Ours is a suburban neighborhood, right off the interstate. The road that leads to our 'hood meanders through what was the countryside and farmland less than a decade ago.
In other words, with Wal-Mart "city" just miles from our front door, there are still vestiges of what "used to be".
This week I was talking on the telephone while looking out our kitchen window. Deep in conversation, I noticed a "creature" wandering into our yard (Aussie was inside). As my ears were processing the words of my friend, my eyes were desperately trying to process their view. "Dog?" No, that's not it. "Dingo?" Seriously, that crossed my mind but was QUICKLY dismissed because we DON'T live in Australia, for goodness sakes! "Fox?Wolf??" BING!BING!BING! We have a winner, ladies and gentlemen.
In one fluid, concurrent motion, I rudely hung up the phone and SCREECHED for my children, exploding a lung in the process–Y'ALL-GET-DOWN-HERE-QUICK-THERE'S-A-WOLF-IN-OUR- BACKYARD!" Well, the creature heard me, too, looked towards the house, and picked up his gai
t. I'm not sure why "wolf" came out of my mouth, but I intended "fox". I immediately grabbed my camera (unfortunately in the next room), ran to the window…just in time to see him scampering into the woods at the corner of the lot.
The scary thing is, now I realize there might be something ELSE Aussie could be barking at when she seems to be barking at axe murderers air.
Revision before I finished writing this: tonight I was at a Harvest party (barbecue, bonfire, and all that that implies….) and I was telling some friends about my fox sighting. THEY told me it was probably a coyote, they're (apparently) a nuisance critter in our area. All I know is 1) that sucker was fast and, 2) he was definitely NOT a dog. Now I find myself second guessing what I saw (evidence eye-witness testimonies are unreliable) (at least mine). Heck, maybe it WAS a dingo!
Then there was yesterday….
We're three houses away from ours when I notice a "snake" in the road. A rather large "snake-ish" shape. I say to the children, "There's a snake in the road," to which they reply in unison, "That's not a snake."
And then they say, "Wait…IT MOVED!!!".
I threw the car into park, grabbed my camera–which WAS nearby thanks to the photo-project I've been working on this week at the kids' school–and we all ran over to inspect the snakey shape…
The 4-5' long snakey shape that WAS a snake!
I'll let the rest speak with pictures:
1) Our first view.
2) He didn't care for company:
3) Snake in my shadow. Hmmm, sounds like a good Halloween song.
4) Kids, while keeping their distance, realize I am always right. Always.
5) He's starting to slither away, daggum it…
6) So I did what any Crocodile Hunter Alligator Huntress would do…I grabbed its tail. Stephen said, "YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO GRAB SNAKES BY THEIR TAIL, THEY'LL COME BACK AT YOU!" Which is exactly what happened…glad to see he's listening in school (or when he's watching Animal Planet).
7) So I froze a moment while he stared me down, then he continued on his journey.
8) Snakes are fast…he KNEW where he was headed….
9) Stephen and I continued to trail him when he stopped to rest.
So…I ran to get in FRONT of him so I could get a better look….
He didn't seem to be intimidated by me…he just kept coming…
When he got this close…
…I yelled chicken! Then we stepped back and just watched; first, he slithered over our neighbor's brick walkway…
Then, that cobra turkey snake slithered over their concrete sidewalk…
Any guesses where he was going?
Right…
under…
…their HOUSE!!!
Do you think I should tell them they have company?
Ive seen many a coyote around these parts… but not any fox.
snakes.. oh you brave woman. I wouldn’t touch it. You are my hero!~
You touched the snake? Have you lost your ever-lovin’ mind? Good grief, woman!
I am in awe of your devotion to this blog. Not many bloggers would step in FRONT of a snake for a picture, I think even fewer would try to grab it by it’s tail. Whew, what a woman!
Well if it definitely wasn’t a dog, then it definitely wasn’t a dingo because dingoes are just native dogs.
Can’t say I’m overly fond of snakes, even though there’s lots of them around here.
