Snakes Alive!

Remember the story about the black rat snake we found under the sheet metal? It seems we crossed paths again. We were out in Morrilton on Tuesday until almost twilight and I had not gone to the farm to put everyone to "bed" for the evening. As daylight was quickly departing, I made it to the moveable chicken coop only to discover a large pile of what looked like poop in one of the nest boxes. As I looked closer, it moved! It was a coiled up black snake with a diamond pattern on it's back. He had a large lump behind his head, which was an egg he was actively trying to swallow. (If you look closely in the picture below, the lump is right behind his head and between two eggs.) I tried to remember how Steve Irvin handles snakes all the time - crikey! I got a stick and tried to lift him out of the nest box, but that just seemed to upset him. So now he's slithering in and out of the boxes, but I can't get him up and out of the coop. Allow me to paint this picture, daylight waning, chickens coming in and out of the door while I'm repeatedly lifting a snake and dropping him. I finally figure out the balance point -which is behind the egg lump - and lift him out of the coop. In the process of lifting him out, his tail hits the bar by the coop door and he wraps his tail around it three times. There is no way I'm pulling him off this now, as he is holding onto the bar while I'm holding his upper half suspended in the air right behind the egg lump. He gets the bright idea that if he lets loose of the egg he might be more mobile. He begins to disgorge the egg, which under normal circumstances is a fascinating thing to watch. I'm just nervous that once he drops the egg he'll get under the coop and with a lack of daylight means - he wins. In no way am I going to be bested by a snake, but I have no time to contemplate this because about that time he drops the egg on the ground and now he's off. I “golf swing” the stick knocking him into the coop. Now the chickens are getting freaked out by my swinging the stick around and whacking at the snake, so they are flapping and jumping around and coming in and out of the door. I pin the snake's head with the stick and now there is another decision point. Do I grab it or kill it? I quickly determine with the amount of litter on the ground it is too soft to kill the snake inside the coop, so I decide he must be picked up. I'm not real excited about killing him as he does serve a useful purpose other than eating my eggs. Recounting mentally how Steve-o handles snakes, I grab him behind the head. Not being an expert, I'm not sure how firmly to hold him. I don't know if it was my grip or what, but he seemed really limp and his mouth seemed to stay open. Final decision time - what do I do now? I'm kind of in pacing mode - walking first one direction then another thinking what to do with him, when I spot the bluff. I figure if he survives the fall, then he deserves to live. I wind up and fling him over the trees as he did his best helicopter impression soaring over the tree tops. I take solace thinking he may have survived the fall. I wonder if he tells his snake buddies to stay away from “that farm” where the crazy guy chokes you and throws you over the treetops.

Snake!

The other day while out at the farm we were inventorying some old corrugated metal sheets to see if they would work for the new brooder roof. I've been here in the country long enough to know to lift anything in tall grass with my boot and not my hand. I had three helpers with me, helping by playing football in the field. As I turn over the last piece of sheet metal, I see a flash of black. There are several varieties of snakes that we have seen around that are black: rat snake, cottonmouth, and my personal fav - the king snake. I immediately called the kids over to see it. I assumed it was a king snake, but he started shaking his tail like a rattler. This puzzled me as the kids came running. He was pretty nervous and kept trying to tunnel under the grass and the sheet metal. The kids finally made it and as I was pointing him out to them with my boot - he struck! He hit my boot, recoiled back under the grass before I even flinched my foot back. I laughed and said excitedly, "Boy, did you see that?" The kids all in unison said, "Make him do it again, Daddy!" Yep, they are adjusting just fine to the farm life!

We got home and they excitedly told momma about our adventure. Of course, they were mostly talking football, but then got around to the snake discussion. So we looked it up in the Arkansas snake guide and it turns out he was a black rat snake. When startled or when they are defensive, they shake the ends of their tails like a rattler. Nothing's on the end of their tails, but ours was just a shaking it. So if you ever see a black snake that is shaking his tail nervously without a rattle, he might be a safe guy to keep around.