Monday, May 01, 2006

Love is in the air...

Last week after a huge rainstorm, Anthony walked by our back door and noticed this with his peripheral vision on our back fence:


Relax, its not a rattler, its a Rat Snake. It has a diamond back, but no rattle tail and no fangs. We like these snakes, although they are a little unnerving, since they eat lots of rodents (that poach chicken feed out of our shed). Unfortunately, most of our neighbors kill them. I don't really understand this (except for that genetic/biblical fear of snakes in general), because these snakes won't harm humans, but will control rodents. Rodents carry leptospirosis and hantavirus, people, and those can make you seriously sick.


Colin contemplates snake on fence. Its twice as long as him, easily.

I was at work when Anth took the above pictures and felt a little left out. However, tonight as I was grilling, I noticed some mockingbirds acting weirdly down by the shed. Our chickens live behind the shed, and I wondered if they were eating chicken feed. When I went down to investigate, this is what I saw:

LIVE SNAKE SEX!!!

I yelled for Anthony to come see it, and Anna said, "I want to see the 'snake sack' too." It took me a minute to figure out what she was talking about! They writhed around eachother, and didn't seem to mind us too much, but they did dart back under our shed when the mockingbirds came around. I guess they're vulnerable in this state. They came back out moments later - I guess they like to do it out in the open.


Love bites.

If I'm clever enough, I'll post a video.

12 comments:

peevish said...

I agree with Anna: I want to see the snake sack! And you want to post video? Live snake acts on vetmommy? Wow Jenn, I'm seeing a whole new side of you! So did Anthony make you capture any of them & take them far, far away from your house?

Unknown said...

WOW! that is something they'll remember forever. Forget the birds and the bees, we've got reptilian copulation! Looks a little kinky with the biting and the wire cages, you might have to adjust their image of making love for humans a tad...

Can Colin keep one of the babies for a pet? Don't have to worry about it losing any legs, ala Vino...just a thought.

Leah said...

OH MY!!!!!---thats all I can say.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... I guess you just don't know who the perverts are until the snakes come out in the spring ;-)

Great photos, and a great story -- I'd love to see snakes around here, although I doubt we have many harmless species in the area. Flippy doesn't like snakes (i.e., I'm not allowed to have one as a pet), but I think they're pretty cool. In the time we've lived here we've seen a fence lizard, a chipmunk, a burrowing owl, and a roadrunner, but that's about it.

Anonymous said...

Whoa! I agree with Steph. I'll remember that image. I don't think I've ever seen snake sex before!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely amazing!!!!

Anonymous said...

Those are amazing pictures!

I don't know if it's just me BUT snakes creep me OUT! It's just my personal opinion- but the way they slither along and their slimy scales.... YUCK! Some of my friends used to have a pet snake- and I could never see how anyone could "bond" with a snake. I prefer a dog or cat that's cuddlie and sweet.

BUT, that is a rare moment you guys caught on video/camera......

XOXOXOXOXOXO!

Emily said...

Very cool. I like Colin's rapt attention. You can tell he's fascinated.

When I was digging out the backyard for the garden at Steve's, I came across a small snake (about the diameter of a pencil). It startled me at first, but then I thought it was cool and let him go on his way.

Jen said...

You know, you're gonna love the google hits you get on "live snake sex." LOL That's something you don't see everyday. And if I saw it in my backyard, those pictures would have been taken with a huge honkin' zoom lens!

Vetmommy said...

I can't believe it, but I haven't had any hits for "live snake sex," or anything like that. I have had hits in the past for "sexy Austin mama," and "...with my wife's sister" (go figure) but absolutely nothing for this one!

Some of you may remember how the summer after Colin was born, we had 5 snakes IN A ROW down by the chicken coop, and we did capture and release them since they were eating the chicken eggs. These snakes are not stealing the eggs (yet) so we're granting them leniency. When we were catching and releasing, it was quite a scene - me playing Crocodile Hunter, catching the snake with a hoe at the head end and grabbing his tail with my hand. Anthony manned the bucket, simultaneously trying to move it toward me and the snake while fighting his body's instinct to book it back to the house. Once the snake was in the bucket, we quickly clamped a cookie sheet on the top, and then I rode with the bucket between my legs, holding the metal pan on top, while Anth drove us to the soccer fields far far away.

Good times.

Anonymous said...

I have NEVER seen pictures like THAT!! fantastic !! and just as Anth.was outside too..lucky :) xx

Anonymous said...

Ooooh, snake porn, cool!