I know I haven’t posted in awhile, so sorry, will get pictures up soon. But today we had an interesting occurrence. I let the dogs out and was feeding the baby her dinner. The dogs were barking (as usual) at the neighbor dogs. I had had enough, so I got up to check on the dogs and yell at them for barking…again! But they weren’t over by the neighbors yard, and they were acting weird. Then I saw what they were barking at and heard a hissing sound along with a rattling sound. Scared the c**p out of me! I yelled at the dogs to come inside, but they didn’t come. Tom overheard what was going on and yelled even louder, and amazingly enough the dogs listened.
We didn’t know who to call and were trying to look up animal control. I did not want that THING in my backyard. Tom tried to call a couple of places but they were all closed. He said that if he couldn’t get anyone out, he would just kill it himself. I, of course, said “You’re not going anywhere near that thing!”
As I got over the shock of it, I got a little braver and went outside to to check to see if the snake was still there. He was all curled up along the fence. I walked out a bit, but not too close, trying to determine if it really was a rattlesnake. But I couldn’t really see his tail. He started meandering about and finally uncoiled himself and, to my relief, it was NOT a rattler. We believe it was a bullsnake, which tend to look like and act like rattlesnakes when threatened. I felt a lot better after that. Now that I think about it, we should have gotten the camera after that. But sadly, no pictures to share. Maybe he’ll come back. Bratwurst would love that.
It was a rather large snake. I don’t think I’ve seen one that big outside of the zoo or other reptile exhibits. It was about 4 1/2-5 feet, although I checked online and bullsnakes can get up to 8 feet long. Tom sprayed the hose at it and it decided to go under the fence. However, it came back about 15 minutes and slithered along our fence into the neighbor’s backyard. I went over to warn her, and to let her know that it was not a dangerous snake, so she didn’t get freaked out like I did.
I definitely got some insight into the dogs today too. Brat was practically in the snakes face, while Sammy was barking about 7-8 feet away. It was as if he was saying “You go get him, Brat, I’ll back you up from here!” Sammy can really be a wuss sometimes. After they went inside, Brat hung out at the door just wagging his tail. Apparently he was thrilled with the unwelcome guest in our yard today. A few hours later, I let them out, around twilight. He immediately went to where the snake had been and began to search for it. It was funny because Sammy even jumped back a few times like he was startled. Bratwurst actually sniffed out where the snake had gone under the fence to the neighbor’s. It was all so funny.
Incidentally, bullsnakes are often mistaken for rattlesnakes. They actually try to fool you into thinking they are rattlesnakes by coiling and striking, hissing loudly and vibrating their tails. So I really did hear a rattling sound. FYI-I found out it’s illegal to kill snakes in CO.
I’m just glad it really wasn’t a rattlesnake.
