Distractions

The rainy season has definitely started. During the last four weeks we have had two to three showers per week. Both plants and animals react almost instantaneously to this change in weather and there are many new animals and plants appearing on the farm. All very exciting, but it does occasionally distract us from the work at hand.

Like two weeks ago when Kees left to improve the path here and there. He was back in three minutes to get Loes and the camera because there was a five foot snake in a small tree along the path. The branch on which the snake was lying, bent under the weight of the snake (it was, admittedly, a rather thin branch). So of course we had to take pictures for our blog and our website-in-construction. After that, Kees did start the work, but since he and the snake were both constantly looking over his shoulder, progress was slower than normal.

See the photos in this album! http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/loesroos/album?.dir=/44cere2&.src=ph&.tok=phCz6rGBsZ2FWn7I

We showed the picture to several Panamanians and all agreed that this is a ‘Java’ (pronounce ghàhbàh) but opinions about whether it was dangerous and/or poisonous differed. According to the local farmers the snake is poisonous, brave but not aggressive. According to a Panamanian student of environmental studies, the snake was not poisonous, but he agreed that the snake was brave. The student also claims that the snake wraps itself around your legs and hits you with its tail when you get too close, to scare you off. We also thought it was rather calm, we came within ten feet of the snake but it stayed calm.

Finally we found some info on the insufficiently praised Internet: The snake was a tiger rat snake or chicken snake (Spilotes pullatus). The snake is not poisonous, a member of the colubrid family and reaches an average length of 1.5 – 2 m. but can reach 3.3 m. The tiger rat snake kills its prey (just about anything smaller than itself, including other snakes) by strangling. Apparently the tiger rat snake rattles its tail and inflates is neck to scare you off when you get too close. Oh, and it is very popular among those who keep snakes as pets and zoos because it is colourful and active even though it has a bad reputation. Almost everybody who owns tiger rat snakes, claims that keeping them is not for the faint of heart because they are big, fast and bad-tempered.

Besides the tiger rat snake (that name sounds so much better than chicken snake) we also have some large iguanas, terrapins, cane toads (Bufo marinus) and assorted smaller frogs and lizards running around. You will find some pictures of those in the soon to be uploaded photo album as well.