If this picture scares you, you might want to avoid the video I'm going to show you next.
An Eastern Milk Snake
I should tell you I'm not afraid of snakes. I don't run and scream when I see them or cover my eyes when they show up in a movie. I imagine the only time a snake would truly scare me is if it I woke up with one wrapped around my neck. And even then it would have to be doing something weird like yelling at me in Latin or something.
I'm not afraid of snakes, however I sure can be startled by them.
Here's what happened. I skipped out of work about an hour early last week to go and weed my garden. The plan was to rip out a few weeds then return home where I could get back to my job of staring at my computer with a blank look on my face.
Around half an hour into my weeding I got to the point where I was in my meditative weeding state. That's where your eyes glaze over and you realize you're ripping out everything near you fingers whether it's a weed or not. Rocks, sticks, mice, fully grown carrots, everything.
Moving into a corner of the garden behind my tomato plants something snapped me out of my meditative state.
It was a snake tangled in my fence, hanging from the wire like a used condom.
Here is what happened next.
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We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
It was an Eastern Milk Snake and it was easily 4' long. They aren't venomous. They don't bite. Well they do bite, but only if you really aggravate them. Like if you forced the snake watch a kid do that floss swish dance for hours on end I'm sure the kid would get bit. At the very least it would get a good tongue lashing (in Latin).
Have a ssssssssssssuper weekend.
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I have to agree with you about the Floss dance. I'd root for the snake!
This little friend was probably just patrolling your garden and hunting any mice that were snacking on your veggies.
I'm so jealous that you got to hang out with one!
I jumped 7 juvenile snakes while mowing last weekend. I caught three of them - two milk and one garter - just to study them a bit. We live next to my parents, and about four years ago a snake tapped my Mom on the bum while she was sitting on the toilet! Earlier this summer, one found its way to the bathroom sink to nap. Two enormous snakes turned our garage into a brothel last summer - I have video. And while we live in the country, I swear we're civilized people who live in nice, clean houses with running water and real floors and everything!
Good for you, Karen. I live in Florida where we have lots of snakes, some of which are venomous (educational point - venomous is injected by fangs, poisonous is touched or consumed). Anyway, I have saved a few non-venomous ones who got into a place they shouldn't be. They do bite. Wouldn't you if a giant was touching and messing around you? They are only trying to defend themselves the way they know how. So, even if you are not afraid of snakes, you were still quite brave to risk getting bitten by a big beautiful snake. So, I admire and congratulate you for being kind and compassionate anyway.
There's one of these guys living in the foundation of my house, and when it rains, he hangs out on the top of the foundation walls. Meaning, he lounges near the hot water pipe and watches me do laundry in my basement laundry room. Freaked me out the first time, but I'm mostly cool with it now.
My husband, on the other hand, refuses to go in the room. SMH.
I don't have a fear of snakes either - but four feet is one biiiiig snake. I like to think I could have done what you did.
Just don't talk to me about spiders.
Well done! That was a big snake!
Years ago, when I was a teen, I saved a huge garter snake from a road construction site. I picked it up behind its head and it wound itself tightly around my forearm and released a most unpleasant smell. I carried it to the grass and released its head and it unwound rapidly and vamoosed. I was left with a very stinky arm for the drive home. :D
Amazing, but then again, that’s what we’ve come to expect from you. Can just add snake wrangler to your resume. I do have 2 questions though. Did you know it was a milkshake because you’ve encountered those before?
And, what’s with the one glove? That can’t be your weeding glove? It wasn’t going to protect you from a quick snake bite? It looks like the kind of glove used when you color your hair, or when painting? Was it for a better grip with the wire cutters? Just curiousssssssss.
Those are indeed my weeding gloves Gigi. I find regular cotton gardening gloves to be too cumbersome. Like trying to weed while wearing boxing gloves. The thin latex ones keep my fingers clean but let me pull out even the tiniest weed. ~ karen!
Pls send snake to my house. Tell her she can have all the chipmunks and mice she wants!
Forget it! I'm keeping her for the voles and mice in my garden, lol. ~ karen!
I can’t TELL you how happy I am that the video didn’t load. They utterly freak me out, but I am there for all your spider removing needs.
I did touch one once, at the SportsmanShow at the Ex, years ago, to try to put this terribly rational fear behind me. I touched it, but still don’t want to have to deal with them.
I understand how good they can be, and if they come into my garden, all I ask is that I not see them.
