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Oct

25

slithering surprise

Filed Under Virginia, outdoors, pics, wildlife | 5 Comments

I need help identifying some wildlife here in VA. I was letting Moby out the other night when I almost stepped on a snake by the doormat. The sliding door where we let the dog out is in our basement, and is at the bottom of a set of cement stairs coming down from the back yard. In other words, the snake was surrounded by cement on three sides and the door to our house on the fourth. There was no good option for encouraging it up the stairs. By my measurements, it was a good 12-13″ in diameter. Did I say diameter? I meant length.

I have a bad case of Ophidiophobia, to be sure. For the next hour, I procrastinated by making a couple desparation phone calls for assistance, and assessing the best method for removing the threat. At Rachel’s suggestion, I put on some snow boots (to protect me feet and ankles, of course) and headed out with a garden hoe.

It was not at all an enjoyable experience, and it’s taken me a good week to want to go back and look at the pictures. Now I really want to know what type of snake it was. Can anyone help me out?