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.
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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Rockelle Meagher
“Like a used condom”. Karen you are a genius, I love your words. When is your next novel coming out!?! Memoir, anything!
Karen
Oooooh, I don't have time to write any more than I already do. Most of my days are taken up with writing love letters to Idris Elba so ... that is very time consuming. ~ karen!
Gaeyl Kanter
Video was great. Snakes are an important part of our eco system . The thing was just scaring you as part of its defense system . I guess his getting entangled in the fence is like a person so intent on eating their fast food while driving that an accident is created . Thanks for helping it out.
Ryn
Your video had me cracking up because I know I'd have the exact same reaction that you did lol, and I'd end up saving it in the end.
Dana
Impressive, Karen! Oh hell no. If I helped that snake out, I would wear gloves. Im terrified of snakes but not one iota about spiders. He/she looked alot longer than 4 feet. Was it a poisonous snake?
Daniel
Although I now live in Hawaii, which is snake free, I did grow up in New York City (Staten Island) where I would catch garter snakes as a kid. Moving around the country I had my share of run-ins mostly with rattlers, cottonmouths and water moccasins. One encounter I will never forget was running into a King Cobra while hiking in Thailand. We did care for a friends albino king snake while he was deployed, her name was Elvira, which required us to feed her a live mouse. I didn't really care for that. While stationed at U Tapao RTNAB in Thailand we had a very large boa in a caged area besides a break area next to the flightline. She was fed a chicken once a week and people would bet on when the chicken would be eaten. I always felt sorry for the snake and chicken.
Judy
I grew up in Zambia where we had a black mamba about 10 feet from the kitchen door. Nope - we didn't try to save it. We moved to the Okanagan valley in British Columbia (Canada) where we have rattlesnakes. Yup - snakes freak me out, even the little 4 inch garter snakes...can't seem to forget the black mamba.....I'm in awe of you Karen.
Karen
A lot of the people up at my community garden are from Zimbabwe and they're ALL terrified of snakes. Men and women. I think it comes from living in a country where they can drop out of the trees and kill you, lol. ~ karen!
Stephbo
JESUS CRIPES!!!!!! I respect snakes and their role in our ecosystem, but they seriously make me want to hurl. I'm much better if they stay hidden in their own area and don't come into mine. * shudder*
Karen
LOL. Well. I couldn't have done it if it were a team of centipedes. They'd be on their own. ~ karen!
Alena
Not going to watch the video, I am absolutely snake-o-phobic. I would have a heart attack if I found snake tangled up in my fence and if I - miraculously - survived, I would call somebody to get that thing off the fence and deposit it someplace very far from my house (to make sure I will never see it again).
brenda
I'm with Marilyn ... nope no never ... in my first year of gardening I had to stop going to my garden for a month to get my breath back after seeing my garden hose laying in wait for me at the garden gate
Karen
I remember that story, lol! ~ karen!
attygreen13
Yay, Karen! Helping give humans a good name in the snake world 🐍😉
Christine
Karen, you are a kind person. I also hate to kill anything - I even move spiders and other bugs from the inside to the outside.
What I didn't know until now is that non-venomous snakes will bite. Is it like a cat bite?
Will they latch onto your arm or leg and not let go? Interesting!
Karen
I assume it depends on the snake. I would think a non venomous one would simply strike out to bite and retreat again. But that's just a guess. Luckily I didn't find out. ~ karen!
Grammy
Beautiful! I'm not afraid of snakes, either, having lived a number of years when I was a kid in the desert southwest on the Arizona/California border. We were just taught not to turn over large rocks, etc. (lots of diamondback rattlers around) and watch what we were doing. I have never been frightened by a snake (unlike my abject fear of rodents which reduces me to hysterical sobbing if I think there is one around) but I generally just let them be if I encounter one in the garden.
That said, I think your snake needed rescuing, and I don't believe I would have been as brave as you when (s)he decided to have a stare-down. Getting bitten by a non-venomous snake isn't something most of us would risk. So it is really cool that you not only performed such a courageous life-saving act, but managed to record a video for the rest of us while doing so.
I offered to show my husband the video, but he's really scared of snakes and didn't want to watch it. That's okay. He and I have always had an unwritten pact: I will always save him from snakes, lizards and spiders, and in exchange, he deals with anything rodent-like while I cower in the corner. Both of us agree, though, that we expect your snake will come back regularly to your garden plot and take care of the critters who want your veggies. You've got really good friends in low places.
Karen
:) ~ karen!
Lynn
yeah.......... what MARILYN MEAGHER said.
::shudder::
you are one brave cookie!
Lin N
Karen, the Snake Hero! Awesome.....
linda in Illinois
Thank you Karen for saving a life.
you are a hero for sure.
Nancy Ann
Hi Karen,
Good for you! Dennis, a very sweet, laid back, seven foot corn snake, has lived in my barn for about seven or eight years, is not afraid of people and it doesn't bother him when I walk around him or step over him, etc. He likes living here because of the available duck eggs (non-fertilized - only girl ducks here). The interesting thing about him is, he will not eat commercial eggs when there are no duck eggs, even when I've washed, rinsed, dried them and allowed them to come to room temperature. Makes me wonder what he knows about commercial eggs that I don't.
Mary W
So interesting - must be a smell from commercially cleaning the eggs that maybe gets into the shell. I would love to know what it is. Maybe a 'snake expert' could advise.
Nicole
You are cool, Karen. I don’t mind snakes either. We have Snaky Pete living in our flower bed out front, a large garter snake. I think Pete is a girl, because we’ve seen smaller babies around it in the spring. We let Snaky Pete live its life. He lets us live ours and all is good.
Rachel
Awesome! You rock!
sheryl powell
Ha, ha. I had the same thing happen this summer but with a half grown possum. It was running from my dogs and got head and front feet through the chain link fence and then got stuck. I waited to see if he could get out and then I pushed, I pulled, I squeezed. No way was he budging. So then I had the brilliant idea to go get my bottle of vegetable oil. He got his head through there it must be able to come out. So I greased him up and pushed, and pulled. Finally we had to go get tools and cut the fence. Next day there was a squished possum up the road. I asked "was it greasy?" Anyway, glad you saved the snake. By the way, possums are very soft like a cat not course hair at all.
Karen
Really?! I wouldn't have thought they were soft. I thought the same thing of Schnauzers until I felt one too. ~ karen!
shelly bartz
Holy cow! You’re brave and crazy! BUT....you are hilarious! I love reading your blog ! You’re my favorite!,
Karen
Thank you Shelly. :) ~ karen!