Posts tagged snakes

alexds1:

(His name isn’t really William btw, it’s Ring-Neck Snake) (but his friends call him Bill)

They live in California and a lot of other places in the US (and Canada and Mexico), which is lucky because they are really pretty. You can find them all around the bay area if you live around where I do. The closest one that I’ve found around people was up by the Lawrence-Berkeley labs, just chillin’ under a metal pipe. They are very small, pretty and timid for snakes (aka won’t immediately fling shit in your face), and look pretty boring from the top… then you pick it up and it flips over to scare you, revealing it’s beautiful vibrant orange tail. The best part is it curls its tail into a shape to further startle you.

Look how sweet he is, he is trying to hide his face under the scary tail.

It is startling, but in a very lovely way. If you see one, and if you are gentle, you can pick it up and play with it. Then put him back where you found it and be glad you got to make a new friend. (NB: They are sliiiightly venomous, but their mouths are way too small to get even a finger in there. I’ve never seen one attempt to bite or strike. They also have opisthoglyphous teeth, if I recall correctly, which means they are rear-facing and aren’t super great at venom delivery anyways).

Anyways, that’s William for you.