Black Racer Snake | small house/BIG GARDEN

This week’s challenge asks that we choose a photo in which something gets lost in the details. To me, this means “hidden in plain sight,” but first I’ll give you the context and overview of the story.

Off-camera to the left (in the photo above) sits a water spigot and potting table where most of my days begin. I typically fill a bunch of receptacles, then set about the gardens pouring drinks. 😉

On Sunday morning, I reached beyond the watering cans toward the hose and nearly had a stroke ❗ A loooonnngggg black snake rose out of a coil, stuck his forked tongue out and hissed at me! I ran for the camera but just like the other 4x I’ve seen this reptile, it disappeared before I came back. This is one fast-moving snake!

However…..

It seems I wasn’t the only one jumping out of her skin from Sunday’s encounter. Look what I saw on Monday!

This molted skin was so well camouflaged, my brain barely processed what my eyes took in! Definitely lost in the details! Only after turning away did I think, “wait…was that…..?” Yup! A fresh molt from a Southern Black Racer, one of Florida’s most common, non-venomous snakes. Here’s a different orientation of the shed skin, which measured 40″ long. Typical adult length is 3-5′

When cornered (as it was on Sunday) Black Racers will strike and bite….fast! True to their name, they do everything from slithering to swimming to climbing at incredibly quick speeds. For further information I recommend reading the Black Snake area of the Nighbreeze website.

To see other bloggers’ interpretations of this week’s challenge, take a peek at the Zemanta provided links below!

Until next time…..