Apr 25, 2009
Bossy’s Favorite Things.
Snakes. Not.
Especially sleepy snakes sunning themselves directly in front of the porch door. And Bossy doesn’t care if it is small compared to the ginormous snakes no doubt living directly in front of her readers’ porch doors.
Once per year, or so, we find a snake about that size sunning itself on our garage apron. Of course, it’s always a Mojave rattlesnake, and it’s always annoyed at being disturbed. We’ve gotten quite good an encouraging snake departures via a long handled garden shovel. No gloved hands around here!
This is probably a small snake compared to the ginormous one that under Bossy’s front porch waiting to slither out!
Bossy needs to embrace her inner snake and accept the fact that she has to share her kingdom with mother nature….and snakes.
BLECH
I’m thinking of getting a mongoose.
I totally agree with Bossy here. And do you know what important fact I’ve discovered this year? The national forest of Southeastern Arizona is a Very Bad Place To Live for people who prefer to keep their lives snake- and scorpion-free.
Uh-oh.
Snakes? I LOVE snakes. Poisonous snakes not so much. But teeny little harmless garter snakes that eat the deer tick lyme disease infested mice that live (sometimes in!) and around our little house? You bet!
Plus, I just think they’re cool…
BH
Sunning on your porch? Very unlikely. It was obviously just waiting for a chance to make its move, and eat your entire family while they sleep.
It just so happens that David saw our first garter snake of the season. And he touched it. They live in our 300-year-old foundation, and we’re rather fond of them. The good thing about living in Maine is that we really don’t have to worry about venomous snakes at all.
I’m skeerd! Somebody’s actually HOLDING that snake!
I don’t care how many times my husband tells me there are no poisonous snakes around our house. I’m from Arizona. My only reaction upon seeing a snake, ANY snake of ANY size, is to scream, “AIEEEE, POISON!!” while fleeing.
*shudder* I hate snakes. I am sure they are perfectly reasonable animals with a justifiable position on the food chain, but they wig me out!
Gloves for a garter snake? Oh my.
Sure, they SEEM harmless, especially when you use terms like “sleepy snakes sunning themselves…” and they seem all cuddly, like a kitten.
My sons once found a snake, brought him inside to live in a shoebox with holes in the lid, then told me he’d escaped — two days AFTER he was gone.
When they eventually found him (one floor down and the entire length of the house away from where he’d escaped!), they all agreed: He’d GROWN!
Gads. I’m scarred for life. They have their place: nowhere near mine.
When we lived in South Carolina, we found a copperhead on the front porch, and a WATER MOCCASIN IN OUR GARAGE oh my hell!!!
Shortly after THAT, we moved to Hawai`i, where we regularly must dispatch giant cane spiders (the size of your hand!) and giant stinging centipedes (nine inches, a zillion legs, and FAST) and giant B-52 flying bomber cockaroaches. Yikes!!!
BUT NO SNAKES. NONE. EVER. So, YAY!!!
yikes!
There would be a “For Sale” sign in front of my house if I saw that thing on my front porch.
It sure is a pretty blue color, even if it is a snake.
Snakes are awesome. Especially harmless ones like that one.
Beautiful snake. No gloves necessary.
Beautiful… Why yes, she is (they’re all she’s to me, kinda like boats
But, Gloves… Why HELL YES. 
Don’t care how purty she is, or if she’s poisonous or not. She still has fangs and it will still hurt when she bites. Snakes do have a place on this planet and it’s as far from me as I can get them.
That picture makes Square Peg want to return to Iceland where there are no such critters (and no bugs, really, either). Bossy scared Square Peg!
Remember all those comments where I was all “I wish I lived with Bossy?” and “I want to be Bossy?” and “I am going to move in with Bossy and pretend to be her third child she didn’t know she had even though we’re approximately the same age?” …uh yeah not so much any more. so think of that snake as a good luck charm
we have one just like it who sleeps on our back sidewalk. he is the cutest little guy! and very shy too!
it’s a garter snake; I do not pick mine up; I believe in live and let live.
now, wasps scare the jeepus outta me…
You mean like this one? http://www.flickr.com/photos/averagejane/16776480/
That is a beautiful snake, and shame on Bossy for casting aspersions on its character. It doesn’t like you any more than you like it, but you don’t see it calling you a stinky primate on its blog, do you?
Gloves are called for when handling garter snakes, because when frightened, they will pee on you. I hope you let it go in peace.
Pssst, Bossy, just between you & me, I think BH is needs a NEW hobby. Building mousetraps comes to mind… Oh, it was kinda funny he wrote that snakes are “cool.” I get it.
Garter snakes don’t bother me, but the real deal arcen sns
Eeegads! What worries me is that is a little guy and it’s spring. Therefore:
1) Where is momma (who is probably A LOT bigger)?, and
2) How many hatch/are born at once (families of snakes???0
Commenter number 2 took the words out of my mouth… so instead I’ll just be utterly predictable and post this link:
http://bushbabe.blogspot.com/2009/04/ssssstop.html
Nice pic by the way…love yer work, Sunshine.
BB
I lurve snakes. Really! I used to have one that ate crickets. Her name was Jennifer. Although, it may have been a pissed off boy named Jennifer. It’s hard to tell, yo.
Snakes bother me not at all, nor do bats, reptiles, or most bugs. But show me something with more than six legs and Oh Mylanta you will see me run away faster than Forest Gump.
Wow. Since you must have been taking the picture, who was handling the snake?
Beautiful. Don’t wanna hold it, or risk stepping on it, but otherwise? Eh, just a critter. A really pretty one.
I love garter snakes. Reminds me of a sunny childhood.
So do toads peeing all over you, from fright or as a deterrent. (#26-Nance, you helped bring this to mind.)
And tadpoles. And horny toads (not lusty amphibians, but marvelous teeny armed vehicles, many sharp points on their heads, in the fields of Oklahoma.) I loved all sorts of critters as a kid.
So who IS holding the snake in the photo? Brave bold BH?
I was reading the comments and had to comment again – I just remembered finding a snake in my garage in Maryland. I scared that thing so badly when I tried to pick him up to put him outside that he reguritated a frog (whole) he had eaten recently. Now that was gross. The snake wasn’t, the frog was.
You KNOW it’s because their mouths open wide enough to eat you. YES even that tiny one!! Seriously…they are made WRONG!