Saturday updateBTW, I have not gone out that door during the night since that little episode and you better believe everytime I open the door during the daytime--I look down!! No sign of him since. I hope I didn't kill him but I also hope he has taken up residence elsewhere.
Ok, as I said in a past post, I love wildlife but I'm not crazy about snakes. In fact, I don't like them. In fact, they give me the willies!!!
Another fact you should know (or maybe shouldn't) but I tend to wake up about 4:00 or 4:30 every morning when nature calls. And I don't mean nature as in wildlife!! So, since the newspapers are delivered at about 3:00 AM, I usually go out and get the paper before I go back to bed. Ever since my last encounter with said corn snake or red rat snake, I usually look down to see if it's there. Now, you must understand that I don't turn the lights on when I go out to get the paper. It's just a few feet off the porch so there is no need.
Sooo the other morning, duty called per usual so I did what was necessary then went out to get the paper--looking down at the porch first. I got the paper and came back in closing the door behind me. When I pulled the door closed, it felt like something was stuck in the door even though it closed. I figured it was the little throw rug by the door so I locked the door and let it go.
Ok, now, are you wayyyyy ahead of me?? When I woke up in the morning, I looked at the door and laying on the floor was about 1 3/4 of a Red Rat Snake laying inside the door--the rest was under the door. I figured, ok, it's dead. Here I am, a wildlife rehabber who just killed a snake. I poked at it and it didn't move so I'm figuring it's dead. I got Mr. Snowbird to remove it. He got a pair of tongs and he grabbed it as I opened the door. It wasn't dead!! So, he immediately threw it out in the street. Now, I'm feeling really guilty and said that we should probably get it and take it to the wildlife hospital--wondering all the time what I was going to put it in. At the same time, the snake started crawling away under the bushes. It's tail wasn't moving too great but good enough that I wasn't going to go chase after it!!
So now--everytime I open the front door, I do it carefully and look down. And you better believe that I will never go out and get the paper in the dark ever again!!! I still don't know why I didn't step on that thing when I walked back in the door that morning. Ewwwww.
13 comments:
Good Lord! You cannot show me stuff like that or I will NEVER be able to visit Florida again! I was so carefully reading your post as if the snake would jump out at me that when my 3 year old tapped me on the shoulder I jumped out of my skin and about had a heart attack! Things such as that should not be running free. Period.
that would have freaked me out and I love snakes
take a flashlight ;)
OK, if you had taken the sneaky snake to your rehab place would they have been able to put a cast on his tail? Probably not. There should be no bad karma for stuck snake. (giggle, giggle) I have some black indigo snakes trapped in my back yard since the refencing. They run from me, not at me. We have a peaceful existence.
Maybe you can borrow a mongoose to keep the snakes at bay :-)
That snake is a slow learner. You were doing him a favor by providing another reminder to stay away from your door!
My husband would have passed out..I guess I would have too...
Linda, if I had taken snakey to said rehab place, they might have xrayed him but alas, no cast. These guys seem to heal themselves pretty good I think so I'm not too worried about him. I'm more worried about him showing up on my doorstep again!!
I freaked out over the snake still being alive I had to skim the end of the post to make sure it all ended ok...then I had to go back and reread the whole post slowly. Did you scream? I would have screamed!
I read this post at break-neck speed....I doan like snakes.......
Isn't there almost snakes in paradise??
Wasn't Eden the first place they showed up (just kidding) . I am sure he is just as freaked out about being caught in your door as you were. Still a very unpleasant way for both of you to spend your morning.
I would go so far as to agree that there is no bad karma at all for harming anything with fur, feathers, scales, wings, and/or more than two legs, if it's inside your house and you didn't invite it. And in my world, both the lanai and the garage count as "inside", so I think if I had a porch, that would count as "inside" too.
Tink *~*~*
I don't know, Tink -- does that include bunnies and puppies and kittens? Impossible -- very bad karma for hurting any of them! I vote for it being okay karma-wise to make any of those categories of critters leave, but I don't think karmic balance allows us to harm them on purpose (which reminds me, I had a chinese beer the other day that said 'maintain universal balance' where it would normally say 'drink responsibly.' Cute?
Good god! I was just chatting with a friend about how yucky killing spiders is! I would have had horrible dreams!
Maybe its better you didn't see it at 4am. That would have been a lousy middle of the night freak out.
And just being picky but you say you saw "one and three quarters" of a snake on your side of the door? That's a lot of snake!
EEeewwww!!! You've gotta get some Mrs Snowbird fluffy slippers with lights on them. :-)
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