So there we were, enjoying a nice afternoon by the pool, Lucie picking wild strawberries and me swimming, when suddenly Lucie spots this character. He was at the gate from the driveway into the pool area. The dogs were acting weird which is what caught her eye. Lucie yells out, "SNAKE!" I jumped up and held the dogs back from it while Lucie ran for her camera. Meanwhile, it was all ready to strike and was rattling its tail like, well, a rattlesnake. Lucie got some pictures and we dragged the dogs outside of the other gate. I thought that right about then it would be a good idea to put some shoes on... When I came back, it had crawled under the big Leland Cyprus we have in the corner behind the pool pump. Just its tail was showing so I grabbed it and started to pull it out. Then I realized I was not the reincarnation of Steve Irwin and wondered what I would do with it once I had it. About this same time 2 years ago I caught a snake in the same location and it bit me on the finger. And this one was bigger. So I let it go. The tail rattling concerned us (even though there were no actual rattles on the tail). I forwarded the pictures to the Delaware Nature Society and someone there told me it was a juvenile rat snake. Non-poisonous and is known to mimic a rattlesnake with that tail movement. I am happy to have them around the yard eating up the mice. Lucie, not so much...
No comments:
Post a Comment