and today's advice is...

[kaigou]

When weeding, after overturning the soil and getting down to pulling out roots, if the root is patchy-brown and wriggling, Do Not Pluck. That's not a weed, that's a baby rat snake.

(Yes, I did try to pull it. And then it wriggled right out of my fingers and I went GYAH. I did not scream like a girl, but I did kinda jump. Just a little.)

Comments

[dayglow-pirate.livejournal.com]

It generally not a good thing to grab any wriggling critter by the ass. I've gotten slapped for that a few times ;->

[kaigou]

*solemnly* This would be true.

[atalantapendrag]

Awww, poor little snake!

[kaigou]

I think he was as surprised as I was, honestly.

[jimhines]

I'm pretty sure I would have screamed, myself...

[kaigou]

Well, the first time I did have that reaction. By the fifth baby snake, I was more going, "ooh! baby!" and watching it wriggle away in delight. I actually like snakes, for the most part, and after last summer where I barely saw any at all, it's good to see lots of them in the garden again. It's just an additional reason to build rock walls, IMO, since snakes adore the crevices in rock walls as great shady but warm places to hang out.

[chibidrunksanzo]

Yeah, I would have freaked out myself. A bit. I think snakes are neat, but they make me nervous because I have no idea how to tell the venomous ones from the nonvenomous ones at a glance. Except rattlesnakes. Those I know are venomous and that I Should Not Touch.

[kaigou]

That's sort of the problem -- the baby rat snakes look like baby rattlesnakes, but without the rattle. They're all mostly a blotchy kind of brown, to blend in. Fortunately, they're also all very shy and just want to run away, so I let them!

[hokuton_punch]

Awwwwwwww baby snake! ♥

[dragonhand]

I think that was a perfectly decent reaction. XD

From Die Falknerin

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, man, 2 days ago I went outside to get my gardening gloves off the back porch, and there was a baby rat snake underneath. I say baby, it was about 14". It is probably the progeny of the 6' one we found in our garage a few years ago....the year when the grackles stopped being a problem ;-) Since you are on a greenbelt with the accompanying vermin, it's probably a good thing to have around.