Wow, you earned a badge today, for sure! I hope that snake appreciates your bravery! ;)
Well done you! Milk snakes are so innocuous. My daughter has a 7-8 ft red tailed boa. We never hold him-he holds us. Has had him since he was a 10" baby, a beauty. Raised my kids right, I did. good for you Karen.
The same thing happened to a neighbor here in North Carolina, last week. My husband, a scientist who has studied snakes for his career, has a standing offer to members of our community that he will collect any snakes that they see and want to have transported off their property. We have snake tongs and a bucket (with a screw-on top) at the ready, and in a case similar to yours, the snake got tangled in fine mesh plastic netting that had been put out to keep the deer from munching on stuff. He had to cut a large swatch out of the net fence, with the snake caught in several places, and he brought it home where he held the head with his snake tongs (it was a copperhead, so we didn't want to get bit) while I cut the netting away from the snake, thread by thread. The netting gets caught amongst the snake's scales, and it surely would have died. Glad to hear that there are others who appreciate the fact that all these critters have important roles in the web of life, and they occasionally need a bit of help from us too. That said, don't handle snakes or other creatures unless you have some expertise and a good reason for doing so! Live and let live.
Pretty. I would have saved it too. I have stopped along roads to get snakes off the pavement. I do not like to be startled by them though. And poisonous ones freak me out a little. My husband hates them. Once on vacation in Outer Banks, NC, we were walking in the maritime forest which also has a lot of swampy areas. My husband was getting over a back injury and walking was helping with the pain. He almost stepped on a coiled up, big fat cotton mouth. I screamed "SNAKE" and he stopped about two feet from it. Scared him to death. But the adrenaline rush kept him pain free for almost 36 hours afterward!
!!! Now that's a snake to be afraid of. ~ karen!
What video?????
Do you have an ad blocker on your computer Susan? ~ karen!
How did you film all of that AND be the Snake Whisperer?
Anyway, we’ll done, you !
You are a badass women, Karen. I would still be running away from the snake.
Karen Bertelsmann, snake whisperer.
Many years ago, while teaching in a rural school, I was walking a 5th grade student to his classroom when we saw a very large bull snake curled up in the corner of one of the main entrances of the school. It was autumn and the snake had probably sought a warm place to take a long nap. I decided to take the snake to the Science classroom. While the student (Billy) watched, I grabbed the snake behind its head and slowly lifted it until I could get a good grip with my other hand under a point further down its body. The snake didn't protest so Billy, the snake and I proceeded down the hallway. Billy the Kid was so excited as we neared the Science classroom door that he started yelling, "We have a snake! We have a snake!" The Science teacher looked up as we entered the room, jumped up on his desk (all 200 muscular pounds of his assistant football coach body) and started screaming "like a woman." I really didn't know he hated snakes, spiders and other creepy, crawly beasts. All of the other students in the room were strangely quiet. The snake was very quiet, too. Maybe they knew they couldn't be heard above the screams of their teacher. Billy and I (with the snake in tow) quickly exited the room, left the building and released the (now fully awake) snake in a nearby field. S/he happily slithered off to find another napping habitat. It's been 40 years since the snake event and I had to gift several batches of brownies and a 6-pack of beer to the Science teacher, but they still say my name with reverence in that small Nebraska town. It was so worth it! 🐍
Love your story and happy ending. I had a huge indigo snake under my house for years. One day the man that cut my grass said he tried to kill a bug moccasin under my house but it got away - he said it was huge and didn't know they got that big. I did tell him it was a protected indigo snake that would have tun off other kinds if they came into his territory and then said he didn't need to come back to cut my lawn. We live miles and miles from any water so it literally couldn't have been a moccasin and since it was over 10 feet long, it literally couldn't have been a moccasin. He kept rodents away and was a joy to watch as he searched around the place for food. Some days he would be out in the field in front of the house with his head sticking a couple feet up from the weeds as he watched me drive to work. Loved that thing but never saw him after that guy tried to chop him up. Indigos are also very beautiful colored blue/black. I am VERY afraid of spiders, though. So I respect each persons fears and appreciate your story so much. I can't see Karen's video, it doesn't show up for me but I'm sure she was kind to it, also.
I've seen photos of Indigos, but not a live one. I don't know if they're native to eastern Nebraska, where I live.
GREAT story, lol!! ~ karen
Sorry about the autocorrect spelling of your surname, Karen!
Nooooooo problem. ~ karen!
Good for you!!!
Brilliant! I too am not afraid of snakes but prefer to each have our own space. Tomorrow is my birthday and this was a lovely thing you did and a video to kick off my weekend!
I did it just for you. You're welcome. :) ~ karen!