Snake

OK, let's get it over with. We spent weeks in Australia and we didn't see a single snake (even in places where they were supposed to be "abundant", but admittedly "rarely seen"). And here we were, in the South of France, just on the road at the back of the house in Montséret, taking a stroll one evening, and what do we see? Yes, you've guessed right - a snake. OK, a dead snake. A squashed snake even. But a snake all the same. And not small. It was about 70cm long and thicker than my thumb.

I can't say for sure if it was a viper or a "couleuvre" (an innocuous type of snake). After it's squashed, it's impossible to see if it had slit-shaped or round-shaped pupils. I found this website with good information about snakes in France. From what I've read there, I'd gather that our snake was a "couleuvre", not venomous. Interesting that they do eat frogs. In the evenings, the frogs towards the back of the village made quite a racket.There must be a pond not far.

And we did see 2 or 3 more dead snakes on the roads in the area. We had never seen one previous years. My theory is that this was their mating season (we were a few weeks earlier than other years), and they were out and about more than usual.

Now, for the gory bit -Yes, we did take a picture. It's pretty yuck. But would you believe us otherwise?