Snakes!

Lions, tigers and bears, oh my!  SNAKES Yikes!

What is it about snakes that gets our blood boiling, our nerves tingling and our muscles tensed?  

My sister recently had a Facebook posting of her son killing a large snake in their back yard.  There were a good number of comments of "Yuck" or "Yikes!"  Why do we have an aversion to snakes?  I think it's a centuries old aversion.   The Bible correlates snakes/serpents to evil or the devil.  But then again the logo for medical doctors has a snake on it.  The medical logo goes back to Greek mythology and look it up on Google for more information, I did.  

I think that most of us when we think of snakes, we have specific episodes in our lives that brought up the fear of snakes.  I know I can remember as a young child, my mom chopping a snake in pieces that somehow found it's way into our house and on the kitchen counter.  Sorry, younger siblings, you missed that everlasting memory!  I can remember my grandfather's extreme fear of snakes that was evident when he saw a large, colorful, stuffed snake at a rummage sale and he went screaming out the door. Whoa! That was a surprise!  Of course, his daughter, my mother transferred some of that fear onto her children.  I remember the boy in grade school that found a garter snake and wrapped it around his neck.  He made lots of friends, ha-ha.  I remember last year at a historic site in New Mexico where we were warned by the Park Ranger to be especially careful and alert to where we were stepping.  I did continue on the path with confidence that because I wanted to get a photo of a rattlesnake, I wouldn't see any.  Of course, I was right.

Over the past twenty years, I have gotten less fearful of snakes.  I can actually look at a picture of them or watch them on television.  I used to always cover my eyes.  Even though many people think the only good snake is a dead snake; I know that there are good snakes and bad snakes.  Shortly after we moved to South Texas, we were at a wildlife refuge and saw a very large black snake.  I even tried to get a photo, but it was too fast.  At the visitor's center, we found out it's the Ebony snake, they are good, as they eat Rattlesnake eggs.  OK, I can agree with that. 

Last night there was a small snake by our front door, it was so small, we almost thought it was a large earthworm.  I ventured out and saw it go into our flowers.  I wish I could say that was the "last" of it. But, you know who had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. and wonder where did that snake go?  So this morning, I looked up snakes of the Rio Grande Valley and found it.  It's a Flat-Headed snake and yes, it is often mistaken for a large earthworm.  Guess what? It likes to find it's way into houses through little openings in foundation and doors that are not airtight.  Yikes!  So much for acceptance of snakes....it just went out the door!  In the door comes fear!

I have to take a deep breath and hope (and pray) that my less then nine years house has a solid foundation and no openings for large earthworms to enter the house.  I will keep you posted.  In the meantime have a wonderful holiday weekend and don't step on any snakes!