Speckled King Snake behavior

[GWB]

So I'm walking the dog in the back yard and I encounter a Speckled
King Snake. I've met quite a few of these snakes and once kept one as
a pet. This little ripper coils up like a rattlesnake and begins
shaking its tail furiously. I don't know if this guy has been hanging
with a tough crowd, but I've never seen a SKS act this way. Is this
unusual, or have I just never found an angry one?

[N Jill Marsh]

Post by GWB
So I'm walking the dog in the back yard and I encounter a Speckled
King Snake. I've met quite a few of these snakes and once kept one as
a pet. This little ripper coils up like a rattlesnake and begins
shaking its tail furiously. I don't know if this guy has been hanging
with a tough crowd, but I've never seen a SKS act this way. Is this
unusual, or have I just never found an angry one?

Tail rattling is a common defensive behaviour for many many species of
snake. Some species (e.g., hognose) are well known for it, others not
so.

When this group was very active, a great many people reported seeing
tail rattling in a wide variety of snakes, I have the impression that
some more excitable individuals in a species tend to do it, I expect
that's who you encountered.

nj"has a very laid back hoggie"m