# What is this dead thing?



## GingerLove (May 7, 2017)

Hi guys... I just found this nasty thing in my backyard, dropped off by my friend the red-tailed hawk. I can't for the life of me figure out what it is. I thought instantly "snake", but then look at the teeth!?? No fangs? No pointed teeth? Looks almost like a skink skull, but it's so long!!! Do skinks get that long? I live in Florida. 
My family asked me to post this to see what any of you reptile people thought.


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## GingerLove (May 7, 2017)

Oh... and I looked up this photo on the internet. Maybe it could be this???? I have no idea.


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## ZEROPILOT (May 7, 2017)

They do look like lizard teeth...


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## GingerLove (May 7, 2017)

ZEROPILOT said:


> They do look like lizard teeth...


THANK YOU!!! No one else believes me in my family!!!! I just can't figure out what kind of lizard would be so long. He's about a foot or longer. That's why I thought maybe it was that "gator skink" thing posted above because of the head's arrow shape.... but it's seems too big.


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## theguy67 (May 7, 2017)

Yeah. Lizard teeth are usually pretty uniform, and short. I agree that its probably some sort of skink, since its so long and slender.


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## GingerLove (May 7, 2017)

theguy67 said:


> Yeah. Lizard teeth are usually pretty uniform, and short. I agree that its probably some sort of skink, since its so long and slender.


I wish I just knew what kind of lizard it was. I've never seen anything like it!


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## theguy67 (May 7, 2017)

GingerLove said:


> I wish I just knew what kind of lizard it was. I've never seen anything like it!



Where are you located?


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## ZEROPILOT (May 7, 2017)

Google "legless lizard"
It's what comes to mind.
However, in Florida, a lot of lizards could fit the bill.


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## GingerLove (May 7, 2017)

theguy67 said:


> Where are you located?


Sunny sweaty Florida


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## GingerLove (May 7, 2017)

ZEROPILOT said:


> Google "legless lizard"
> It's what comes to mind.
> However, in Florida, a lot of lizards could fit the bill.


It's hard to find a picture of the skull of a legless lizard


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## MPRC (May 7, 2017)




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## Cowboy_Ken (May 8, 2017)

ZEROPILOT said:


> fit the bill.


Pun intended?


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## Yvonne G (May 8, 2017)

What about an iguana?


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## ZEROPILOT (May 8, 2017)

Yvonne G said:


> What about an iguana?


Iguanas teeth are smaller and stubbier per the size of the head.
This guy looks like a carnivore. (Rearward facing back teeth, too!)


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## enzot91 (May 8, 2017)

It looks like a red eyed crocodile skink. How big is it?

Edit: Just noticed that last photo isn't yours!


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## MPRC (May 8, 2017)

Iguanas have serrated shark teeth, trust me, I know. Mean little monsters. My blue tongued skunks had conical teeth, they weren't sharp but they could crush your finger pretty well. Great for grinding up snails.


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## Cowboy_Ken (May 8, 2017)

Looks like a garter snake to me…


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## Rachael403 (May 8, 2017)

That's quite the present that was left for you!


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## GingerLove (May 8, 2017)

Rachael403 said:


> That's quite the present that was left for you!


I know. He left a crusted gecko next to it too.


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## GingerLove (May 8, 2017)

Cowboy_Ken said:


> Looks like a garter snake to me…


That's what my family thinks... but I'm still skeptical about the teeth


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## GingerLove (May 8, 2017)

MPRC said:


>


WOW that freaked me out!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought, "was that what's in my backyard?!!" for a second there!


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## ZEROPILOT (May 8, 2017)

I can see Garter snake.
Anyone want to make it a vote of three?
Does a Garter snake have rearward facing back teeth? I'll bet it does.


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## ZEROPILOT (May 8, 2017)

MPRC said:


> Iguanas have serrated shark teeth, trust me, I know. Mean little monsters. My blue tongued skunks had conical teeth, they weren't sharp but they could crush your finger pretty well. Great for grinding up snails.


