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Posted by K.E. on September 21, 2002 at 15:30:14:
In Reply to: What the heck is a \ posted by KelliH on September 21, 2002 at 14:27:12:
:Someone please clue me in!
Kelli,
Cow Sucker is a common name for an Elaphe obsoleta. Other common names are Chicken snake, Pilot snake, and black rat snake. There are many more. They have been lost over the past few years for many reasons, the most offensive being that when some people hear someone say "cow sucker" they automatically think they are rural...or even ignorant. I like the term cow sucker because that is what people in my area have called the snake for decades. They did this because they mistakenly believed that they sucked the milk from cows in barns. When a cow's udders get infected red streaks will often develop. These streaks made some people believe that the snake had attached itself to the udder. I am very interested in folk stories, especially if they are from Kentucky. My friend Phil and I were hunting corn snakes in KY this year and asked a local if they knew where to find them. After much confusion the person asked if we meant the red snakes. We said yes and she said, "Oh you mean the red chicken snake." She then told us where they were, and we found some. Basically, that leads me to want to call the thing a red chicken snake when refering to it with a common name because that is what it is called by the people who live in proximity to it. It is just another aspect of this field that I appreciate and that helps me to appreciate others and their various backgrounds. I hope this clears things up a little for you. For an old guy like me it is painful to hear someone ask what a cowsucker is. I wish this information was included in all the field guides and herpetocultural literature. K.E.
