I had already been looking for snakes on Everglades roads twice in the previous week and had seen quite a few snakes each night. On this third attempt I hadn't seen a single snake in a couple of hours after sunset when I came across this beauty, turning a disappointing herping night into a very satisfying one.

When disturbed, mud snakes have an annoying (to photographers) habit of coiling up tightly and hiding their heads in the mass of coils. Sometimes they also try to poke you with their pointy tails, but this one didn't attempt that. I was lucky to get a few pictures with the head on the outside of the coils.