{"id":39387,"date":"2025-07-18T00:40:24","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T04:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/?p=39387"},"modified":"2025-07-18T00:46:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T04:46:40","slug":"somebody-being-perverse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/2025\/07\/somebody-being-perverse\/","title":{"rendered":"Somebody being perverse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Out last night trying (and succeeding) to find a new Estate Find, I came back to the outside door to Walkabout Studios and saw a distinctive pattern, right alongside the steps<strong>:<\/strong> an eastern kingsnake (<em>Lampropeltis getula<\/em>) emerging from a burrow about as close to my door as it could be. The day after World Snake Day as well, when I spent so much time trying to locate any. I was unable to get a hold of it before it slunk backwards into its burrow, so I resolved to keep checking for its eventual reappearance, while I put together the Estate Find post.<\/p>\n<p>On my third check, there it was again<strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ThwartingKing.jpg\" alt=\"adult eastern kingsnake Lampropeltis getula emerging from burrow\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39388\" \/><br clear=\"all\"\/>The hindbody is still partially within the burrow to the right, just under my orange kayak, while the head is at the left edge of the frame &#8211; I had to fire this off quickly with the macro flash rig and didn&#8217;t have time for adjustments and making sure the light was even. After this shot I set down the camera and pounced, getting a firm grip on the snake, but it still had enough body within the burrow to prevent me from drawing it out, and eventually I gave up the fight and let it recede again. Same one as <a href=\"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/2025\/06\/estate-find-xxvi\/\" target=\"_blank\">before<\/a>? Quite likely, though I never saw its full length to be able to compare it.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, this is too late for the holiday, and did the snake know this? I have no doubts myself. Meanwhile, there have not only been a pair of Copes grey treefrogs right outside the office making a racket for the past few nights, I&#8217;ve also seen an eastern spadefoot toad hanging out under the edge of the very same kayak &#8211; at least until yesterday evening. Only the fact that the snake is still emerging suggests that it has not found any substantial meals yet &#8211; otherwise it should be holed up digesting. But now the question remains<strong>:<\/strong> do I have one of its eggs?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Out last night trying (and succeeding) to find a new Estate Find, I came back to the outside door to Walkabout Studios and saw a distinctive pattern, right alongside the steps: an eastern kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula) emerging from a burrow about as close to my door as it could be. The day after World Snake [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,4,3],"tags":[4930,4931],"class_list":["post-39387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-frustrations","category-nature","category-photo","tag-eastern-kingsnake","tag-lampropeltis-getula"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}