More Florida Wildlife
Published by Deanna Hoak May 30th, 2006 in blogSome of you will remember my coral snake post from last year. That was a baby (or a normal-sized one). Our neighbors found this giant coral snake–about three feet long, I think, and I swear it must be a record for a coral, though it’s not surprising with all the lizards, birds, toads, and woodrats around here to eat–out on their lanai. They chased it off.
And it slithered into our backyard.
(I’m actually not freaked out–coral snakes have very small mouths, and you practically have to be handling one to get bitten. I didn’t kill the one last year and wouldn’t kill this one either, but we did have a neighbor who’d volunteered to relocate snakes come by–he couldn’t find the snake by then, though.)
But it’s pretty, huh? “Red on black, friend of Jack. Red on yellow, kill a fellow….”
16 Responses to “More Florida Wildlife”
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I'm a freelance copyeditor specializing in fantasy and science fiction. SF/F novels I have copyedited have been finalists for (and have sometimes won) the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke, Golden Spur, John W. Campbell Memorial, Quill, Locus, Philip K. Dick, British Science Fiction, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy awards. In 2007 I was short-listed for a World Fantasy Award for my copyediting.
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Snake-puppy!!!!!
Can I bring it home??????
*grins*
Cool! When I first saw the pic, before reading what you wrote, i remember the rhyme as i learned it, “red touch yellow, kill a fellow” and I thought Yikes! I wouldn’t have killed it either, though. Although the idea of a snake with the venom of a cobra in your backyard does raise the hairs a little. :)
As soon as I saw the picture, I said that to myself to see if it was a coral snake - only I learned this rhyme, too:
Red touch black, venom lack - red touch yellow, kill a fellow.
That’s a very cool sight.
*wow*
I tried to remember the difference between true and false coral snakes–now I have the rhyme.
I grew up on the west coast of Florida. Lost one dog to an alligator. Another dog cornered a rattlesnake in our utility room. And one day, I got to watch my dad sweep a 3-4′ water moccasin out of my bedroom and through the house/out the door. We had left the sliders to the patio open–there must have been a hole in the screen. I looked down the hallway, saw a ribbon of black, and said Dad, there’s a snake in my room.
It tried to climb the walls to get away from the broom. Once it got outside, it climbed a tree.
I came up with a far easier pnemonic, actually:
“Red on - oh, screw it. RUN!”
ha.
Crap, I’d be scared. He is cool looking, though.
Pretty!
It’s beautiful.
EEP! Coral or King - I’d run from either of them!
Yeah, the pix is cool - since it’s a flat picture on my screen, and not a slithering thing on my porch.
Although, this entry did prompt me to do some research into the differences, and what other kinds of poisonous snakes were around. Dang, I will never get any writing done if I keep being sidetracked by things that are just so interesting… LOL!
Thanks for sharing.
-DJT
We’ve got a handy mnemonic in Australia. It goes:
Snake! Run!
(All snakes are poisonous in Oz.)
We were camping one summer day, just sitting around and chilling out when this snake came crawling out of the bush. It headed towards one of our backpacks. We yelled and waved our arms from a safe distance, hoping it would head off and not crawl into the warm darkness of the backpack.
We yelled and waved our arms from a safe distance, hoping it would head off and not crawl into the warm darkness of the backpack.
Did it?
I’ve always enjoyed knowing about the dangerous animals and edible wild plants in whatever place I live. Fun research, and handy for writing. :-)
Welcome to the blog! I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.
Yeah, we definitely have some interesting critters around here. Still, I’ve enjoyed Florida except for hurricane season (which starts tomorrow! Eep!).
Thanks for the welcome. I’ve been a lurker in the writing blog community for a while, and have recently gotten over my fear of saying something stupid (doesn’t mean it won’t happen, just that I’m not as afraid of it). I figure if I goof, I’ll just apologize!
I found your blog in a roundabout way. You’ve edited some of my favorite authors: Wen Spencer, R. A. Salvatore, David and Leigh Eddings. Had lunch with Wen once at a conference. She says great things about her experiences with the publishing world, so I came over here to study the copyediting process. Thank you for the insightful posts.
I’m in the query letter stage right now. Trying to figure out who wants what. It reminds me of college, years ago, when you had to study the teachers and figure out their particular peeves and expectations so you could get a decent grade. :P
-Debs
Alas, it did crawl in…
…but then crawled safely back out.
Heh. Yeah, querying is somewhat like that, isn’t it? I’m at that stage, too. It’s tough!
Welcome to the blog, and I’m glad you’re finding your voice. I was very quiet, even on my own blog, until a few years ago, and I’ve grown enormously since I found mine. :-)