Q: What's worse than a snake in the basement?

A: Knowing a snake is in the basement and not knowing where it went...

Wet basement

It is spring.  Finally the temperature has risen above 40 degrees and we have started to believe that it might, really, truly be the end of winter.

Spring at our house is also known as mud season.  The unpaved driveway becomes a big squelchy mess.  The basement floods. Today the water is trickling in, stream-like from the back of the house.  The sump pump is unfortunately at the other end.  The husband said "I have no idea how to fix this."

I said: "I need a boat to do the laundry (okay, perhaps just boots)!"

The next thing I know I am being summoned downstairs to "take a look at this."  That is never a good sign.  I usually need a camera.

Snake in the basement.

Apparently, the husband moved the wet/dry vacuum and found a little friend.  Living in the basement.  He is supposed to be hibernating, but I guess our basement is warm enough to wake him up.  According to Gartersnake.info, "If you don’t want snakes (or other animals) in your basement, this is probably a sign that you have some cracks or other openings in your house that need filling."  Gee, do you think so?

The bigger question is, what do we do with him?  It might be warm enough to release him outside.  Preferably far away from the house.  Maybe in the neighbors yard (just kidding).

I asked if this was the same snake that used to live in our kitchen (kitchen snake).  But that was a milk snake and this is a garter snake.  Duh!  And you wonder why I have nightmares.

The snake in the well...

Can you see the snake on the right hand side?

So there is this well in our back yard and my husband and the kids think it's cool.  There are interesting things in there like frogs and snakes.

It makes me a little crazy because as you know things can fall into a well.  Things like children and cats.  Important things like that.

This well is about five feet deep.  The water is usually at the half way point - about three feet, but sometimes after heavy rains it can be up to the top.

I tried to convince my husband to fill it with rocks or dirt or cement, but he refuses because he likes it.  He thinks it is neat.  I tried to talk him into covering it with a big metal grate (where can I find one?).  He has plans to build some stone thing around it (mind you not immediate plans).  I found a large wooden wishing well at the MillStore that we can stick over it.  I just need to steal his truck and some strong people to heft it through the overgrown briars and cover that hole!

Anyway, I digress, the point actually was to show you the snake.  If you look in the far right corner you can see a garter snake half in the wall with his head resting on the log.  The problem was that he was there for three days in a row.  I poked him with a stick  (yes I am very brave) and he didn't try to get away.  I concluded that he must be stuck.

A few down the well.

So I waited for my husband to come home.  He is after all the snake expert in the family and doesn't seem to mind touching them.  This by the way is not the same snake that was living in our kitchen.  That was a milk snake and this is a garter snake.  Unfortunately, I can now tell the difference.

So Tristan comes home and he checks out the situation.  He said that snakes "don't get stuck" and that he was sure he could get out of there.  He poked it with a stick too with the same results (jeesh I DID that...)  He opted to leave it alone and didn't do anything.  I told him to stick his hand in there and see if he could loosen it or push it down.  He didn't do it.  I offered to get him vaseline so he could grease up the snake.  He thought I was crazy.

Man investigates snake

So the next day I went to work - I actually work twice that day so there is not a lot of time at home to play with snakes.  When I got home finally around 11:30p.m.  he had a confession for me.  He told me that the snake was still there and that he decided it was stuck (!).  He tried to pull it out (I really really wish I could have been there to video it - I find it highly suspicious that he avoided me and my camera.  huh!)  and got it out, but it's tail was a bit mangled and it had a cut on it's belly and did not survive the rescue.  I am pretty sure that it had been stuck since the weekend so it was probably pretty weak as well. 

So I guess you can add a snake to our death toll of one squirrel and many, many mice.  We now have a snake free well.  The snakes do come back though to eat the frogs so I am sure there will be more.  Hopefully the others will be smarter and not get themselves stuck in the wall.

Snake in the kitchen!

These are rubber snakes...

The husband was home sick, but has trouble lounging in bed (or sitting still) and decided to clean something.  He likes to clean big things - the basement, the refrigerator, the cars.  He decided to tackle the kitchen which had been fairly neglected due to my work schedule...

He was vacuuming around the cat box and decided to pull out the refrigerator to clean back there.  This is usually a productive cleaning spot what with cat hairballs and what not.  You never know what treasure you might find back there! 

Once pulled away from the wall he noticed a rubber snake (with kids a rubber snake behind the fridge is par for the course - don't even get me started about what I find in the couch cushions).  The snake was coiled around the baseboard heater.  However,  it moved when he touched it.  He realized this was no rubber snake but a real live one that had been living in our kitchen for who knows how long!

Thankfully I have a husband who is comfortable handling snakes.  I am glad that it was not me who found the thing.  That might have required major retail therapy and a night at a hotel!!!  Anyway, I got the phone call to address the big question of whether he should save the snake to show the kids or whether they would be horrified to realize that things like this are lurking in their kitchen...

I opted for saving it for their viewing pleasure, after all it wasn't like we found it in their bedroom.  They seem to take the finding of the snake in stride.  Maybe the finding of the squirrel and the regular deaths of field mice have increased their acceptance of cohabitation with outside creatures... Don't worry, the snake was safely released into the backyard and hopefully will stay out of the kitchen.

Our Kitchen Snake...

I just peeked behind the fridge and so far so good - no sign of the snake...