A visitor!
Today was most excellent. I was out just finishing up mowing the lawn and as I started to empty the last bag, I thought I saw some rubber tubing that Dar had left in the mulch near our big oak tree. My inner child's eyes went wide with happiness as I realized..is that.. is it... could it be...a snake? SNAKE! It's a snake!!! Woohoo!
While I at first backed away to get a good look, I almost immediately wanted to jump up and down with excitement. I grew up near woods and so I have always liked snakes--they are just really neat creatures. I walked up to get a good look at our visitor, who was about 4 feet long, all black with a light belly. I'm still not sure if it was a black king snake or a black rat snake, but I'm leaning rat snake. The head wasn't triangular, and solid-colored in the Midwest is a pretty good indicator that a snake isn't poisonous (about 90% of snake species are non-venomous so the odds are usually in your favor), so as I checked him out I felt pretty confident he was a good visitor, not a bad one. I called out to see if my wife in kitchen and might hear me, but no luck. My boy Cameron has to see this! Hmm, anything back here to help me trap him, a bucket, a bag? Nope. Oh well, just gotta grab him and take him around to Cam. No way I'm walking away and risking Cam not getting to see him. Of course he's seen Rikki Tikki Tavi, as any child at his age should, but I was pretty sure he'd not seen an uncaged snake before.
Okay, if you're not familiar with snakes, I don't advise doing this, but obviously if you feel uncomfortable around them, you aren't going to want to catch one anyway. If you do know snakes, then you probably already know -- they're not too hard to catch. Since a trusty long, forked stick is never around when you need it, you need to be able to catch a snake without any stick at all, or at least only small twigs to help you. Basically, advance smoothly, don't startle the little guy, and if he runs, try to circle him to keep him where you want him. If he bolts, you need to be sure he's nonpoisonous if you want to stop him, as you do risk getting bit if you attempt to handle him. I checked his mood at this point by dangling a small stick in front of him...if he is not such a nice snake at this point, he will strike the stick, and if you happen to see fangs at that point, well then you know your snake-identification technique needs a lot of work. Back to Steve Irwin, I mean, my wanna-be show. Basically, you grab the snake near the tail, and if he tries to curl back some, you keep pulling that tail away from him and stepping away...while leaving most of his weight on the ground. Picking him all the way off the ground is a) not nice, and b) a better way for the snake to have leverage to flip around and strike at you. So he rests 2/3 of his body on the ground, and you politely and nicely hold his tail (firmly, but no need to squeeze..snakeskin is pretty rough so he shouldn't slide away). Once he calms down and isn't trying to slither away, walk around behind him, moving slow so he's not startled. (Note, I'm calling him a 'he', but that's just because boy snakes are nicer...if it was a female, I'm sure she'd have bitten me. They're like people in that respect. Males - harmless and easily captured. Females - sneaky and mean. Ha, only kidding. I think.) Okay, so now you get to show off your snake-like reflexes... we humans are actually what snakes call 'pathetic and slug-like' but nonetheless you can think you're fast if you want to.
So you snatch and grab behind his head, carefully, a lot like when you grab a fish out of a stream with your bare hands. Just don't telegraph it, and if you miss, don't let any snake you haven't identified yet get a bite at you. I'm assuming here you've had ninja training and done this hundreds of times. If not, well, you will probably miss your snake and he will laugh at you. Once you have him, make sure to hold his neck firmly...just an inch or two behind the head, so he can't bend back to bite but you're not actually holding his head either, which isn't going to be comfortable for him. And don't squeeze. Now you can run off to show him to your kids, neighbors, anyone you know how is afraid of snakes is an excellent choice as well. Cameron was quite impressed with the snake (strangely he did not comment on my snake-catching prowess...hmm, maybe next time I'll have him catch the snake). Darlene watched from a bit farther away. We explained that some snakes are poisonous, and that they will bite, so if he ever finds one he is to run away and get mommy and daddy. However, this is a nice snake. He was about 4 feet long and about 1.5 inches thick at his widest. Cam touched him and I explained how his scales are rough if you rub them the wrong way. Reminder to self--Cam should get to handle a boa constrictor sometime and feel how cool it is when they curl around your arm. I explained how our new friend here was going to go back outside and renew his search for moles, mice and bugs in our yard. It was a cool visit, and I was glad that Cam was interested in the snake. Cam went back inside and I released the snake near where I found him. He seemed unperturbed by our inspection, which made me feel better about disturbing his day. I advised him as I let him to go be on the lookout for our local mole population, and that anything he could do would be appreciated.
In retrospect, I didn't take a picture of our visitor today, but I hope he'll be back. I enjoyed the visit immensely. I had just been telling Dar a few weeks ago that it made me sad I'd never found a snake in the back yard. Hmm, maybe I saw one long ago, I forget. We used to have a woodpile back there which was major snake territory, but more of a copperhead haven than anything else, so it had to go. I am glad in a way that we didn't have a copperhead today. I am very live-and-let-live with most wildlife, and I would have been tempted to let even a venomous snake go in my yard...except that I have the two small children. I thought about it afterwards and even though I would feel very guilty...a venomous snake in the yard cannot be trusted not to return if I go through the trouble to capture him and transport him a distance away. And he's not deadly to me probably, but to a child, any poisonous snake is a threat. I'm afraid if that happens Mr. Copper is going to have to sleep with the fishes. So I hope none of them puts me in that position. I wouldn't enjoy dispensing Man's justice.
