Our Newest Resident

Our newest resident is an unwanted one.


Beau was quite eager to be let inside the house and when I opened the door I realized why: there's a snake in our yard! It's about 3 feet long and 1/2 inch in diameter. After a little while the snake slithered away and went down a hole in the ground next to our patio. Curtis tried flooding the hole with water, hoping it would drive the snake away.

This morning I went out to get the ladder to return (from trying to get the cat out of the tree). Since the ladder was in the backyard, I decided to go around that way instead of back through the house. When I got to the edge of the patio, there was the snake! He was warming himself in the sun on the grass. He saw me at the same time, which weirded me out a little. I came back in and got Curtis' attention just in time for us to watch the snake go back down "his" hole. Great. It looks like the water didn't drive him away.

I'm pretty sure it's not venomous, since it doesn't have the triangular-shaped head. Of course, that doesn't change our caution level! It just makes us feel better about letting the cat out this morning (Beau, not Riselle. She's grounded. We did let Beau out the front, not the back. We know that he knows how to get around to the back, but it made us feel a little better.)

I wonder if Beau caught it and brought it to the yard? I'm not sure why else it would be here. We're not the closest yard to the wilderness to our north. He has brought us animals before. Remember the chipmunk?

So I've found a couple options after surfing online: We could call a wildlife service to come take care of it, or we could buy a snake trap and remove it ourselves.

So I called Lowe's, to see if they have a snake trap (instead of paying $30 to have one shipped to us.) The gal said they didn't. Then she paused. She asked where the snake was. I told her that one had taken up residence in our backyard. She gave me the following recommendation: Take the yolk out of an egg and insert a fish hook with some line tied on. Tie the line to a tree or something and leave the egg out for the snake to eat. When the snake swallows the egg, it'll be caught on the hook. That's how they used to get snakes out of the chicken coop.

Living in Tennessee is great :) I wouldn't get that kind of service if I called a home improvement store in California!!