We thought it was just an ordinary garden snake when we saw it while playing outside. Tate even tried to pick it up, but it slithered away too quickly in the hold in the wall.
When Patrick got home, he was outside walking across the lawn and found the snake...we hope it was the same one. He called me to come see it. We all hovered around and Patrick said it wasn't a garden snake. My stomach dropped. I asked him what it could be, and while he didn't know for sure, he thought it might be baby rattlesnake. Either way, out came the shovel and he put an end to him for invading our space.
[Disclaimer: I apologize for the graphic picture...it makes me kind of queasy.]
Now I was just a bit worried. I called everyone that knew anything about snakes and asked their opinion. Then we looked up images of baby rattlesnakes on google. Well, the snakes in the picture could have been twins with the one that had made it's abode in our garden wall. Indeed, it was a rattler and for the next few days we stayed inside, as visions of baby rattlers slithering around haunted me. I couldn't forgive myself for letting Tate try to touch it (how was I supposed to know it was a rattler!?), letting the boys play in the sprinklers with bare feet just inches away from where we first found him, and for letting Maylie sit on a blanket on the grass.
We gingerly ventured outside a week later, but always with closed-toe shoes, and never sitting on the grass. We taught the boys about rattlesnakes and hopefully scared them from getting anywhere near one, and now we're finally back to our normal routine.
Come to find out, our neighbors up the hill aways have found 3 this year in their backyard. Yes, the mountains are beautiful and so very close, but there's always a price to pay for beauty I guess.
We are praying there won't be any more.