You have a wolf in your yard, and wrestle snakes? You are crazy, woman! And yes, you should tell your neighbours about their little visitor. They may be fraidy cats, like me.
you touched the snake???? the picture story was awesome but i really couldn’t get past the part where YOU TOUCHED THE SNAKE. omg.
coyotes run rampant in my little part of the world too. i saw one walking our garden wall recently. that’s why we keep our very little dogs inside at night.
Pamela, hmmm, what would I have been if I picked it up??
Sandy, I know many who would argue “yes” in answer to your question ;).
Jenn, it’s all about you, babe…all about YOU ;).
WT, but “dingo” sounds so much cooler, yes?
TOB, Can you imagine answering your door and having your neighbor show you these pictures if you didn’t already know it was there?? lol
Janet, it freaks me out to think about what I’m not seeing!
Seems you’re getting better in your animal identification skills! Good job. But pulling on a snake’s tail? I don’t suppose you knew if it was venomous or not first, did you? Anyhow, great pictures. Speaking of which, it seems you have yourself a new camera. After asking for and receiving much advice, what did you get? And what do you think of it?
Not only are you brave but crazy! Haven’t you ever watched the Wiggles Safari? They sing a song all about snakes: “You can look, but you better not touch!”
I wonder what you say – probably a coyote. I’ve seen them around here tons – and I know that foxes are here too, but I never see them. They must stay well hidden.
We see coyotes from time to time right here in Indiana. However, the only snakes that we see are harmless garter snakes. They are much smaller than your snake. Although might hang around the outside of our house, they never venture inside the house. I wonder what kind of snake those folks have as a house guest?
That is way cool, but I can’t believe you touched it.
Okay, The mischievous side of me is impressed. I sure would not have touched that snake, although it was much smaller than the one I bumped into last. (Even IF I was waving a knife around, Im a chicken) BUT the mother side of me is yelling “What were you thinking girl?” Snakes Bite! Yes they do!
And just for the record, Wolves, Dingoes and foxes all look totally different.
yuck. I hate snakes, even photos. BLECH.
Yes tell the poor people about the nasty creature living under their porch!
yes you should tell them…and gross…yucky snake…but about the coyote…we live in iowa and we have them here too…i almost hit one with our truck last week…they may be everywhere but they are not the smartest!
wow, you’re brave.
a) the non-dog was almost certainly a coyote. though foxes can be pretty bold, too, it’s more commonly skittish. it was absolutely definitely positively NOT a wolf. i’ve only seen one in the wild once, and that was at 5 a.m. in remote wilderness. they don’t come around cities, and they don’t come around people.
b). that snake. OOOOO KAAAAY you are brave. you grabbed it by the tail??? you’re supposed to grab it right behind its head, not that i would ever ever (or to quote you, EVAH) do that myself.
do you like your neighbors? if so, tell them. if not, just keep watch and see what happens next.
excellent post.
i laughed out loud so hard when you asked if you thought you should tell your neighbors they have company. i would say no. if its living there, then #1 they probably can’t get AT it anyway, #2 its probably eating bugs and mice and stuff and #3 they would ask how you know, and you’d have to tell them you chased a snake across the yard, almost had it bite your fingers off cause you picked it up, and then waited a few days to tell them. somehow i believe they will think you’re a few nuts short of a fruitcake. but that’s just me.
oh and make sure your animals are locked up securely, cant get out to those coyotes, cause there’s not just one, you can bet that, they’ll lure your dog out, then circle it and beat it up if not kill it. keep that dog locked up! oh and if you live in the boonies, then mention to your local cattle farmer you’ve seen one, and give them permission to shoot the coyotes (again keep your dog inside or in the kennel, whatever).
You grabbed a snake by the tail?!
I bow to the Alligator Huntress!
We used to have snakes living under our old house and trust me, I would have been a lot happier not knowing about it.
