Last Thursday I encountered 3 black rat snakes. The first was a jet black animal I spotted crawling along the roots
of a wind-felled tree. He was safe but I stopped to take a closer look and say hello.
The second was a
newly hatched baby crossing the road. Baby black rat snakes are patterned in varying shades for grey. At this age they are somewhat delicate creatures and I gently lifted it off the road and placed it safely off to the side. It seemed to view my assistance as a non event and took its time disappearing into the cover where I'd placed it.
The third snake was
an attractively patterned 5 footer. It was also crossing the road, but was less
interested in my help. The car
in front of me had just passed over him and I thought he’d been hit as he was
all coiled up and thrashing but he
was fine; fine being a relative term.
Frankly, he was in mortal terror. Out in the open with huge noisy metal
objects hurtling over them is not a place such secretive animals enjoy. I thought of
the many snakes I’ve seen hacked to pieces and how the people who do the
hacking usually described the snakes as vicious. Such lack of empathy irritates me and I’ve often wondered what behavior they would manifest if I snatched the shovel from their hands and commenced chopping their body parts off. But I digress.
Being in a somewhat disturbed state of mind the snake didn't recognize that I was there to help and had several coils in the air and was lunging at me whenever I got too close. I noticed that when he struck he moved just a bit in my direction so I put myself between
him and the side of the road. I thought that by repeatedly moving close enough to elicit strikes I would be able to lead him closer to safety. Ordinary I would have just grabbed him anyway but, I was going out in public and didn't want to do so having been bit, musked and crapped on, which scared snakes are want to do. Besides this was a safe, open stretch of road so I opted for a method that would be gentler for both parties.
I was making good progress when the first car stopped. I didn’t know the guy but he was the characteristic
idiot who looked at me with the disdain we herpers (people who like reptiles) get right before we’re
“informed” we’d be better off just killing the damn thing. Ignoring Cro-Magnon man, I kept on the process of leading the
snake off the road when a second car stopped.
“What ya doing” the passenger asked?
When I told him I was helping the snake off the road he said, “That’s
pretty cool. Most people just kill them” and drove off leaving me to think that
perhaps there’s hope for mankind after all.
The last car to stop was driven by a very old lady who
watched intently as I led the snake to the side of the road were it finally bolted for cover and was gone. When I
turned around she had a light in her eye and said in a quivering old lady voice, “You remind me of my
husband. He “was” always helping snakes
off the road so they wouldn’t get hurt.” She then thanked me and with a huge smile drove off down the road.
Small acts of kindness give reward enough in just the
doing. This time however knowing that helping
a terrified snake off the road also gave an this lady a warm memory of her late husband made for a special moment. I found myself wishing I’d known the guy but content
myself with knowing that many of my friends are probably a lot like him.
