Guardian Angels kept Busy

Yesterday Huimin went out to mow the lawn. Leaves had blown into a corner and she was going to reach down and pull them out; but, then decided against it--she didn't want to get dirty. She got a rake and went to rake the leaves out. Then, from out of the pile of leaves, A COILED UP RATTLESNAKE BEGAN HISSING AT HER. She dropped her rake and flew to the house, shutting herself, the kids, the cat and the dog inside.

Huimin then called housing, which could not help her. She called services and they had the on-call technician call her back. It must have been about an hour, altogether, before he arrived. He had a snake stick and scooped up the very angry snake and then took it to dispose of it. It was hissing and rattling its little tail and definitely was in an attack mode. They had to put the snake back in its natural habitat, because of some type of protection. I later went online and did not find federal or state protection for it--which does not mean it is not there.

This is the second snake they have had in their yard THAT THEY KNOW OF. The neighbors across the lawn had one right outside the back of their house. Huimin drives Serena to and from school, or else walks with her, in case there are snakes on the road.

There is really no way to protect yourself from rattle snakes, unless you buy a bull snake or king snake, which will eat them. My sister once saw a rattler trying to get into a chicken yard. The snake was crawling up the fence and was 10 feet high and still going up. It was after the eggs in the chicken coop.

Here is an interesting article on rattlesnake vs gopher snake.

http://www.ibabuzz.com/garybogue/2009/07/09/rattlesnake-vs-gopher-snake-can-you-your-kids-tell-the-difference/

The article states that rattlesnakes don't hiss, so this may not have been a rattlesnake, but one pretending to be by, also, shaking his tail. Huimin said she did not get close enough to see if it had "cat's" eyes or not.

No matter what kind of snake it is--they will all bite. A man north of town, a few years ago, got bit by a rattler out in the country. By the time he walked back it was too late. He died from the venom in the snake bite.

The kids were just playing out in the yard where the snake was, before Huimin started mowing. If the kids got bit by a snake, it is doubtful that they would know what type of snake bit them! It would have took off before Huimin would have seen it. And, then, even adults have difficulty with snake identification.

Huimin is taking precautions: Shots for the dog, finding closest medical sources in case of a bite and snake bite kit. Hopefully, that will be the last snake they see!