My wonderful neighbor is moving (Im sad) She came over last week and told me to come dig what ever I wanted out of her yard.. (see why Im sad shes leaving??) I dug up some cannas to start with and then realized I didnt have enough pots to plant them in till my beds were ready. She told me to take some of her pots that had dirt in them so I did..
Go home, all excited to plant my gift up. Got my wheel barrow and my trusty sieve out and emptied a couple of pots on it to screen the dirt.. Im in the dirt about mid arm and realize THERES SOMETHING MOVING!!!!.. The something turned out to be a snake about the diaminter of a bratwurst and about 2 1/2 feet in length. Of course I freak (at first )cause it suprised me. Now Im still new to TX (moved here in June of 07) but I do know we have timber rattlers, copperheads and other posionous snakes in my neck of the woods. Im not about to get up close and personal with something that I cant identify right off the bat and at this point Im not stopping to run into the house to look up what kind Im dealing with... In the mean time Grace, my wild child dog, is thinking shes getting a new playmate and getting in the way as Im trying to keep her in the yard and then get the wheelbarrow and the snake on the other side of the fence so I can do something about it. I have visions of Grace getting bit and it being poisionus. For as smart as Grace is, she hasnt the sense God gave an earthworm sometimes..lol.
I get on the other side of the fence with the snake trapped in the wheel barrow by the sieve, franticly looking for something to move it with and I find a LONG stick. By this time Mr Snake is waking up and really moving, hissing and carrying on. I manage to get it on the end of the stick, walk/ jog over to the pasture next door to my house, while its hissing at me and fling it in to the tall grass.. At that point its bye bye snake!...lol
I dont know about most of you but I dont kill snakes of any kind if I can help it.. Ill stop and let them cross the road if I see one trying to.. I dont kill the poisonious ones unless me or my pets are endangered and cant get away from them. I believe in a live and let live kind of relationship They are needed to help keep things in check as far as Im concerned
after disposing of my gift I looked it up and found out it was a corn snake, a non poisionus type, good at keeping rats and mice under control
I told my neighbor if thats the kind of present she was gonna give me I was going to return it to her but without the package!..lol.
a present from my neighbor (it was alive)
I think you were very brave in what could have been a dangerous situation.
Josephine.
at the time I didnt think about it being dangerous, I just wanted to get rid if it without getting bit or having to kill it.. Im not scared of snakes and have handled quite a few in my life up to a 14 ft boa. I was very careful cause I wasnt sure what kind it was.. I had on heavy leather gauntlet gloves when I was dealing with it along with jeans, a sweatshirt and leather boots. I dress in case I do run in to something like this when I work outside. Very rarely do you see in in shorts and a tanktop when Im working in the garden.. to many things can BITE!..lol
I hate to have to kill things. In fact I dont know if I could have killed it Im that much of a woosie when it comes down to it.. I have a "pet" mouse in my house that Ive set traps for and cant seem to catch. I figure if its smart enough to survive living with traps, 2 cats and 2 dogs it deserves a place to live...lol....
I was taking potting soil out of a planter that I'd kept on my patio and suddenly realized there were EYES looking at me. There was a Gulf Coast Toad nestled in the potting soil! He sure gave me a start! What could I do but put the potting soil back into the planter and put the planter back on the patio? Gardening can certainly be exciting at times. :-)
Carla