Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Encountering a Snake - What Should You Do?

Last week, we had a large visitor of the reptile variety. A snake. He was about 4 feet long. A pretty intimidatingly sized snake to come across near your home. He first showed up right outside my window in the bushes where our resident squirrel can often be found. I imagine squirrel may have had some babies he was after...


The next day, I was walking around the yard with my cat on her harness. I heard some baby bunny screams and decided to investigate. We have a lot of rabbits on our property and occasionally I come across their nests. I saw mother rabbit nearby and as I walked along, I nearly stepped on the snake. He looked just like the one I had seen the day before outside my window.

I was about a foot away from him and he seemed much less alarmed than I did. I picked up my cat and brought her inside.

It may be more common for people to encounter snakes during dog walks. I just like to go outside with the cat every now and then. So what should you do if you stumble across a snake?

The best thing you can do is leave it alone and move along with your business. Snakes aren't there to cause problems for anyone. If you're out with your dog, a leash, good recall, and "leave it" command are helpful. Especially if your dog seems overly excited by and interested in the snake.

Our friend, the snake.

If you're able to identify the snake as venomous, you obviously should be very careful and keep your distance. If you find a venomous snake in your yard, contact animal control or someone who is able to safely remove the snake. Venomous snakes can be a deadly problem for children or pets playing outdoors.

Any pet that is bitten by a venomous snake needs to be taken to veterinary clinic for emergency treatment as soon as possible.

I think the snake decided to hand around here because it seems like a perfect place to live. Plenty of food to eat and places to hide. Not to mention the tall grass that desperately needs mowing. It's a snake paradise probably.

I always try to be aware and alert when I'm outside with the pets or kids. We avoid areas where the grass is tall and try to hang out in the more open areas. I've also never come across a dangerous snake here, thankfully. But, you can never be too careful!

For more helpful information about what to do if you encounter a snake, check out these useful links:



19 comments:

  1. My human LOVES snakes, but the main ones we get around here are rattlers - not exactly what you want to have hanging out in your yard! Sadly, cute little garter snakes, who are so beneficial for gardens, are way less common.

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    1. Yikes! I don't think I would like to see any of those here. They live in Texas, but I've never seen one.

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  2. Yuk! Not a fan of snakes especiallyespecially if they are killing babies.

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    1. I know it's kind of sad. We can get a bit overrun with wild rabbits and I don't think my dad likes that much with his nursery. But circle of life I suppose. =/

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  3. Yuk! Not a fan of snakes especiallyespecially if they are killing babies.

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  4. We once met a snake... a complete id*ot dumped the snake (nose-horned viper) next to a little pond... in the middle of the village ... at the end the snake was killed by a farmer, the police investigated but could not find the evildoer because the snake was an illegal import and had no marking.... I don't like snakes, I'm honest but that moment I felt sorry that an animal had to die just because of stupid people... but I sure hope we never will meet a snake again...

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    1. Oh my... there was a big story in Austin recently too. A cobra got loose from someone, but he unfortunately was found run over by a car.

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  5. I scream and run and have my husband deal with it. Most probably won't like how he deals with it.

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    1. Ah well, it is probably the same way my dad deals with them when he finds them. He doesn't like them.

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  6. Mum is not especially afraid of snakes, but she would be careful if she met one. What kind of snake is that big guy ? Purrs

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    1. I'm not sure, but I'd like to know. Someone commented that it wasn't native.

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  7. Ann, I want to thank you for telling people to leave snakes alone when they cross paths. They perform valuable services for the environment. Excellent advice on what to do if a venomous snake is around too. Most snakes aren't venomous. Most are out eating rodents and insects (depends on their size and species). Thank you for showing them respect. P.S. I'm not a big snake fan - but I'd never hurt one.

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    1. If my dad finds them, he will kill them which I think sucks quite frankly. He wants something to keep the rodent population down for his business, and it probably doesn't get much better than that.

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  8. callie....we iz veree glad yur mom saw de snake & got ewe inn side.....frank lee, if we saw a snakes like that; we wood sell de houz & moove ta alaska.....

    well, oh kay may be knot THAT far....

    we hope ta cod him iz knot vishuz.....♥♥♥

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    1. LOL - Callie was busy watching the mom bunny in the distance and had no idea about the snake in front of us.

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  9. We are so lucky we don't have poisonous snakes in our area. If I encountered one, I would turn and walk the other way:)

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  10. Holy carp! If I saw that snake, I'd scream! ;) ~Island Cat Mom

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    1. It did scare the holy carp out of me! I was walking in my room gathering up some dirty laundry and I saw that out the window. Quite surprising!

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  11. OMG...the neighbors would all hear me screaming if I ran into a snake that big!

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