear shot of the noisy little attachment.
It was not until I actually tried to pick it up with the snake hook that it began buzzing at me, and only then for a couple seconds. I did, however get a couple of good looks at the fangs—as I lifted it, it snapped at me. Again I was amazed at how fast these animals can move when they want to. I really did not feel like pressing my luck playing Steve Irwin, and there was no one there to photograph me holding it, so, after having replaced the sheet of tin, I gently lowered the snake to the ground and went my way.
I did have one short moment of pure terror. When I got back to the car, I realized that my keys were not in my pocket. Or in the backpack I had been carrying. Or in the car I was now frantically searching. Not cool! I figured that I must have dropped them somewhere along the way.
I retraced my steps and sure enough, there they were, right next to the piece of tin under which I had found the ‘sauga. Can you blame me for dropping them at the sight of a rattlesnake? Probably not. I know, they should have been in my pocket in the first place.
At this point, the sun had set, and it was time to get home. I was tired, hungry, and there was a cat that desperately needed some attention.
The next post (my first snake of ‘06) will be slightly out of chronilogical order, but I couldn’t wait to show of my cool new pics. Enjoy!