Snake Relocation

Bruce came home this afternoon and by evening he'd caught one of the rattlers that showed up while he was gone.  It was right in the open, slithering across the driveway -- just waiting for him to nab it with the snake tongs (which, I might add, were hanging right where they were supposed to be on the door of stall #2).

A rattlesnake busily shaking his tail while on the ground makes an impressive noise -- but the racket reverberating from the inside of a lard bucket is truly impressive.

The snake was a mid-sized one.  It could easily be the one that went under the house two days ago.  I'm hoping it was.  Actually, it could also be the same one I heard in the potato patch yesterday.  Here's hoping.

 Bruce tied the bucket upright in the back of the truck and we drove about a quarter of a mile to the creek.  I decided to release it there because of the presence of water.  A happy, well-fed, well-watered snake stays put.  

This area looks like the kind of place that would have lots of good-eats for a snake.

At first, the snake wasn't too sure of it's new digs.

Eventually it decided that life outside the lard bucket was preferable to life inside the lard bucket and crawled out.

This picture demonstrates why I couldn't see the snake last evening, even though it was rattling up a storm.  They are masters of camouflage without even trying.

We got back into the truck and went home.  I hope that the snake does well here.  I also hope that this takes care of the snake problem here at Frogpond for awhile.