Rattlesnakes
Sep. 9th, 2019 09:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dotintheskyIt was Saturday morning and my mom announced she was going to take a shower. As I needed to use the bathroom as well, I thought: "well, I'll just use the toilet outside instead of waiting for her to finish her shower."
I walked through the garden and went inside the outdoors toilet. As I walked in, I scanned all corners for snakes. They had been on my mind since the day before, when we talked about how this is the season for snakes to appear, as it's too dry, the weather is getting warmer, and mice gravitate to our homes. Wherever you find mice here, you'll find snakes too.
After I flushed the toilet, I opened the door and... stared straight into a large rattlesnake. The rattlesnake coiled slightly back, looked straight at me, and stuck out its tongue. I quickly closed the door.
I'd never been face to face with a live snake before. There had been other rattlesnakes in the past, always killed by my brother or the gardener before I saw them. This one, though, had been waiting for me... had I walked past it without knowing? Had I come close to stepping on it?
I called my brother and sister-in-law but neither would answer their phones. So I did what any right-minded person would do with a mobile phone - I went onto WhatsApp groups and asked for help! I even tried to message my 10-year-old nephew and see if he could go find his parents. I also briefly considered going live on Facebook, ala Stephen Fry when he got stuck in a lift.
Whenever I peeked out of the door, there was the rattlesnake, waiting for me. Finally, my sister-in-law saw the messages and came up with my brother. They took some photos and giggled nervously at my predicament, then my brother climbed behind the wall near the toilet and killed the rattlesnake by squashing its head with a hoe.
My sister-in-law gave the idea of burning it - according to a legend, if you burn a rattlesnake, no others will appear in your home for at least a year. So my brother carried its body to the fire pit (it seemed a bit chunky in the middle - had it just eaten a mouse? Or a chick?) we have at the entrance to the guesthouse and we lit a small bonfire. Its body coiled under the heat, the poison inside reacting to it. Smoke filled the air and even got inside the house, despite all windows and doors being closed.
I can't stop looking for rattlesnakes now, though. Even when I lie in bed at night, reaching down to put my glasses near my flipflops, I get this tiny fear of something striking me from underneath the bed...
We are now considering getting a cat for the house, so we don't get any more mice getting ideas about hanging around.
I walked through the garden and went inside the outdoors toilet. As I walked in, I scanned all corners for snakes. They had been on my mind since the day before, when we talked about how this is the season for snakes to appear, as it's too dry, the weather is getting warmer, and mice gravitate to our homes. Wherever you find mice here, you'll find snakes too.
After I flushed the toilet, I opened the door and... stared straight into a large rattlesnake. The rattlesnake coiled slightly back, looked straight at me, and stuck out its tongue. I quickly closed the door.
I'd never been face to face with a live snake before. There had been other rattlesnakes in the past, always killed by my brother or the gardener before I saw them. This one, though, had been waiting for me... had I walked past it without knowing? Had I come close to stepping on it?
I called my brother and sister-in-law but neither would answer their phones. So I did what any right-minded person would do with a mobile phone - I went onto WhatsApp groups and asked for help! I even tried to message my 10-year-old nephew and see if he could go find his parents. I also briefly considered going live on Facebook, ala Stephen Fry when he got stuck in a lift.
Whenever I peeked out of the door, there was the rattlesnake, waiting for me. Finally, my sister-in-law saw the messages and came up with my brother. They took some photos and giggled nervously at my predicament, then my brother climbed behind the wall near the toilet and killed the rattlesnake by squashing its head with a hoe.
My sister-in-law gave the idea of burning it - according to a legend, if you burn a rattlesnake, no others will appear in your home for at least a year. So my brother carried its body to the fire pit (it seemed a bit chunky in the middle - had it just eaten a mouse? Or a chick?) we have at the entrance to the guesthouse and we lit a small bonfire. Its body coiled under the heat, the poison inside reacting to it. Smoke filled the air and even got inside the house, despite all windows and doors being closed.
I can't stop looking for rattlesnakes now, though. Even when I lie in bed at night, reaching down to put my glasses near my flipflops, I get this tiny fear of something striking me from underneath the bed...
We are now considering getting a cat for the house, so we don't get any more mice getting ideas about hanging around.