Rough Earth Snakes in the Garden

This has been a bang up year for snakes, at least in Texas. I'm a herp enthusiast so I'm always happy to find reptiles or amphibians in my garden. I've had so many snakes this year it's been crazy! These are Rough Earth snakes. They are usually mature at about a foot to 14", are non-venomous and totally harmless. They love living in gardens with cultivated soil because their primary diet is earthworms.

Unfortunately for the snakes, my biggest (and meanest) chicken Eunicehas quite a talent for rooting out their nests and swallowing themwhole! But, lucky for this little one, he/she was in the front yard andcan go back to rooting around in the flower beds all it likes.