Category Archives: Reptiles

Yellow Dog, moccasin

Brown Dog and Gretchen are surprised

Gretchen Quarterman was surprised when Yellow Dog walked past me and picked up that snake about 4 feet to my left. I had backed off when I took this picture, but the venom splatter still got on my arm, which immediately started tingling. With a bit of soap and water, it’s fine. For once the Yellow Dog did not get bit. She did get some of the food she likes best and a bone. Brown Dog prudently stayed out of this one.

-jsq

Francine the Florida Softshell Turtle

Francine out for a walk between the creek and the house:

Nose

Species Profile: Florida Softshell (Apalone ferox) | SREL Herpetology

Like other softshells, the Florida softshell turtle (Apalone ferox) is a large, flat turtle with skin covering its shell (resembling a pancake). It is the bulkiest of the softshell turtles but inhabits the smallest range. It varies in size with males measuring from 6-12 inches (15-30 cm) and females measuring double that at 11-24 inches (28-61 cm). Adults are usually colored by a dark brown to brownish-gray with dark spots. Also there are usually small dark bumps on the carapace. In juveniles these dark bumps on the carapace are much more easily seen, as they are usually lighter in color than the adults. The carapace of the Florida softshell is covered with longitudinal rows of tubercles that resemble ridges in younger turtles but are less evident in larger turtles. In adult turtles the plastron of the shell usually extends farther than the carapace.
Continue reading →

Yellow Dog and her snake

My snake!

Mine Snake

Pictures by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 October 2012.

The dogs barked up a storm while I was picking okra, and by the time I got there the snake was in sad shape. Too bad, as I keep explaining to Brown Dog and Yellow Dog, snakes eat mice.

-jsq

Black Snake

A snakey present from the dogs:

A snakey present from the dogs

Picture by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 September 2012.

I like snakes: they eat rodents, and I’m allergic to rodents. But the dogs don’t like snakes that trespass on their area near the house. They left this one in the middle of the walkway from the house to the carport. You see it in the truck on the way to somewhere else.

I think Yellow Dog is nostalgic for her YouTube hit, Black Snake vs. Yellow Dog. They look mild-mannered, Yellow Dog and Brown Dog, but so far a beaver, a raccoon, several rattlesnakes, and two kinds of water moccassins have found tangling with the dogs is not a good idea.

Although that copperhead did give Yellow Dog a bit of a hangover. Here Yellow Dog thanks you for your concern.

-jsq