Neither Hubby nor I care for snakes. Last year Sampson, Delilah and I came across a small garter snake on one of our walks. I screamed, “Oh Oh” then “Leave it” while every hair on my body stood on end for at least five minutes.
There it happened again just thinking about it.
So when the Hubby showed me the photo of the snake in the wood pile, well you know my reaction. I said it had to go and he said it ate spiders. That’s a big payoff for me folks. So now we have this snake in our wood pile. The wood pile is off the deck so it’s a safe bet that Nagini (as I’ve named the snake) and I can live separate lives. Which is exactly how I want it.
And yes, as some of you pointed out Nagini is larger than most garter snakes I’ve seen and yes we know he eats more than spiders. (For the sake of this article I will refer to Nagini as he. More for my piece of mind then anything else, because the thought of a female making more snakes in my wood pile is too much for my little mind to comprehend. Although I do love the idea of a female in a ‘wood’ pile, if you get my point. 😉 ) In fact, I’m betting Nagini has been helpful in cutting down on our mouse population. No complaints on that front either. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen the neighbor’s cat recently though…
For reference we have a large back yard and right now it looks like a jungle, so I’m fairly certain Nagini has been eating very well.
Nagini’s feeding ground when he’s not in the wood pile.
Hubby seems to be getting used to Nagini, in fact I took a picture of him outside working in close proximity to Nagini just the other day.
Brave or crazy? You be the judge.
I was safely up on the deck taking pictures while Hubby was inches away from the snake.
After one of our bug infested walks I said to Hubby, “I was thinking of trying to clicker train Nagini, then I could put a leash on him and he could walk with us and eat all the bugs.”
Hubby responded with “You could wear him around your neck and he’d snap, snap, snap” and he made a motion of the snake moving from one side of my head to the other.
Let me think about that for a sec…”Um No.” Come on! It’s a freaking snake!
On Thursday the guy came to spray our yard for ticks and apparently Nagini does not care for the smell. He vacated his spot on the wood pile.
We thought, he’ll come back.
So Friday I went out to check after I got home. Safely from my spot on the deck I peered over at the wood pile, but I couldn’t see Nagini. I leaned over a bit and thought, that might be him.
And then I had a very scary thought. I thought, maybe I can go down there and lift the tarp with a stick and see if the snake is there.
I know right? WTF was I thinking?
I walk down from the deck and I could feel the hair on my arms standing up just a little at the thought of my boldness. As I walked past the rack of already cut and stacked wood I saw something black out of the corner of my eye. I screamed and jumped before I realized it was just the top of the rack. It was at this point that I realized two things.
1) Nagini could not be seen on the wood pile
2) I wasn’t going to lift the tarp
I went back inside to wait for Hubby.
When he came home we both went outside and he said, “He’s not there, he’d be right there on that piece of wood.”
“Well maybe he moved somewhere else” I sighed.
Hubby lifted the tarp and moved along the wood pile. “No he’s here.”
“Where?”
“Right here.”
“I can’t see him.” Of course I couldn’t see him, he was on the far side of the wood pile at least 25 feet away and I was on the deck.
Hubby lifted the tarp a little higher and I leaned over the deck a little more and there, I saw him!
Hubby said, “I think he’s sleeping.” Then, “He’s not moving.”
And then Hubby reached out and touched the snake!!
“Oh my god! Oh my god! You touched it. ” I squealed, running for the house rubbing my arms to get the hair to lay flat. Nagini slithered further into the wood pile.
A few minutes later Hubby came inside, I was still beside myself. “You touched it, you touched a SNAKE!”
Hubby said, “I have to use the bathroom.”
At which point I babbled something like, “Make sure to wash the snake off your hands before you touch your snake with your hands.” Or something like that.
And then Hubby turned, looked right at me and licked his finger.
I lost my shit.
After my hysterical screams of “Oh my god, you’re disgusting, you licked a snake” yadda yadda yadda Hubby said, I touched it with this finger (he held up his pointer) and I licked this finger and he flipped me the bird.
Yes, Nagini has become a source of amusement around our house. Where do you find your humor in your daily life?
LOL… sounds like Nagini is providing lots of amusement. (Also, still giggling about the wood pile joke.)
So it sounds like you now have a pet snake despite both of you being scared of them, how cool! My Dad loves snakes and we have one too, Mum is scared of it and I’m just intrigued!
