Definately a Fox Snake, more bugs, and books

Today I told Cliff the snake we found yesterday was a Fox Snake (scroll down for pics). He had never heard of a fox snake and was surprised it was not a bull snake. I was pretty sure that was what we found but wanted to confirm this. So I emailed Jeff the site owner of herpnet.net in Iowa. Here is what he wrote back:

The Brown Family,

The snake in your photos is a fox snake. It looks like a younger one, too. To learn more, go to my web site www.herpnet.net

Great find!

Hope this helps,

Jeff LeClere

www.herpnet.net

I'm so exited about our find!! This morning after I printed out info from herpnet.net for Holden he went outside to show his friends and tell them it was a Fox Snake. Some of them saw our little friend when they got off the bus yesterday. They all seemed happy to know what kind of snake it was. I overheard Holden telling them not to kill a Fox Snake because they eat mice. He was so adorable and confident.

We are on an insect binge lately. Everywhere we turn we are finding insects. Camden had a large cricket today and happily let him go after at least half an hour of bonding. I was mowing the grass and every so often I'd look over and the cricket was just sitting on Cam's arm or hand. Holden retrieved it for Camden a few times. Later we found Cam's first grasshopper. He bit Camden and unfortunately the grasshopper got smashed by the bugcage lid. Later we found a small slug and Camden accidentally stepped on it in the kitchen. It has been a day of learning about nature for us.

Holden asked me today why we haven't been to the library in awhile. I reminded him about the last time we went her didn't seem interested in reading the books he brought home. And I told him when the weather is nice it's more fun to be outside. I told him as soon as this Indian Summer is over we'll need some good books to cuddle up with. I have been going thru our stuff and we have lots of books around here to read. But it's always fun to go to the library when it's too cold to be outside. We'll have lots of ideas about what we want to dive into after all the exploring and playing.