I DO NOT like snakes. They creep me out. Even looking at your photos give me hee bee jee bees! I will go with coyote or fox. Wolf is highly unlikely but you may never know…
We had a black snake (king snake) in our van. We sold the van. We see snakes often where I live. I am not good telling the venomous ones apart, I just heard red on black venom lack, red on yellow kill a fellow. But lots of snakes aren’t those colors. Cotton mouths and copperheads and rattle snakes…oooh. I guess their eyes and head shape are supposed to give them away. My mom killed a rattle snake in her yard with a shovel.
Dude. You are insane but those pictures are worth it. Awesomeness.
If I was your neighbor I don’t think I’d want to know about the snake. I’d be feeling it all night.
Then again…it might have babies..
Okay – for the record? If you so much as THINK there might be a snake under my house, you had BETTER FREAKIN’ TELL ME!!!! I don’t want to be all traipsing about and then see SNAKE and then have you next door, casually watering your flowers, all like, “Oh, yeah – I saw that go under there a week ago. Got some cool shots for my blog.” ESPECIALLY if it caused me to pee in my favorite jeans!
As long as they don’t kill it!! It’s probably eating field mice, rats etc…stuff that they’d rather not have anyways!!
If I were your neighbor, I would certainly want to know the King Cobra was under my house. Those things can climb up drain pipes. Snakes in my toilet are a huge fear!
If a snake was living under my house I would want to know (I’d probably freak and move out until it was caught!) so yes you have to tell them before it decides to explore inside the house!
Tell your neighbor. I would want to know.
Yes please tell them. Cause I would want to know. And to call some snake hunter guy to come and kill it.
And in my old neighborhood with my ex-husband, we often saw wolves near the neighborhood. I never saw them in the actual streets, but just outside. And we never saw stray cats. Sad….
Tiggerlane already said what I was going to say. Tell them! Or, just have a camcorder ready 😉
Robert, I don’t think it was poisonous…isn’t that close enough? (and after to listening to everyone, talking to people who knew waaay more than me, and playing with SLRs, I got a Nikon D40…and it’s a love thang! Thanks for asking!).
Karmyn, I missed the Wiggles, they came after my kids were older (no complaints, mind you). That sounds like a song that would get stuck in my head…!
Molly, me, too!
Beckie, I ain’t scared of no stinkin’ snake!
Karisma, you didn’t read my cobra/turkey post, did you. I failed animal husbandry (Okay, I have no idea what I just said, but it made me smile).
Lizzie, I keep looking for them, but they’re never outside. Uh, oh…you don’t think he killed ’em all in their sleep, do you?
Kerith, sounds like opossums in the South.
Laurie, I have the biggest blush on you (blog + crush)–1) you used enumerated lists in your comment; 2) you quoted me; 3) you think I’m brave; 4) you said I write “excellent post”s (can I quote YOU on that?).
AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, you made me grin…out loud. 😀
Jill, your comment did much the same for me as Laurie’s :D. Except I don’t think I’ll be braggin’ about being a nut-filled fruitcake ;).
The friend who told me it was a coyote lives on a farm, so she speaks from experience :/.
Lisa, I actually KNOW to grab it from behind its head, but I was chicken to get that close to its MOUTH!
Jana, ignorance is bliss, eh?
Kaytabug, yeah, I had ruled out “wolf” at least :/.
Junebug…ummmmm……..YIKES!!!
Jenny, at least they aren’t SQUID babies!!!
Tiggerlane, man! you’re funny sometimes! Like RIGHT NOW! 😀
Well, Claudia, we all know I had a mouse infestation!!! :/
http://pensieve.typepad.com/pensieve/2007/01/ironyand_irony__2.html
AFF, you’ve given me somethin’ new to worry about….thanks! 😉
Chris, see aff’s comment…it fits you, too.
Molly, okeydokey :).
Margaret…Hmmm, my mouse problem DID finally go away…CRAP!! WHAT’S UNDER MY HOUSE????
Kila, funny…REEAL funny!
see?? get a snake or two and the mice? ppoooof! Gone! 🙂