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When I moved my trash can to drag it to the curb, the biggest worm I had ever seen, ever was hiding underneath it! When I looked closer, the “worm” was actually a gorgeous pine woods snake, Rhadinaea flavilata. (Alternate names include the yellow-lipped snake and brown-headed snake.)

Like most snakes, this one didn’t want to pick a fight with me if s/he didn’t have to, and I got a few quick photos before s/he moved off.

This is an adult pine woods snake — they’re about 12″ long, full grown — and s/he is very likely bringing down the population of anoles that is capering around my yard. R. flavilata is a rear-fanged, “slightly venomous” snake (venomous to its prey, basically, but not terribly dangerous to us) that is generally found in damp woodlands, under debris or in rotten logs or stumps (or, apparently, under trash cans).

Pine woods snakes live primarily in Florida, and are found sporadically along the coast out to Louisiana, and north to North Carolina. They are considered “uncommon”, but not endangered.

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