Dead Snake, in the Middle of the Road

I was beginning to believe that there were no snakes on Negros Island. I've been living here for over two years, and have been visiting the island since 2000, and until this morning, I hadn't come across any evidence to prove otherwise.

There are no shortages of lizards on the island. They're everywhere, even making their way into even the best of houses. Frogs aren't rare either. When we get an especially heavy rain, frogs will be washed up onto the paved areas in our apartment complex, and when walking along the road, I'll come upon countless frogs that hadn't been able to dodge the traffic.

No, until my morning walk today, I hadn't seen a live snake, a dead snake or even a snake skin shed through ecdysis. I came upon this particular snake near the Sibulan ice plant while walking to the market. Normally, I'd have my camera with me during my walk, but this morning I had left the camera in the apartment. Returning home after the walk, I grabbed the camera and headed back for a photo. I knew I'd be posting something about the dead snake and, like all my blog posts, I wanted this post to carry a photo. Fortunately, the snake was fairly close to the apartment. I don't know if I would have wanted to walk back for a photo, had it been killed closer to the market.

It's difficult to get a proper idea of the size of this snake from the photo; there's no frame of reference. Looking at the photo, it could a little critter, or a big scary monster. I didn't measure it, but I'd estimate its length to be about 1/2 meter. I've seen lots of Georgia snakes that could have this one for breakfast.