In May, we wrote about the moccasin in the butterfly garden and then a week later in June there was an oak snake at my feet. We have since seen a scarlet snake and another oak snake in our neighborhood. Well to continue the trend, today I was puttering around in the backyard and, dog-gone-it, if there wasn't another moccasin coiled up by the fence where I was working. I had my sneakers on! That was supposed to be my amulet! It took me a while to find his head, because he was in the bridal veil vine that overruns everything and in that spot was 8-12 inches tall. When I did find his head, he was looking straight at me. So of course, I ran for my camera!
As I started snapping, he did a fast move to straighten himself and I did an even faster move backwards. Never stand behind me when I'm taking pictures of a snake! I have to take a lot of pictures of snakes, because a good portion of them are lousy due to my nervousness
In the above pictures, you can clearly see the pit between the eye and the nostril. It looks like a slit. Most viewers will be able to click on the picture and it will enlarge on the screen. You can see the characteristic vertical pupil and the keeled scales. After our experience in May, B and I were pretty sure we would know a moccasin from now on. Comparing the pictures from that blog and this will show just how very similar they are.
So the snake catcher wasn't home. B and his snake-catching neighbor were both off earning a living. So I did the only reasonable thing: I came inside and locked the door! 8^) I called B and told him we had another moccasin and called the neighbor's teenaged daughter so she wouldn't run out barefoot into her yard which is on the other side of the aforementioned fence.
When I checked the area later, there was no sign of him.
When B got home, we did a little bridal veil detail. At one point, I was fairly certain I could see a snake head at the far end of a large pine log, but we were never able to confirm that. Though we pretty well cleaned out that area of nonessential plants, there are still plenty of places for him to hide.
So this saga may well continue. In the meantime, there is a long-handled net and a Rubbermaid box (with lid!) on the back deck.
1 comment:
Yipes!!
Post a Comment