woolymonkey | Would you Adam and Eve it?

Looked out of my kitchen window this morning to see a big, bright red and orange snake slithering along the base of the garden wall. (This is soggy, chilly East Anglia, not the Nevada desert. Residents of hot, snake-infested places stop reading now: you will not find this anywhere near as exciting as I did.)

Closer inspection revealed it was practically neon-painted and at least 3 foot 6 long. Also doing its best to disappear into the crumbly brickwork, something it looked highly likely to achieve, if not at once then within about 60 minutes.

Took photos so I could at least find out how worried to be if it did disappear. (ntl connection down, so no point checking google.) Then rang RSPCA, who were totally unconcerned about risk of snakebite to me, my kids, my cats, the general public... Only really interested if the snake was injured, which it clearly wasn't, though I did briefly consider...

At this point the bloke what does the gardens for several houses in the street that are let to students looks over the wall.

Me: Know what this is?

Garden Bloke: Bloody Hell!!!!

We agreed I'd better call the police.

Police Phone Person: Well, we'll try to send an officer round, but he won't want to touch a snake.

Some time later and a lot wetter (heavy rain today) Garden Bloke and I (mostly Garden Bloke really) try to pick up the snake between two long-handled hoes and drop it into a plastic tank that once held gerbils. Snake is very tame (Good, surely - who'd handle a venomous snake enough to make it tame?), very, very strong, and not terribly keen on the tank. But not aggressive. Or not as much as I'd have been if someone did that to me.

As we are doing this, Police Phone Person calls back to say she has spoken to a local zoo and they reckon it's a harmless corn snake, so not to worry.

I go back to snake-hoeing. We get the snake into the tank and snap the lid shut. THEN we stop worrying. On the advice of the Zoo Lady, I put the tank in a sunny spot and leave it to get on with being a (hopefully) corn snake in peace.

Ntl comes back. It's a corn snake alright. Just like this.

Much later, a nice man from the RSPCA comes round, confirms that it is a thin, hungry, but healthy, and probably female corn snake, and takes her away, cuddled snugly round his hand.

I have no idea where she came from. None of my immediate neighbours is missing a snake, but a couple of house-fulls of students moved out at the weekend, dumping all their rubbish in the back alley, so maybe the snake was included.

RSPCA Man: Let us know if you see anything else. Sometimes people have whole snake collections. Although not many people'd be irresponsible enough to abandon anything really dangerous.

It'll be unwanted Krakens next....

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Well, whew! I'm glad it all ended happily. Let's see--the thing I remember about snakes and Britain is that you've got adders and poisonous stuff like that. Not that we don't have poisonous snakes here, but they are few and far between. Mostly we've got green garter snakes (totally innocent). I like that he took her away cuddled snugly round his hand.

No self-respecting adder would be seen dead in a tiny urban garden like mine, maybe a grass snake. Neither are very impressive to look at. The weird thing with yesterday's creature was how very, very obviously she did not belong anywhere within at least a thousand miles of where she turned up.

Ooh, pretty! But probably quite alarming, and I can see that "let us know if you see anything else" isn't terribly reassuring. ("We'll send someone round, but the police officer won't want to touch a giant carniverous octopus.") It's probably good for the snake that someone came round to collect it, too -- soggy, chilly places are probably not its cup of tea.

We've had horrible cold soggy weather here for ages. My guess is she only came out enough for me to see her because there was a brief sunny spell and she was desperately trying to get warm. People who keep corn snakes as pets here have heaters for them even indoors.

I find snakes extremely alarming (have had two close encounters in former home -- one came into our entryway under screen door, but left again, fortunately; another invaded garage and curled up on doormat until husband removed it) and admire your intrepidity. I hope you are spared any more snakes, or unwanted Krakens.

Was terrified when I first saw this weird, venomous-looking thing in my garden, but have rather come round to thinking she's lovely now I know she can be picked up and handled so easily.

Wow, that must have made for an interesting day! I think I'd probably react the same way to a snake I didn't recognize. I am familiar with several harmless snakes that live here, and often played with them as a kid. I am glad your snake was taken away safe and sound, and I am even more glad that it was not a snake that could have hurt you :)

My kids were furious because they missed the excitement. Good thing I have photos.
Once I had google up and could check she was a corn snake, the whole thing was pretty fun. But very scary at the stage where she could have been anything from anywhere - and on the lose in my garden!

Surely no one would abandon a Kracken!

Glad to hear that your snake wasn't a danger.

Surely no one would abandon a Kracken!
They're cute when they're babies, but then they get out of hand. Especially if you let beg at table. (See lilly_pilly's "Rules aboard the Flying Dutchman": http://community.livejournal.com/pirategasm/1783500.html#cutid1)

Oooh, the poor little lady!
Corn snakes are very breedable and mutate fast-- there's bunches of new patterns and color combinations. So people do buy them, and neglect them. :(

Here's a good gallery from a good breeder..

No, I don't have any! XD

Ooh, pretty snakes!
I got quite fond of my visitor once I felt safe around her. Would have liked to keep her for a few days, but I don't have the equipment to look after her properly.
She definitely needed a bit of pampering after her ordeal. We'll never know how long she was out there, but it's been really chilly here even by Brit standards, and RSPCA man reckoned she hadn't fed well for a long while.

Well, for heaven's snakes ;)

I'm glad your story had a happy ending, for you and all concerned!

Nice icon. Terrible pun.
You know where I first saw this snake? Yup, she was under the apple tree. Really!

You recc'ed some bits and pieces to me over at another journal, so I decided to come and mooch over here and see what's what...

Ai chihuahua!

I can't believe that you found this in your garden!? One of the reasons that I like living in the UK is that I was under the impression that there were no fluorescent creepies also living with me! So much for that avenue of thought...

Want to be really worried? RSPCA man told me his best corn snake "rescue" was one that crawled out of the ventilation slats and dropped onto a sofa. Turned out it had escaped over two years ago and been living happily in the rafters ever since. The family had been living in the house two years with no idea what they were sharing with!

Would you Adam and Eve it?

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