This snake i actually encountered around 8 pm vs 10 pm, when there was still some daylight to see it by. I was able to see that it was not a rattler without getting close to it and upon further examination it is in all likelihood a checkered garter snake. These snakes are completely harmless to humans. They typically range from 14 to 20 inches long. they are pretty docile and rarely bite. If harassed or threatened they are more likely to defecate all over themselves to make themselves undesirable to pick up and then slither away. Unlike the rattlers who feast pretty much exclusively on small rodents this guy will eat frogs, toads, lizards, and earthworms in addition to small mice. This explained the bulge. The snake was seen leaving my porch area where toads and tree frogs had been known to hang out in abundance waiting for insects drawn to the porch light. The snake was a small one and the bulge in its middle was too small to be a field mouse. Maybe a baby one? When i learned the garter snake would eat toads and frogs i knew what was in its stomach. There was either a baby toad or a fully grown tree frog digesting inside the snake. The bulge was just way too small to be a field mouse. This snake was non venomous. I have no qualms with the checkered garter snake. I could use a non venomous hunter to take on the mice. I wondered if it was big enough to eat mice. It was a nicely patterned specimen. It seemed fairly healthy. I stepped around it to get to and from the well house as i watered the plants. It seemed reluctant to move as it was digesting something it had just eaten. Eventually it slithered across the grass until it disappeared beneath a yucca.
