We Caught Another One!

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Well, the “for sale” sign isn’t in the front yard yet, but it may be by tomorrow afternoon. Brian did say that the next time we found a snake in the house, he was moving! Of course, this one wasn’t technically in the house. It was in the garage.

Brianna went out in the garage to get something and hollered, “There’s a snake out here!” She’s just like her mama now in that, unless a snake startles her, she’s not terribly afraid of it. So, we all went out to see what it was. It was on its way out a small hole where some electrical cords are run for outside lights. It was still more in than out, so I could see that it looked very much like a young corn snake. However, not being able to see it’s head, I wasn’t going to grab it and chance that I was wrong. We went outside with a flashlight to see if it was coming out where we thought it would.

It was.

I really thought it was a corn and in the dark it looked so much like Cheyenne, and about her size, that I made Brianna go check to make sure she was still in her tank. She was. I asked Brian to get me some work gloves, just in case it decided to strike at me when I went to pick it up. He did, but he grumbled the whole time about snakes, me and snakes, snakes in the house, and moving.

Brianna got me a box and we snagged the little guy pretty easily. Later, upon seeing the temporary home I’d created for our visitor, Brian adamantly refused to allow another snake in the house. That’s the nice way of saying that he was seriously mad when he saw what he assumed (probably accurately, if I’m being honest) was my intention to seriously consider keeping this one. He told me no, in no uncertain terms, and even threatened to let my two, store-bought pet snakes go if I kept this one.

I found the whole thing slightly amusing since I didn’t know he was really that uptight about having any of the snakes in the house, but I assured him that we didn’t have to keep the snake, that my friend, Susan, had said her family might keep it for awhile, if we decided not to.

We looked the snake up on the Internet, since I thought his head didn’t quite look like that of a corn snake and found that my second guess was correct. He’s a rat snake. I know that they are generally pretty docile, even in the wild, but started wondering if he might be someone’s escaped pet when we successfully convinced him to eat a frozen/thawed pinkie mouse with very little coaxing.

I was surprised at that since wild snakes are used to eating live prey and usually take a while to convert to frozen/thawed. I found it amusing how excited everyone was to watch a “wild” snake eat. You know, since it’s so much different than watching a pet-store-bought snake eat.

Here’s a picture of this week’s guest (along with the handful of pine needles I wound up with when I grabbed him):

rat snake

So, who wants to come spend the night at my house? Or, buy it.

 

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Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.

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10 Comments

  1. Oh my gosh… not spending the night, and definitely not buying the house!! I’m not sure if visiting for an hour or so is even on my horizon! If you find another one I just think I may fall over from shock. Oh I would not be happy to see those snakes in my house or garage. You are one brave woman, and so is Susan for that matter… 🙂

  2. Oh no, not me!!! I’m with Jackie. I’m not sure I even want to visit your house. LOL We have found one garden snake in our garage and that is enough!

  3. We’re going to nickname you “Crazy Snake Woman” lol! That’s weird that you have them come into your house! I wonder if somehow they can smell your pet snakes? Is it mating season? I know absolutely nothing about snakes (and plan on leaving it that way) 😉

  4. Good grief. You might as well start your own reptile business. Now we are wanting a leopard gecko, if you just happen to find one, let me know.

    and i keep changing my cause I didn’t like the others. I am happy now!!! lol

  5. Kris, I love you blog and had to put it on my page! Keep up the good work! I was homeschooled as a child and now I homeschool my own children. I love it! I will definitely make this a regular stop! God bless!
    Jessica

  6. The other day we had a baby snake in our house and I just about had a heart attack. I was so worried that if the baby was in the house the mama was going to come after him!!

    I also wanted to let you know that your blog is a huge inspiration to me. I have been debating on home schooling or public schooling for my children. From reading your blog I have become comfortable with my idea that home schooling would be the best for my children. However, I am not quite sure how I am going to balance everything going on in my life. I have decided to start doing unit studies with my daughter so that I can try and figure out how to balance everything before she is of the age to go to school. I posted my first study to my blog. I used your posts about unit studies to help me. I hope I did ok with my first one!

  7. Hey Kris, we’re snake people, too… you’re not alone! Well, in my old age I am not as thrilled by them, but just a couple of years ago I was giving a sick pet snake SHOTS! Never thought I would be reduced to that! 🙂

  8. Oh my! Well, thanks for that house offer, but, er, um …. Oh, I think I hear someone calling me! See you later! 🙂

  9. Unbelievable..do you think they smell our other snake?? I find it so odd!  I have never heard of anyone having this happen so close together twice! Well, I wont be visiting anytime soon…thats for sure!

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