A Little Too Much Real Life

[cornerofmadness]

The bug lady was here to do the spring spraying today (roachs, another lovely part of living in Florida). She leans in the living room window to inform us we have a snake in the hibiscus. 'Is it Black?' SJ asks. 'Yep.' 'That's cool. He keeps out rats and other snakes' (our backyard abuts a county park so we have acres of woodlands and marshes behind us).

So, I go out and pick up all the branches that the wind has blown down so SJ can cut the grass only to find out our coachwhip is NOT keeping down the snakes. I look over and tryiing to get into the front door is another snake. I look closer to see if it's a king snake or the deadly coral (SJ lost a dog in Jan to a coral). Oh yeah, it's a coral.

Now I've gotten good at catching reptiles thanks to this eco-driven masters I'm doing. I've no trouble getting coaches or even gators. I know my nerve damaged hand is in no way fast enough to capture a coral and even if I did where would i put it? There are way too many young kids around and that park behind the house has too many hikers and kids in it.

I move him away from the door (long branches involved here). I go inside, 'SJ do we have a hoe? There's a coral snake as long as my arm outside.' (and it was. Corals don't get big. The one that killed the dog was this big too. They must love that park to be doing this well). Needless to say neither of us wanted to kill the snake but there was no other way. It's far too deadly to let live (and now all the Aussie's are laughing at me. Haha, corals can't even compare to the king browns and taipans). Long story short, the snake is unfortunately disposed of. What an exciting morning. It's not even 11:00 am yet.

Comments

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Yuck to the toads in the pool. Alligators do that here (but of course you guys have the crocs).

I'm not much on possums either. We have armadillos here.

Love pythons. Used to care for the one the college kept back in undergrad

[mzzgoddessblue.livejournal.com]

Alligators get in your pools??????? Remind me never to jump into a swimming pool if I ever come visit you unless I have thoroughly checked it out first.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Well all pools are SUPPOSED to be fenced in to prevent this and to prevent idiot neighbor kids from falling in and drowning. However in all the springs around here you DO have to check for gators.