B was in the yard today, when two next-door neighbor ladies promised him a brownie if he would kill a snake for them. It was a three-foot moccasin coming out of our cul-de-sac by the swamp and heading up the bank for their house. B said it was not in the mood for playing games. It had none of the placid spirit of the one he and our other neighbor put in a box in May. This one was aggressive and he got the longest hoe he has. It was all over but the pictures (and the brownie) by the time he came in and told our son and me.
This may well be the one that surprised me when I was gardening in the backyard this summer. It is about the right size and coloring.
We have been keeping an eye out for it and it may have been eyeing us back all along.
This is the third moccasin we've had this summer, but the only one killed. The first we wrote about here and we released in another swamp before we knew for sure what it was. The second was by the fence and left before B got home. B hates to kill things but I think it was the right decision. There are kids in the neighborhood. We won't go down in the swamp looking for them but the ones that are in yards pose an unnecessary risk.
This one was returned to the swamp to be recycled as hawk or other animal food.
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