Snake!

I was traipsing around the house this afternoon, just before dinner, when our neighbors pulled up in their car and leapt out excitedly, looking down at a spot in their driveway. “Christopher,” one called, “Did you see that snake?” I hadn’t, so I went over, expecting to see a footlong garter snake wriggling away.

Oh, no. It was not a garter snake, but a big spotted snake that I estimated to be about four feet long. It slithered away from us and hid under a bush in my neighbor’s yard, clearly saying in snake, “Nothin’ to see here! Move along!”

So after a few minutes of gawking (and me grabbing Vivi more than once to keep her from walking right up to it), we did. Though a quick Google search suggested that it was an Eastern hognose snake, a snake that’s common in Minnesota and harmless, others later said that it was probably a bullsnake, another ubiquitous and harmless snake, albeit one that eats lots of mice and rats. I checked back a bit later and didn’t see it there anymore. Time for dinner (not toads)!

After dinner, Julia and Genevieve and I went outside for a few minutes. Vivi ran all around the yard, being her usual silly self, while Julia and I played pitch and catch. I absentmindedly scanned the yard for any legless reptiles, but forty-five minutes had passed, so I didn’t expect to see any.

Then, just after we finished playing, I did: the snake, slithering on a diagonal line from the back corner of our neighbors’ place to a small copse of trees at the back of our yard. It was moving fast, but the girls and I got up pretty close to it. Shannon came out and stayed well back. WIthout exaggerating too much, I can say that watching this snake cut through the grass felt primordial, an experience shared with our African forebears.

Backyard Visitor - 1

Though I was initially shocked, that sensation faded into simply being unsettled. The lateral-but-forward motion of a snake is just not right, somehow.

Backyard Visitor - 2

Regardless of my mammalian response, the snake crossed the grass, scooted effortlessly up a little rise to a lone evergreen, where it paused for a minute (“Nothin’ to see here! Move along!”) before continuing on to the trees.

Backyard Visitor - 3

We walked alongside it, maybe two or three feet away, until it reached the brush and quite magically disappeared, its spots blending perfectly into the grass, leaves, branches, and such. We stayed there for a while, catching occasional glimpses of it wriggling along. I hope the snake safely crossed the road near our house and is in the swath of grass and wetland that surrounds the nearest cornfield, happily snacking on toads.

Despite my palpitations at seeing the snake crossing the yard where my girls had just been standing literally 60 seconds before, overall I thought it was a pretty cool experience, at least on a par with our backyard encounters with a snapping turtle (May 2008) and a salamander (October 2007). Then again, I hope I don’t meet the snake again anytime soon.

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