As a mom of 6 boys the oldest of which is 16 I have learned to be calm in the presence of snakes, lizards, scorpions(not very calm at all), all manner of bugs and small mammals. My second son has been a naturalist from a very young age. He loves catching things, studying them and then releasing them. Actually, he doesn't enjoy releasing them. He would rather keep them as pets, but his squeamish mama won't let him.
He found this lovely specimen last Friday.
I was alerted by one of the younger ones that there was a snake in the front yard. By the time I got there my son had caught it and wanted me to take pictures. It had eaten a good meal previously. I brought the camera out and made sure the snake was a decent distance away from me and had its head pointed in the opposite direction and then I took a few shots. One of the boys took some more as they released it behind our yard. Hopefully, I will not be seeing it again!
It is a valley garter snake. I had to help him figure that out by looking at more pictures of snakes on the internet than I ever wish to see again!
