Skippy the Little Brown Snake Returns to the Wild.

[Kyle@theHeathertoft]

I was running some neccessary errands this morning and stopped by the store I work at (is my day off btw) for some supplies...and one of the people there spotted me and knew I'm "that guy with snakes." She asked me to come with her, they found a snake on the loose in the store...I know she's a little phobic of them and she knows I am anything but. I figured it was an escapee from our reptiles for sale...I asked which kind it is and she said "I don't know, it isn't one we sell here."

Well THAT got my attention, believe you me!

One of the other folk was cleaning the bird habitat that morning and he suddenly started screaming. Everyone came running and lo, there was a tiny snake in a corner of the bird room. They corralled it into the box we feed our Ball Pythons in and then began debating what to do with it. That's aparently when I showed up, strolling through the door.

It is indeed one of the tiniest snakes I've ever seen. Frustratingly enough we were on the sales floor and some obnoxious kids walked over and began harassing both me and the poor snake...tapping on the box despite being told REPEATEDLY not to, demanding to hold it (which, NO, it's a wild animal and should be handled as little as possible!) and insisting they should be allowed to take it home as a pet.

Through all this the poor little thing, a little Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi), was flailing around trying desperately to escape. I felt awful for it, and after a few minutes agreed to take it out into the woods to release it.

At the time I thought it must be a little hatchling or something because it's MAYBE seven inches long and about as big around as a no.2 pencil, but...Google and the Michigan DNR website are my friends, turns out this one is nearly an adult!

I stuck the little thing into a critter tote and drove off to my dad's house. I wasn't sure of the species then (all I could tell is that it's a little native species of Colubrid) so I wanted to take some photos before releasing him so I could have him identified if I couldn't make a positive ID on the DNR site. I hosed out a bucket with a high-powered jet before putting him in, just in case there was some residue or something in there from my dad's gardening...and I'm glad I did because the instant he was in a damp bucket, he started to drink. And drink, and drink, and DRINK. I've never seen a snake act so thirsty, poor little fellow (who by then I'd nicknamed Skippy) must have been ungodly dehydrated! I set a quarter in the bucket for size refference and took a lot of good photos.

Once he stopped drinking and resumed frantic attempts at escape, I packed him up and drove off again...a short distance away to the woods near my dad's home. There's a LOT of undeveloped land out there...and since it's owned (I think anyways) by the water filtration plant, it won't be developed anytime soon. There's also old Whitey's Woods (I forget what the new name is, it got renamed some years ago) spitting distance away, which is not allowed to be developed either. There's a little inland lake full of little fishes and frogs, lots of bugs in the woods, and plenty of places for a little snake to hide. I hiked in for a while and found a nice spot, and set him loose.

The DNR site says they feed on worms and slugs, and there's LOADS of those near there, too...especially worms. I think he'll be okay.

I returned the borrowed tote to the store and showed them pictures of Skippy's Triumphant Return to Nature, and everyone seems happy with it. I'm sure Skippy is glad to be away from people!!!

And now photos.














And now I'm tired from hiking. XD!!!! Crossposting this a few places, because Skippy is Just That Cute. <3!!!!!

[Brunoheart]

What a little cutie! We have lots of those at the park my development backs up to. I got a few pics of breeding pairs this past year and even a breeding female in blue! Never saw any hatchlings, but of course, they would have been really tiny, I'm sure. When I was out looking for then and trying to get pics this past spring, all the males I saw where around 15 -18 inches long and maybe a little bigger around than a chapstick tube. The females were around 24 inches long and maybe an inch in diameter at their widest point. They call them "city snakes" here cause they tend to live very close to people and will thrive in very urban areas. Congrats to you for making sure it was released, hopefully it is close enough to where it was found to thrive.