Have fun,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
When i met Walter he had a balled python. Yep! He doesnt have it anymore!!! we found a guy to take him, i told hubby find a home for snake or we are going to eat him. Ive had rattle snake before and it was good, so how much diffrent can a python taste? Ill never know lol
You are crazy! One snake in our yard and Mom will sell the lawn mower and hire a mowing company and she will never go in the yard unless it is frozen out there. No joke, the sight of a snake in our yard would be grounds to sell the house and move. They are just not tolerated no matter what there purpose is. Good luck with yours.
Whether you admit it or not, Nagini has become a pet. Once you name an animal and he becomes the subject of an anecdote, he is yours, you are his. Anyway he sounds adorable. I wish he were in my woodpile. I’ll take a nice clean snake over dozens of disgusting grubs and things.
OMD, you guys are a riot. I would be completely freaking out – but then, so would the hubs. He HATES snakes. It’s the one thing he is afraid of. Luckily I know he will never touch a snake. Not just because a hand that touches a snake will not touch ME, but because he’d be way too afraid!
Funny post Jodi, I think Nagini is growing on you. I though Nagini had died but luckily he’s still alive. The name for me however, sounds more like a girl.
“Although I do love the idea of a female in a ‘wood’ pile,” -Made me laugh out loud.
Thanks for the laugh!
xx
Hey Jodi…I think you may be on to something. Maybe not clicker train a snake to eat the mosquitoes….but perhaps a praying mantis. He could sit on your shoulder and snatch the bugs from the air! 🙂
Well we gotta admit this…. you have us ROLLING on the FLOOR Laughing our collars off. THIS is such a funny post. VERY Discriptive!!!.. THANKS fur the GRRRREAT laugh..
descriptive sorry that I was supposed to be an E.. now YOU can laugh at US.
OMG! I HATE snakes!!! Totally and utterly gross me out! So how long before you move Nagini into the house in a tank? Ewwww…. LOL Thanks for the giggles!
LOL too funny. I remember playing with garter snakes as kids, but I would not do it now. 🙂
LOL!!! That gave me a good laugh today and I could picture in my head all of this taking place. Maybe snakes can be good for something, but I’m still on the fence about it.
~Rebecca & Teach
LOL! I would have locked him out if I thought he had touched it!
You two crack me up 🙂
That was hilarious! You and your hubby are just too funny. My hubby doesn’t like snakes any more than I do, the only difference being that he at least doesn’t scream when he sees one like I do!
There’s plenty of humor in my day, and I can assure you NONE of it comes from a snake!! *shiver*
Thanks for the belly laughs!! This hysterical! Snakes aren’t my favorite, but better snakes than Palmetto bugs! I don’t freak out over either one, but the bugs just make my skin crawl!
Hmmmmm….maybe he’ll decide to move into your house for the winter since he’s already good personal friends with Dad…
🙂
You seem to have a love-hate relationship with your wood pile snake lol. Just relax it won’t hurt you and will catch some mice which for me would be very good! I never run any non Poisson snakes off but our dogs do.
Thank you for the great laugh tonight. My hubs hates snakes more than me for sure. He thought your story was pretty funny too.
LOL Too funny!!! My husband is phobic about certain things, so I like to tease him by doing something similar to what your husband did with licking his finger after touching the snake. For example, my husband thinks it is gross when I kiss my dogs on the nose. He WILL NOT kiss me until after I wash my lips. I guess it is kinda gross considering my dogs may have licked their little hinies, then licked their noses. But I don’t care. I kiss their noses anyway. Then I chase my husband around the house with puckered lips.
YOU KILL ME! Funny funny girl or should I say your husband is a very funny guy! Love the story and glad you have a snake to keep your bugs away.
Jodi you are a girl after my own heart. I can so relate to the fear of spiders. I think I would let him stay for that alone. You cracked me up with the finger stuff at the end. You are so damn funny.
Hubby really is getting a rise out of you with Nagini! Great comic writing too.
Typist is freaking out just reading your posts – she would be hiding behind you on the deck if she was there. No help at all!!
Um and in answer to the question – crazy!!!
OMG! You said “wood!” Seriously, thank you for one of the best laughs I’ve had all week! I can just picture both of you in this story. I’m waiting for the story where Nagini moves into the basement for the winter!
I almost missed this post… so glad I came back to read it!! OMG, your story-telling is hysterical!
You need to post again about this snake… but get your bum down there and take a closer picture! I want to see what kind of snake this is!