Swamp People is a popular show. For those of us living along the Mesas of Golden, Colorado, we just smirk when the “toughness” or “redneckness” of the Swamp People is touted. They shoot gators, we fight mountain lions into submission. They eat squirrel, we eat raccoon. Not much comparison.
Take yesterday for instance. Amy came across a snake when she was out in the garden.
Finding a snake in the garden.
First I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a Prarie Rattlesnake. I typically come across a few of those a year while running. I’ve even been last in a group where five guys step within inches of one without any of them noticing. The rattlers I’ve seen mind their own business but I have seen ones that are pissed off and aggressive from even a fair distance of 20 feet. A good friend of mine was bitten by a venomous snake a few years ago and I wouldn’t want to suffer a bite like he did.
Trying to identify the snake
Getting a good look at it.
It turned out to be a bullsnake, a subspecies of the gopher snake. My friend Liam who has spent time studying snakes, correctly identified it. You know how you hear that you need to cut the plastic loops in six packs because birds can get stuck in them? Well it seems that any plastic loop can endanger wildlife. Amy suspected that it was caught in plastic netting that was in the garden and our neighbor, Larry, confirmed this. Larry got right to work in cutting through the netting.
Cutting through the netting
After a minute I joined in. The snake was really stuck in there and it was impossible for it to back out. The plastic loops were so tight around it’s body that we had to really work the scissors between the plastic and the scales.
A good look at the bullsnake head
Gotta put your Michael Jordan stick-out-the-tongue game face one when really getting down to work
The snake was very calm throughout this. It still seemed healthy, perhaps just a little bit subdued. Amy and I wondered afterwards how long it could have been stuck before we came across it. Considering that it still seemed healthy yet wasn’t aggressive towards us at all, it almost seemed as if it knew we were helping it. When we thought we had it free, we triple checked that all of the loops were cut off it’s body. The last thing we wanted was there to be one overlooked loop left that would eventually kill it. We carefully looked and felt along it’s body to make sure that it was completely free and ready to live on.
The final check
When it was let loose, it seemed very healthy and quickly slithered away. I hope it stays put around our garden although I’m not sure that gardener Amy things the same. In our environment, bull snakes often eat rabbits, mice, and squirrels. They kill their prey by constriction. They are typically 6 feet long although specimens have been found up to 100 inches.
{ 0 comments }
