Would you Adam and Eve it?

[woolymonkey]

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....

Comments

[klear0bsession.livejournal.com]

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 :)

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

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!