Snakes Alive!

Yesterday Nick and the boys took the boat down the creek. I wandered down to sit with them and couldn't find them, or hear them so I figured they were already quite a distance down. I decided to walk along the railroad track, which follows the creek and find them that way. I barely took 10 steps down the track when I was frozen in my own tracks!

This snake appeared to be dead, didn't move at all, even when I tossed a couple of rocks in his direction. He even looked a little flat in spots so I thought maybe he was a casualty from the passing train, even though he still looked pretty good. I wasn't completely convinced that he was a goner so I kept my distance when I thought I noticed his tongue stick out then he slowly started to move and disappeared into a hole under the tracks.

Too scared to move on, I decided to head for the house and do a google search on "Snakes of Virginia" so I could correctly id him. I matched him up to an Eastern Hog Nosed snake which thankfully are not poisonous and according to the description, they don't even bite at all. They do however play dead by sucking in air and flattening themselves out, which explains his flattened appearance when I found him!