One of my little dogs was barking loudly at something in my kitchen. I was a guttural, loud bark that I had never heard before. The snake was slithering under one of my kitchen chairs when Drew spotted it and he was *not* let it get away (even if he didn't want to get too close)! I removed it with one of those handy-dandy grabber things (that look like giant kitchen tongs) and released it outside. S/he didn't like the trash can that I used to remove it in, so it was trying to get out even before we left the front door--no one told me they could climb so well! LOL It was a very handsome snake and did not try to threaten me at all, but as relatively docile as a kingsnake might be, I had no desire to share my living quarters with one!
Actually, I'm not as afraid of snakes as I probably should be--I have a great respect for the bites that even nonvenomous snakes can give and, of course, am smart enough to give venomous snakes a wide berth. I used to have a picture of myself at Silver Springs, though, with a boa draped around my neck, so I was unafraid of them even as a girl. It's funny, though . . . I can carry a three-foot snake outside and hardly give it a thought. Put a spider that is no bigger than my pinkie nail on me and point it out to me and you might as well fit me with an oxygen cannula. Ew. Spiders.
They're good for keeping the mice at bay HM. We've had bats (one at a time) get into our kitchen on two occasions. Good for keeping insects down but ended up batting (pun intended) them down with a broom and shuffling them into a bag to be released. Ugly little critters.
If it had been willing to stay out on my sun porch, I'd have been more than happy to consider it hanging around. We're semi-rural, so mice do occasionally come inside during the cold weather (brave mice, in a house full of terriers). When it came into the house it was automatically serpens non grata and had to be removed. I know it was not a large enough constrictor to bother our chinchilla, but I have an issue with the possibility of a snake wending its way into my bed or into my bathroom where I can discover it in the morning. I'm just grateful it was a kingsnake and not a viper of some kind. On the other hand, I'm glad that it wasn't a bat. Bats are vectors for rabies. My dogs are vaccinated--I'm not.
I hear ya HM. As it seems we both kind of like animals it's one thing to have them outside. Inside another thing. Not a lot of snakes here. Heck, didn't think about bats till it happened but don't want them IN the house. Been battling raccoons for years under the house and the occasional oppossum.
