A Fair Trade

My wife Dedra was checking the henhouse for eggs this afternoon and found a visitor. He already had a couple of eggs in his belly, but we don't really mind too much. She put him down in the barn to catch mice after he finishes his digestion. Seems like a fair trade, a couple of eggs now and then for some rodent control. He's a black rat snake, a constrictor, non poisonous, and it looks like he just shed. There's a bit of dry skin still attached near his eye.

(Photographs copyright 2012 by Dan Routh)