I was enjoying my morning walk recently with my dog and we were on the return trip when I spotted a snake in the street in front of my house. I soon discovered that it was a rat snake. The one thing I knew for sure is it was not venomous. As it was only about 75 feet to my house I ran in with the dog, took her off of the leash, grabbed a camera and ran back outside.
In that short period of time, the snake was no longer in the street, but a mocking bird was raising cane about six feet off to the side from where I had seen it. Sure enough there was the snake making its way toward a big pine tree in my neighbors front yard.
I took a couple pictures of it and then it came to my mind that my two grandsons, ages four and seven, lived next door and are into snakes, as boys will be, so I ran over and rousted them out.
The oldest was getting ready for school and youngest was trying to dress when I ran into their house and told them to hurry and come with me or they would miss seeing a big snake. I was almost run over by four small feet burning the rubber off of their sneakers.
By the time we had arrived at the tree the snake was already about two feet up it and trying for more altitude undoubtedly motivated by having an audience. It was a fair size specimen. I would say about five feet long if you stretched him out. From what I have read they can get up to ten feet long, but the largest I have seen was six to seven feet. This one made the boys day and I took a few more pictures of him climbing the tree.
Now I am no great snake lover, in fact I have a real problem warming up to them, but when I see them at a reasonable distance from me I am not particularly bothered by them. They have a part to play in the checks and balances of nature. About the only time I get upset about them is if they are of the venomous variety and I happen to dumbly slip up on one until I am too close to them, or if they are too near the house.
I was trained from birth by my father to watch where I am walking and keep an eye on the ground no matter where I may be walking. I was raised in snake country so I have been looking for them all of my life and I will bet you can count the times on one hand when I ever came close to stepping on one. When that has happened you should see how I can really step out and move. I do not like to be surprised by snakes, even harmless ones.
Well neighbors, about this time of year I try to remind folks that we live in snake country and that we need to keep our eyes open for their presence. Some of those snakes have as part of their makeup the ability to inflict a poisonous bite. The bites are seldom fatal to a healthy adult, but they can make a person extremely sick. Therefore it behooves one who lives in this area to realize there is a potential danger from some snakes and which ones can be dangerous.
I have heard some people say that they did not care what kind of snake they were if they saw a snake they would kill it. I hate to hear that attitude expressed because snakes do a lot of good for us. They eat bugs and rodents.
If you are in an area where there are a lot of venomous snakes it can sure make you jumpy, but they would not be there if there was not a lot of natural food, rodents, for them to eat. If it were not for those scary reptiles we would have a real rodent problem.
Keep in mind there are other snakes that eat rodents beside the poisonous ones so it is not a good idea just to arbitrarily start killing every snake you see. In fact, if you are out in nature and have a choice I can see no point in killing any snake if it is no immediate threat to you.
In case you have recently moved to our part of the world, we have four poisonous snakes in Texas. Three are pit vipers: rattlesnakes, copperheads and cottonmouth water moccasin.
They are called pit vipers because they are characterized by triangular shaped heads, heat-sensitive pits on each side of the head between the eye and the nostril, and a pair of elongated fangs that fold back against the roof of the mouth when not in use.
The other is a coral snake. It is very colorful and resembles one of the king snakes that are harmless. There is an old saying to remember about coral snakes, “Red and yellow kill a fellow, red and black, friend of Jack”. That means if the red and yellow bands touch each other you are looking at a coral snake.
So friends I ask that you do not freak out at the sight of a snake. You do not have to like them, but learn which are the dangerous ones and do not worry about the rest. They will go about their business as soon as you let them.
