On Friday of last week while returning from a day of work on the nature trails I am constructing for Allegan County, a snake that I had stepped on inadvertently bit me.
I picked up the snake, and identified it as a corn snake. Judging by the way it was shaking its tail like a rattlesnake, I determined that it was pretty irritated.
I took the snake with me back to the unit, and placed it in a 5-gallon pail to take home to my kids. The fact is, I have city kids who don’t experience stuff like this too often. But the snake was highly agitated on the ride home... continuously trying to escape and bite. I finally pulled over and said to it;
“Look, just give me a couple of days to help my children learn to appreciate animals like you and I will put you back in the exact same place I found you. Okay?”
The snake was exceptionally docile the rest of the way home. It lived in a 55-gallon tank for the next 48 hours. The Monday morning before I went back to work, I took it out of the tank to let the kids touch and hold it before taking it back. It climbed on them and was extremely gentle with them, showing no fear or aggression.
That afternoon, I put the snake back where I had found it.
It at first refused to get into the grass, and then I reminded it verbally, “I told you that I would put you back where I found you. Thank you for letting my children learn and hold you.”
The snake very slowly and purposefully, stretched out and I swear to you... It gave me a kiss goodbye. After I felt its tongue on my nose two or three times, it dropped to the grass, and disappeared in a flash.
Pictures don’t lie.
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