[anji1971]

I agree, James!
That is exactly why, even though I could have just kept my mouth shut (or my fingers off the keyboard, in this case!) and pretended I'd just found a T.s. sirtalis, I decided to make it known, and return him to where he should be.
I am definitely going to keep looking for them, although I don't know how closely I'll be able to study them, since my little pond is a fair distance from my house. And let me tell you, anybody I see catching snakes there is going to get a good lecture on species identification, and the importance of protecting endangered creatures!