Snakes Alive!

Sometimes we find adventures – or inspiration for fictional adventures – in the common occurrences of every day life.  Since this is Halloween month, I’m going to share with you some ‘creepy’ stories from my life.

My buddy Mike, who lives in Alabama, was weeding in his yard the other day.  He reached into a clump of plants and found a large snake skin.  Fortunately that snake skin was uninhabited!  He has a lot of copperheads around there and copperheads are just flat-out mean!

king snake, snakes,
Photo of and from Brian O’Hare – Snake Wrangler

My bro, Brian picked up a new golf partner, fortunately it was just a King snake.

I found a snake skin hanging off a hickory tree beside the house a while back.  From the size of it I’d say mine was from a black snake – it was pretty big.  We’ve seen black snakes around here get 6’ to 8’ in length.  I came across one just the other day while I was mowing the grass – he was only about 4 feet.  He hopped and wriggled comically to get away from the mower then slithered through a chink in the skirting under the trailer.

Note to self: next time I have to go under the trailer for something; MAKE A LOT OF NOISE!

It’s not that I’m skeerd of snakes, mind you; I used to eagerly anticipate my turn to “wear” the pet python during science class, and worked hard to keep my grades up so I’d remain in the rotation.  I’ve had pet garter snakes, grass snakes, sand snakes.  But as I’ve gotten older, somehow the urge to play with the snakes I come across has diminished.  I’d just as soon that our paths did not cross.  Especially those with long pointy teeth.

I appreciate the fact that most snakes around here are actually beneficial in that they help keep the vermin population down, and I won’t go out of my way to kill one I know to be non-venomous.  But sometimes, their own pretenses can prove a little too convincing.  I once came across a yellow-bellied king snake under a rose bush I was trimming.  He coiled up and waggled the tip of his tail at me.  He looked more than a little like a rattler too – just didn’t have that triangular head.  I didn’t have my Field Guide To All Snakes in my pocket and couldn’t be sure, so I whacked it with a shovel… just to be sure.  When I looked it up and found it was just a King Snake I felt guilty about killing it.
I’ve learned to look a little more closely, but to look closely from a safe distance.

3 thoughts on “Snakes Alive!”

  1. Hey, that looks like a pretty brave soul holding that snake!!
    I had a little liquid courage that afternoon if I recall correctly!

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