I've never met any ground squirrels, Westelle (knock on wood), but I can imagine they're about as fun as pocket gophers. Blah!

This is a story I posted over on the Ponds forum. I guess I can blame my hysteria on the heat. :D

I let Princess Pookie out last night for her early evening, before-the-sun-goes-down-and-she's-stuck-inside-for-the-night ritual of bird watching and cat napping. She stopped half-way out the door and started sniffing around the corner to the right. Yep, HUGE snake.

I grabbed the broom from in front of it, and tried to sort of freak it out, without touching it, so it would slither off. Nope, it was happy.

Heart pounding, I leaned further out the door to check out the tail. Ok, it didn't have a rattler. WHEW! But it was LONG! Ugh.

Ran to get the camera. Snapped one pic, checked out view finder. Pretty good shot of its head and part of the body curled around (will post that another day). Just one more pic. No, off kilter, but...what's that SOUND?!

hsssssSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Holy carp! I guess he didn't like the flash in his face. Yelled at the kitty, "NO, POOK! Get OUT of there!", since she was still sniffing this odd creature. She was a good kitty and went to curl up next to the fountain feeder.

HSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

OK!!! Slam the door, heart pounding. I'm going to GET that sucker! How DARE he hiss at ME!

Open the door, broom still in hand.

hssssssSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Slam the door, can still hear it through the thick door, windows closed, cooler on high. This guy is hissin' me off! Must be more determined. Open the door, prepped for action.

HSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

Slam the door. Ok, he means business. *pant, pant* Call the old neighbor down the street, since DH was conveniently away from home.

"Lloyd, BIG snake, right outside the door, he has me trapped, might be more out the back door in weed territory. Help!!!"

Look out the window, see Lloyd bookin' it down the street with shovel in hand. Gee, I've never seen him move quite THAT fast before. Hmmmm.

Open window. "He's right down THERE, but there's no rattle, so...."

Ok, Lloyd is a "shaker" (heck, I was shaking like a dog pooping out razor blades!), but I've never seen a shovel jiggle around that much, even if a great song had been on the radio. He was movin' and a-shakin', YEEHAW!

Anyway, he raises the shovel in front of him *shake, shake*, inches closer *shake, shake, JAB*. I notice that the shovel seems to bounce right back from the area of the snake.

"OH, he's tough! And he's hissin' and lookin' at ME now!"

*JAB JAB CLANK JAB CLANK JAB JAB* Yeah, overkill, but I don't blame the poor guy.

"Uh, I think he's dead, Lloyd." *nervous laugh*

After the flinging into the street, and the neighbor kids arrived "oooohing" and "ahhhing", Snake started moving again. I wish THAT part was on film, seeing everyone scatter. It was merely residual twitching, and all ended well when the sacrificial, SIX FOOT gopher snake (a.k.a. "phlegm serpent" due to that gawdawful HISSING) was dumped into the trash.

**Quick note - I would normally have left the poor bugger to himself, but one that size, sitting on my stoop, just can't be tolerated. For snake lovers, I apologize. If it makes you feel any better, I DID have a Western Yellow-Bellied Racer in my yard last week, but he did the polite thing and wiggled the heck out of the way, and I let him hide under some pots on the OTHER side of the entryway.**

I think I owe Lloyd a nice bottle of whiskey. :D

Brenda

That 6' Gopher snake would have eaten your troublesome pocket gophers.... and maybe also Pookie if she's small enough. Too bad about losing the snake, but I can understand you being frantic. Someday maybe I'll tell about the time I literally stepped on a sleeping rattler just a laying in the sun .... talk about frantic..... it wasn't pretty.

Thanks for the laugh.

PS You live in CA zone 9 and you don't have Ground Squirrels?! I am truely amazed.

I found the irony in that I killed the snake which might have helped in my pocket gopher struggle, too. I also wonder where he was months ago when I was fighting them alone. :D

I just wish he'd skizzled off and not trapped me in the house. I spoke with someone who was bitten by one, and although not poisonous, I guess it's pretty painful, so the thought of it even attempting to eat my rather large kitty sort of freaked me out.

That's one of my worst fears, stepping on a rattler!! I can't wait to hear that story, Westelle.

Brenda

Ohhhh... I was walking across the area in front of the barn on a lovely coolish Fall day, heading to the next gardening project, arms full of "stuff".

I stepped on something, but went on my way. I heard an angry sizzzzzzz! I turned to find that I had stepped on a good sized rattler laying in the sun having the sweetest dreams of the gopher he was going to catch for lunch.

Of course, I, like you, "lost it" and chopped off it's head with a shovel. I still feel bad about "losing it" and killing the snake -- which was doing no harm, really.

Ack!!! *full-body shudder* You are so lucky, Westelle! Wow! *still shuddering*

DH was on a solo hunting trip (which I find to be the best kind of hunting trip for my state of mind) a few years ago in the hills below Clear Lake. The first thing he saw (out of the corner of his eye) was something lunging; no sound, no warning. The last thing he saw was a dead rattler. DH's pupils were still pinpoints by the time he got home. That was the last time we've seen one.

Oh, almost forgot about the squirrel question! No, in the 10+ years we've lived in this house (north of Woodland, north of Sacramento), we've never seen a tree or ground squirrel. My folks have plenty in their trees up in Redding, though.

Something else I was thinking about the other day while enjoying my pond was that I've never seen a toad in our yard, either. Plenty of frogs, however. Strange!

Brenda

So far all the rattlers have been benign, they rattle a warning (unless they're sleeping) and move away.

Oh by the way, I remembered a way to maybe get the next Doorstep Snake to move away --- spray it with water --- or maybe just dump water it on. ????
One day I was watering some new plants, but from a distance with the jet spray. Out moves a rattler at quick pace from that area... disappeared quickly too. It apparently didn't want a cooling shower.

Thanks, Westelle! I'll definitely keep that in mind for the future. I hope I don't have to worry about that, though. :D

Brenda