Was this a garter snake?
Yesterday, I found some green and white poop and pee on my kitchen floor. An answerer suggested that it may be a snake. I was hoping it’d come out while I was home so that I could save the little guy from my cats.
Well, unfortunately, he/she came out while I was at work and I came home to a tornado of things flown all around the floor. I then found pieces of the body.
What was this? A garter snake? I’m guessing this is part of the body/tail.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33253822@N06/4646104630/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33253822@N06/4645490891/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33253822@N06/4645490849/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33253822@N06/4645490795/
Yeah Susan. I really didn’t want my cats to find it because I knew it’d die a torturous death but it didn’t come out. And I still can’t find the rest of the body and I hope they didn’t stash it somewhere and it ends up stinking. But yeah…
Good point Quixotic. I did notice the break was rather clean and I didn’t see cat teeth imprints. I was also wondering where they would keep the body because when they kill something, they usually leave it in the middle of the floor for me to see.
I really hope he/she got back outside however it got inside. I’ll look for a skink. I googled and skinks are in my area. Thanks everyone!
Tagged with: cats • garter snake • kitchen floor • photos • poop and pee • skink • skinks • teeth • Tornado
Filed under: Tornado
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I agree that it appears to be the tail of a skink.
That was part of a reptile, but not a garter snake. Garter snakes have dark blackish/brownish coloration with white stripes. If it was a snake, it may have been a rough earth ground snake, and if it was a lizard, it may have been a species of skink.
Oh, I feel sad. I like snakes. Guess your cats do too
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I can’t tell what it is from the photo. I had said garter snake because they are common here in Massachusetts even in urban areas so it was my first guess. They have yellowish stripes along their sides and a pale belly. They are slender and grow to a little more that 2′ . Ribbon snakes are similar and like wetter areas.
If it has no stripes my next guess would be a black racer but they get big, 4′ or longer. Could have been a youngster.
To identify the remains you could try your state’s Dept of Conservation, Wildlife, or whatever it is called website.
I am sure the kitties are refusing to shed any light on their day’s activities and are pretending innocence.
Update:
In one of the states you have mentioned there is another reptile called slender glass lizard which can also "break".
Skinks are fascinating. There are none where I live so I had to Google. Very interesting.
Hope it is still alive so you can give us an update on what it is.
Actually it’s from a lizard and the lizard is likely just fine. It’s from a skink (likely a five lined skink) to be more specific. They break off their tails several times (like first the tip breaks then the second time more will break) and so you can end up with segments just like that one. No snake has that exact pattern and those scales are definitely skink scales and not snake (all garters and ribbons have keeled scales). Additionally if it was from a snake the break wouldn’t have been so clean (unless it was done with a knife). Only a lizard would have such a clean break without much blood.