April 20, 2015 (Monday)
It was late at night last Tuesday and I was preparing for bed, when I looked down and there on the carpet a tiny snake, 2 to 3 inches long, was making its way across the room. View image My first thought was “worm,” but it had a head and it moved like a snake, so immediately I thought, “baby snake,” and that thought brought visions of more babies and a mama somewhere in the house. OK, so I believed the worst, but sometimes that’s appropriate. After the Lord called it home with my help, I looked it up on the good old internet, discovering to my shame that it was no threat at all. It was indeed a baby (adults are 8 to 10 inches long), but non-venomous, and like many other little critters around our homes, a friend, because it eats things we don’t want in our homes. If I identified it correctly, it was a “Plains Blind Snake,” and lives mostly underground, eating termite larvae. They probably come inside following water pipes. In this case I think the heavy rain we had that morning had something to do with its trip indoors. If I see another one, I’ll try to capture it and put it outside, where it can continue to protect me from harmful critters. In the meantime, my condolences to its family; I’ll try not to kill any more of your babies.
My other experience with a snake in the house brings shivers as I think about it. We had a box of pecans in the garage, and it was discovered as an excellent food source by tribes of rats and mice, who took up residence in the attic, feasting daily on the nuts. After we discovered the problem, we took measures to rid ourselves of the pests, but not before a Cottonmouth Water Moccasin snake discovered them. As we looked on in horror, we saw the big serpent slither and disappear under our freezer in the garage. Try as we might, we could not find him then. He disappeared. (No image here–too scary) We were concerned for a while about it, but, since that was more than 15 years ago, I’m pretty sure he’s not in the house now. We were already familiar with the harm that kind of snake can do, because Wanda had been struck by one of them in our backyard a few years before. She was hospitalized, suffered great pain from the strike, and after she healed, still had a stiffness in her fingers that affected her ability to play the piano.
Ain’t nature grand? We should enjoy it, but we must beware also.
Oh, all right, for those of you who want to see the hideous and scary Cottonmouth Water Moccasin: View image if you insist .