Snake Adventure

Today I was coming back from my physics final review, my mind distracted on equations, Gaussian surfaces, electromagnetic waves, and whether or not I had time to take a nap when...

WHAM! MOTHER EFFING SNAKE IN MY MOTHER EFFING DRIVEWAY!!!

I always get a little creeped out by snakes when I go hiking, because I never see them. Peter always go "oh hey there's a snake right there" and I can only hear it slinking through the undergrowth even after Peter plain ol' points it out. I went right inside and called my Dad at work to let him know, and we called animal control. He was just lazing about in my rose bushes for quite some time, and we figured he was probably sitting digesting something he just snacked on. I decided to come back outside and check on him after we called animal control and he was on the move. He was stretched all the way out-- the full length of my driveway!

He headed straight for a tree in my neighbor's yard and I thought I was going to be shown a magical treat of watching a snake climb a real tree. But he wasn't having any of that so he cut diagonally across my neighbor's yard into the gutter. I was extremely grateful that he decided going into the road was a bad plan, because I didn't want to block the road while the snake finished his leisurely slink around my neighbor hood. It greatly reminded me of that movie, Baby's Day Out where all he wanted to do was to visit all the sights he was told about.

I followed his path up the street, curious about why he would occasionally hiss, (maybe he was scared he was lost! poor thing!) and wondering how long it was going to take animal control to find us. It was pretty exciting following up an 8ft snake up the street, especially when people would walk past. It was pretty hilarious, this woman with her kids in the stroller started walking up the street just parallel to where the snake was making his gutter walk. I told her there was a snake up here and that she should go around, and when she walked around and saw the snake all she could say was "hell yeah there's a snake right there!" and just sit and stare with me at the snake.

Eventually animal control showed up, and was pleasantly surprise to find out that it was indeed a python. Apparently everyone thinks "python" or "rattlesnake" are the only two options when describing a snake. What he did to capture it was to grab onto his tail so that the snake got really pissed off and curled up into a little bunch, and then he placed a blanket over it and grabbed it's head. Then, naturally, the python proceeded to wrap around his arm nice and tight. The animal control guy was extremely excited and wanted a picture of him with the snake was much as I wanted a picture for evidence of my adventure. So, we just sat around taking photos.

The animal control fellow told me that it was an 8ft male burmese python with a healthy girth and well taken care of. He said that if it was a female, it's girth would probably would have been double of what Mr. Snake was (so imagine the snake at Hoogle Zoo). The AC guy also said that although it was well cared for, it was probably not handled very often which is why the snake sure was grumpy when he was picked up. He said that they would probably post "found" ads online for the owner to find, and if no one claimed him the snake would go to the adoption center and maybe eventually the reptile rehabilitation station. So I'm glad to know that he's in good hands.

I hardly felt dangerous throughout my adventure, but there is just something about seeing a huge ass snake in your front yard that makes the heart skip a beat. It sure was one adventure.