It should be easy to measure a snake, right? A snake is, after all, just a long skinny tube. Unfortunately they can be rather stubborn when I bring out the yardstick and refuse to stay in a straight line.
Great Plains Rat Snakes like Emory have strong muscles for climbing and holding prey. This time she used them to resist my attempts at straightening her long body to get an accurate measurement. I once tried measuring her skin after a shed to avoid this struggle, but found that the thin membrane stretched and was longer than her actual length. I think I’ll have better luck catching the snakes striking a candid pose in their habitats as they travel flat against the glass. Digger was kind enough to offer this opportunity yesterday (with an official length of 29.5 inches):
(No reasonable measurement was accomplished with Emory.)
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