Yesterday Pieface repeated his "Whoop!" bark for about five minutes. Last time I heard it he was following the progress of an old chicken snake as it moseyed under the dog house and out under the fence, finally into the woods.
I figured I'd better check it out. This time he didn't seem to be traveling, just nosing the ground by a sweetgum tree, jumping back and whooping three times,. He'd cornered the biggest copperhead I've ever seen. That's what I assumed from the eight inch loop I could see sticking out from under the leaves. It must've been 2 1/2 or 3 inches thick with that beautiful dumbell pattern shaded from pinkish light tan to black. I know better than to pester a poisonous snake, and don't have any trouble identifying a copperhead.
This was #5 in the 30 years we've lived here.
#1 was about 8 inches long. It scooted out of the tall grass I'd just mowed, threw up a mouse and stayed put while I raked up the hay. I made Erin keep a eye on it from a safe distance (not far enough according to Erin who wanted to go back to the house) while I worked. We left it there when I finished.
#2 waited in the carport while I went inside to get a clear plastic box to drop over it. I called Roy Cannington to come get it. He kept the poor thing in a terrarium for about a year before it died.
I stepped on #3 who nipped me in the heel which generated a $24,000 hospital bill. I don't walk and talk facing behind me anymore. Our neighbor killed that one so it could follow me to the hospital, for identification. You wouldn't want to spend that kind of money if it isn't a poisonous snake. The bill for the anti-venom was $19,000.
#4 was laying low under a woodpile in the yard with Minnie Minster going postal as G.G. and Bart stood by looking worried. I dragged them into the house and called Stephen, who was working at Sound Play. It took him awhile to get over here as he had to make the snake handling sticks first. We searched the yard for forty five minutes to no avail. Just in case it came back while we were on vacation the next week, I made Stephen walk the dogs when he fed them and lock them inside. Never could have done that with Pieface.
I don't think I should count the cast off skin I found in the workshop, fifteen feet from where I found #2. It was probably his, and increased the irony over #3 because I had been watching for snakes IN the house that spring.
Back to #5. Last evening I just pulled Pieface into the house and hollered to Bond who came outside with his shotgun loaded in less than 2 minutes. You guessed it, the snake had disappeared. We asked Pie to show us where it was again. His nose told him it had gone under the fence into a bed of variegated vinca. We couldn't see it and didn't want to cause a confrontation that might harm the dog so we gave up.
I kept Pieface in my office for about an hour. When I left the room to freshen my drink he was up to his old tricks. He ate my crackers and tagged two spots. I was more than delighted to put him out again. He checked and the snake had moved on.
We were relieved because it was a challenge to our philosophy that all creatures have a purpose and reason to live. Killing snakes, even poisonous ones, is not on our agenda unless it is a direct threat to our family. (Remember, I love ALL living things.) Civic duty also played a part in our attempt to slay #5. Bond would have shot him if he'd seen him.
Perhaps it helps to know the statistics. On the average 4,000 to 7,000 poisonous snake bites a year are reported in North America and on the average fewer than four fatalities. Diseases transmitted by rats and mice (the primary food of snakes) kill many more people than snakes. The majority of the bites are to people who handle snakes for religious or other reasons. Compare this to 37,248 FATAL car accidents in 2007. Basically, I'm 9,000 times more likely to die in a car accident than to die from a snake bite.
In either case I'm not worried. I am cautious. I am a defensive driver. I also keep on the look out for snakes. Pieface can't be all over the yard all the time.
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