Is West Texas Prepared for the Nightmare of Cannibal Snakes?
I'm out.
I know that nature has a way of taking care of itself, but even knowing that one of these snakes is non-venomous creates a whole new batch of nightmare fuel for my delicate little brain to process.
Nooooooope.
A California man was able to capture this classic example of "only the strong survive" in his garage, which involved a non-venomous King Snake going all Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on a Rattlesnake. Yep: CANNIBAL SNAKES OF THE APOCALYPSE! Which is also a great name for a death metal band.
I'm sorry, but if I see THIS in my garage, I'm burning it right to the freaking ground.
Apparently, however, it's not uncommon for King Snakes to treat young rattlesnakes as appetizers, even here in West Texas. According to Wikipedia, Texans are more likely to encounter the Desert King Snake, which, unless provoked, are usually docile when they come into contact with humans. When they encounter rodents or other snakes, however, it's the freaking Hunger Games:
"This snake is known to be a powerful constrictor, and therefore its diet consists of mostly mice if domestic, and other rodents if wild. It also can feed on clutches of reptile eggs detected beneath the surface via smell. In part because of its resistance to pitviper venom, the desert kingsnake is able to consume young diamondback rattlesnakes that are common within its range..."
There are also stories of farmers who try to essentially domesticate the King Snake because it keeps crop-eating critters and other reptiles at bay. I don't reckon that the gentleman above knew that he had any snakes near his abode, but he may be happy that the king snake was there to run interference and force that rattler down his gullet.
So, if you have a king snake around, it's generally not a bad thing since they're a deterrent. Unless, of course, you have a cat or something. In that case, Muffy is probably going to kitty heaven.