Yes. Many times decades ago, while trying to catch them I was both bitten by teeth, ripped with claws and whipped by the tails of iguanas.
Now the novelty has worn off. I leave them alone.


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## Rachael403 (May 8, 2017)

GingerLove said:


> I know. He left a crusted gecko next to it too.



I was always under the impression that they ate their prey bones and all, then throws up the casting. 

I agree, those are not garner snake teeth.


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## Cowboy_Ken (May 11, 2017)




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## Cowboy_Ken (May 11, 2017)

View attachment 207264

Yes, garter snakes have rearward facing teeth. There is no vomiting of undigested parts involved with a snake. If eaten, it's digested if warm enough.


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## Oogway the russian tort (May 16, 2017)

Ir migth be a red eye croc which is a skink so dont be worried


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## GingerLove (May 17, 2017)

Oogway the russian tort said:


> Ir migth be a red eye croc which is a skink so dont be worried


That still kind of worries me. Skinks are so YUCKY!!! (No offense to those of you who own them... it's just a matter of preference. I'm even squimish around worms).  Thanks all for trying to help identify it! Sure is a weird thing. Hopefully the hawk won't be dropping off anything else, but I still see him hanging around. Makes me a tad nervous about Ginger!!!!


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## Cowboy_Ken (May 17, 2017)

GingerLove said:


> Hopefully the hawk won't be dropping off anything else, but I still see him hanging around.


The main reason garter snake came to my mind so quickly, I lived in an area thick with garter snakes. Come summertime I would find with regularity dead garter snakes that had their backs stripped off oftentimes down to the sides. I wondered what would do this without eating the full snake. We have lots of red tailed hawks and gosh hawks in the area as well, but why wouldn't they eat the full snake? Finally I figured out what was happening to the snakes. I had to use a weed-whacker on most of this property, and unfortunately I was killing the poor little guys accidentally. Once dried, they look very much like your picture. To solve that problem, I started laying out pieces of plywood and carpet samples out for the snakes to hang out under and that, saved many snake lives. 
So I ask you, does anyone do some serious weed whacking at your place?


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## GingerLove (May 19, 2017)

Cowboy_Ken said:


> The main reason garter snake came to my mind so quickly, I lived in an area thick with garter snakes. Come summertime I would find with regularity dead garter snakes that had their backs stripped off oftentimes down to the sides. I wondered what would do this without eating the full snake. We have lots of red tailed hawks and gosh hawks in the area as well, but why wouldn't they eat the full snake? Finally I figured out what was happening to the snakes. I had to use a weed-whacker on most of this property, and unfortunately I was killing the poor little guys accidentally. Once dried, they look very much like your picture. To solve that problem, I started laying out pieces of plywood and carpet samples out for the snakes to hang out under and that, saved many snake lives.
> So I ask you, does anyone do some serious weed whacking at your place?



Yes, we have a weed whacker do our lawn... but the only thing that keeps me from thinking it was the lawn man is the place that I found the snake. It was on top of a six foot fence. Yes, on top. (And no kidding, my neighbor built a fence that is six feet tall!!! I think he's trying to tell us something...) Anyways, it was stripped very strangely of it's flesh and skin, so I'm not sure what would do that. Do hawks eat bones of animals or just the flesh? Maybe some other bird could have dropped it off? When I saw the skeleton first, the hawk was on the fence opposite, but that doesn't mean he's the culprit. He could have been framed.  Seriously, though, I'm not sure he did it.


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## Yo Adrien (May 28, 2017)

Are you near water in Florida? Osprey rip flesh off their catch. And usually perch higher up while they eat.


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## GingerLove (May 28, 2017)

Not really... I'm near a lake? But the hawk was sitting right next to it so I really think it was the hawk. I still am not sure what exactly it is. Sounds like mixed opinions!


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