Look Before You Step!
We have many different kinds of poisonous snakes that call this part of Texas home. The coral snake, copperhead, water moccasin (cotton mouth), and even the occasional rattler live in our area. Consequently, we train our children to look before they step, especially in the spring and summer time. In the winter, we don’t remind them so much because snakes should be hibernating.
The copperhead that my son found crawling in the landscaping.
Looking before you step is so ingrained in us that when my mom moved to Hawaii, which has no snakes, it took her awhile to become accustomed to walking through dense undergrowth without fear.
I was mowing our lawn while Clayton and Jake were weed eating. Clayton waved for my attention. I held my finger for him to wait. I could immediately tell that he was annoyed with me. I finished the strip of lawn that I was working on and drove up to him.
“Mom, I saw a copperhead,” Clayton said calmly.
“You did, where?” I asked.
“Here. I have it.”
Now I was alarmed imagining where Clayton had the snake. Surely he wasn’t holding it in his hand. He was smarter than that.
Sensing my alarm he continued, “It’s under the weed eater.”
He was holding its neck with the head of the weed eater. I jumped back on the mower and told him that I would be right back. I kicked the mower into high gear and was surprised when the tires pealed out on the grass. I grabbed a shovel from the barn and headed back to Clayton. In seconds, I was back.
Clayton eased up his pressure on the snake and it quickly squirmed out from under the weed eater, but Clayton quickly caught it further down its back. I moved in swiftly with the blade of the shovel. Even though the snake’s body hung together by a thread, it still managed to crawl about three feet away.
By this time all the children were in the yard drawn to the “excitement.” I instructed them to stay on the porch until there was a mowed area in which to play. Then I reminded them to look out for snakes.
I also pulled Jake and Clayton from weed eater duty until I could mow the entire perimeter of the yard. I felt this would allow more visibility to see if there was a snake.
Walking by you might not even notice the snake.
Copperheads are not very long snakes. This one is about 14-15″ long. Their markings are not as striking as coral snakes, but against sand or pine needles their skin provides great camouflage.
Snakes are definitely out. It is official at our house. Just one more reason to remind your children to look where they step.
Copperheads are so evil looking too!! We haven’t seen any yet this year, but that doesn’t mean they are there. I have heard that when you kill one you should hang its body somewhere near where you killed it as a warning to other snakes….this will only work if you don’t have dogs who will want to eat it….thus I haven’t tried it to see if it works.
Neither of our dogs has gotten tagged by a copperhead yet this year so that is a good sign for us! We will remain diligent still as we wander through the undergrowth. Great reminder!!