Gives Me the Willies

Yes, that is a SNAKE. And yes, it is INSIDE the house. (Well, WAS inside.)

Saturday afternoon, while Leah was sleeping and I was gone, Scott was in the man room doing some rearranging. He noticed something brown along the wall by the stairs, and thinking it was just a worm, he picked it up with a tissue. It most definitely wasn't a worm since it crumbled in the tissue. "Great. It's probably animal poop," he thought, so he went searching the man room for a mole or chipmunk (they abound in the yard).

By now you've figured out that he didn't find a mole or a chipmunk; instead, when he opened up the blinds to the patio, he found a 3-foot long black snake. Oh my! Scott jumped backwards OVER the sofa in an instant. He was NOT going to mess with that bugger.

Fast forward a couple hours: the animal control officer showed up and removed the snake. Of course, he and Scott had to LOCATE it at that point since it was no longer by the patio door. Ugh. Thankfully, it had slithered just under the couch.

The good news about all this? According the ACO, the snake was TRYING to get out of the house since it (the house) is too cold for it. The bad news? The snake probably followed something else (prey) in. Gross. I'm hoping its prey was just an insect (which do turn up in the basement). At least the ACO gave us some good advice: mothballs. Apparently, snakes (and I guess other critters, too) can't stand the smell, so if we place them around the house, it should deter the snakes. So guess what Scott bought first thing Sunday morning before church? Our house is now under mothball protection. Let's hope they work.