As I walked up the path to my front door late this afternoon, I found myself wondering why a large, red worm was curled up in the middle of the sidewalk. It hasn't rained for a few weeks here, so there's no reason to expect to see a worm on the sidewalk. Then I realized that the worm was an unusually bright shade of red. I looked closer, and it became apparent that the big worm was actually a tiny snake.
It appeared to be in the process of shedding its skin. I'm not absolutely positive that it was still alive (I'll check on it later). I think it's either a northern red-bellied snake or an eastern worm snake. It's really quite tiny for a snake, no bigger than a good-sized earthworm.
This little fella (or gal) was just a few feet from my house. Unless he was dropped there by a predator, the most likely place for his residence is under my front steps. Wonder how many siblings he has???
