Tag Archives: Snake Dens

A Slippery Surprise in the Woodpile

There are king snakes in my yard, and I am freaking out.  I’m not a snake person to begin with; when I was little, my brother caught a garter snake and hid it under my pillow.  After the moment I curled up for bed, reached under my pillow, and pulled out a snake, I have been petrified (who wouldn’t that terrify?). Needless to say, when my wife found a snake – it wasn’t a poisonous one – I refused to retrieve any wood from the pile without it being closely inspected first.

I thought I had devised a flawless plan to avoid any and all accidental snake confrontations, but apparently not.  Yesterday, I went outside for wood like you do when you want to build a fire in November.  I went through my routine check of walking around the woodpile and looking for any snakes that just might happen to be out and about which seemed unlikely because of the cold. When I didn’t find a trace of a snake, I reached into the woodpile to retrieve some wood.  I reached for the lower pieces towards the back because they were drier, but when I pulled up a piece of wood, I got a whole lot more than expected.  Luckily this time I saw the snake and never touched it, but after I calmed myself down and was able to look deeper into the area I found more than one.

This sent me over the edge; I didn’t even want garter snakes around, there was no way I would let king snakes into my yard!  Or at least there was no way I would let the snakes STAY in my yard, especially not with my daughters playing out there all winter.  No sir, no way, I was on the phone with a wildlife control company ASAP (I had considered removing them myself but then I remembered my crippling fear of them and decided this was best).  They’ll be out here later this week to get rid of the king snakes, and hopefully for good.