A Spotted Leafnosed Snake found late at night a couple of summers ago. While many snakes are tucked away in late May and June to wait for the monsoon, these snakes are very active. The reason: lizard eggs. These are reptile egg specialists, and June is a great time to be out looking for them to eat. The “leaf” on its nose is a kind of shovel, to help push through soil to get to them. They’re small snakes, less than a foot long typically, and entirely harmless. If captured, they may coil and strike repeatedly with a hiss, but if you look closely, their mouth is closed the entire time. It’s sometimes said that “anything with a mouth can bite”, but can and will aren’t the same thing.