An excellent day. I don't know if you want a snake in your yard, but if you do, I hope you find one too! And I hope this guy comes back, he was quite cool.
While I at first backed away to get a good look, I almost immediately wanted to jump up and down with excitement. I grew up near woods and so I have always liked snakes--they are just really neat creatures. I walked up to get a good look at our visitor, who was about 4 feet long, all black with a light belly. I'm still not sure if it was a black king snake or a black rat snake, but I'm leaning rat snake. The head wasn't triangular, and solid-colored in the Midwest is a pretty good indicator that a snake isn't poisonous (about 90% of snake species are non-venomous so the odds are usually in your favor), so as I checked him out I felt pretty confident he was a good visitor, not a bad one. I called out to see if my wife in kitchen and might hear me, but no luck. My boy Cameron has to see this! Hmm, anything back here to help me trap him, a bucket, a bag? Nope. Oh well, just gotta grab him and take him around to Cam. No way I'm walking away and risking Cam not getting to see him. Of course he's seen Rikki Tikki Tavi, as any child at his age should, but I was pretty sure he'd not seen an uncaged snake before.
Okay, if you're not familiar with snakes, I don't advise doing this, but obviously if you feel uncomfortable around them, you aren't going to want to catch one anyway. If you do know snakes, then you probably already know -- they're not too hard to catch. Since a trusty long, forked stick is never around when you need it, you need to be able to catch a snake without any stick at all, or at least only small twigs to help you. Basically, advance smoothly, don't startle the little guy, and if he runs, try to circle him to keep him where you want him. If he bolts, you need to be sure he's nonpoisonous if you want to stop him, as you do risk getting bit if you attempt to handle him. I checked his mood at this point by dangling a small stick in front of him...if he is not such a nice snake at this point, he will strike the stick, and if you happen to see fangs at that point, well then you know your snake-identification technique needs a lot of work. Back to Steve Irwin, I mean, my wanna-be show. Basically, you grab the snake near the tail, and if he tries to curl back some, you keep pulling that tail away from him and stepping away...while leaving most of his weight on the ground. Picking him all the way off the ground is a) not nice, and b) a better way for the snake to have leverage to flip around and strike at you. So he rests 2/3 of his body on the ground, and you politely and nicely hold his tail (firmly, but no need to squeeze..snakeskin is pretty rough so he shouldn't slide away). Once he calms down and isn't trying to slither away, walk around behind him, moving slow so he's not startled. (Note, I'm calling him a 'he', but that's just because boy snakes are nicer...if it was a female, I'm sure she'd have bitten me. They're like people in that respect. Males - harmless and easily captured. Females - sneaky and mean. Ha, only kidding. I think.) Okay, so now you get to show off your snake-like reflexes... we humans are actually what snakes call 'pathetic and slug-like' but nonetheless you can think you're fast if you want to.
So you snatch and grab behind his head, carefully, a lot like when you grab a fish out of a stream with your bare hands. Just don't telegraph it, and if you miss, don't let any snake you haven't identified yet get a bite at you. I'm assuming here you've had ninja training and done this hundreds of times. If not, well, you will probably miss your snake and he will laugh at you. Once you have him, make sure to hold his neck firmly...just an inch or two behind the head, so he can't bend back to bite but you're not actually holding his head either, which isn't going to be comfortable for him. And don't squeeze. Now you can run off to show him to your kids, neighbors, anyone you know how is afraid of snakes is an excellent choice as well. Cameron was quite impressed with the snake (strangely he did not comment on my snake-catching prowess...hmm, maybe next time I'll have him catch the snake). Darlene watched from a bit farther away. We explained that some snakes are poisonous, and that they will bite, so if he ever finds one he is to run away and get mommy and daddy. However, this is a nice snake. He was about 4 feet long and about 1.5 inches thick at his widest. Cam touched him and I explained how his scales are rough if you rub them the wrong way. Reminder to self--Cam should get to handle a boa constrictor sometime and feel how cool it is when they curl around your arm. I explained how our new friend here was going to go back outside and renew his search for moles, mice and bugs in our yard. It was a cool visit, and I was glad that Cam was interested in the snake. Cam went back inside and I released the snake near where I found him. He seemed unperturbed by our inspection, which made me feel better about disturbing his day. I advised him as I let him to go be on the lookout for our local mole population, and that anything he could do would be appreciated.
In retrospect, I didn't take a picture of our visitor today, but I hope he'll be back. I enjoyed the visit immensely. I had just been telling Dar a few weeks ago that it made me sad I'd never found a snake in the back yard. Hmm, maybe I saw one long ago, I forget. We used to have a woodpile back there which was major snake territory, but more of a copperhead haven than anything else, so it had to go. I am glad in a way that we didn't have a copperhead today. I am very live-and-let-live with most wildlife, and I would have been tempted to let even a venomous snake go in my yard...except that I have the two small children. I thought about it afterwards and even though I would feel very guilty...a venomous snake in the yard cannot be trusted not to return if I go through the trouble to capture him and transport him a distance away. And he's not deadly to me probably, but to a child, any poisonous snake is a threat. I'm afraid if that happens Mr. Copper is going to have to sleep with the fishes. So I hope none of them puts me in that position. I wouldn't enjoy dispensing Man's justice.
An excellent day. I don't know if you want a snake in your yard, but if you do, I hope you find one too! And I hope this guy comes back, he was quite cool.
posted by the squeaky mouse gets the cheese at 4:36 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home