the.com/gopher snake
Harmless bluffer who vibrates its tail in leaves to cosplay as a rattlesnake.
means A large, non-venomous North American snake that kills by constriction and spends much of its life underground raiding burrows for rodents.
from The name comes straight from its favorite real estate: these snakes are relentless burrowers, often taking over gopher and ground-squirrel holes to live in and hunt from, so settlers simply named them after the tunnels they haunted. 'Gopher' itself traces back to French Creole use in North America, possibly linked to French 'gaufre' (honeycomb/waffle), describing the honeycombed look of burrowed ground — though that root is debated, not certain.
- defense trick
- flattens head into a triangle like a viper
- sound effect
- hisses loud enough to bluff predators away
- actual diet
- kills rodents and rabbits by constriction, not venom
- farmer's friend
- clears barns of gophers better than any trap