This was a 4-5' Eastern or "Chain" Kingsnake. Much larger than the last on and let it go in the woods beside the house. Feel much better knowing they are around!
A bird trying to drive the snake away attracted my attention. I estimate 1.75 meters in length by an average mid diameter of 3 cm.
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with many more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads with their highly mobile jaws. To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as...
