Snakes I Have Known
One of the first things my husband told me when we moved to Texas was to look out for snakes. Now where I had lived before, Colorado and Wyoming have snakes, but not very many and not very common. I was informed that not only did I have to contend with rattlesnakes but there were copperheads, water moccasin and coral snakes. All four variety of venomous snakes found in North America are found here in Central Texas. Oh joy!
Being about as afraid of snakes as a person can be and still function, I was thrilled. As the crew grew however I resolved that they would not have the irrational fear that I had. Once when I was in my teens a neighbor boy brought a small garter snake into my folk’s house to show his mother who was visiting. I don’t remember much after seeing the snake except that my mother had to coax me out of the bathroom where I was sitting on the counter with the door locked. I have learned to tolerate snakes and have even been able once to touch one at the Natural Science Center. I had to learn to tolerate them since at least one of the crew seems to have a fascination for them.
The second of my sons is not generally afraid of much. He tried to catch a rattlesnake once but luckily the snake recognized madness and got away. Another time he caught a hog nose snake. If you flip it over on its stomach, it flips itself back over on its back. The snake wants the predator to believe it is long dead and not good to eat. My son almost wore that snake out flipping it back and forth.
Another time when he was about four, he killed a small coral on the porch by running over it with his tricycle. He collected it and a dead frog and was carrying them around in a metal Band-Aid(r) can. He came up to my husband while he was talking to an elderly neighbor and complained that the ants kept getting into his snake and his frog. The neighbor looked in the box and about fainted. He asked my husband if he knew what the child had in the box. Our four year old promptly informed him that he had a coral snake he had killed himself and he was very mad at those ants.
On another occasion number two son and his best friend caught a ribbon snake. The snake was brought into the kitchen to be “admired” by Mom and promptly got loose. I yelled and hollered but the snake went under the dishwasher before he could be recaptured. I informed the crew that until I was assured that snake was out of my kitchen, they would not get fed. The boys make a production of moving the dishwasher and assured me that the snake was now outside where it belonged. Several months later number two son told me that they never did find that snake and as far as they knew it was still in the kitchen. It never showed itself that I saw so I guess it is either still living in my kitchen or mummified under the cabinet.
Our second son had several other encounters with snakes, but that’s another story.
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