I bet that title caught your eye. What is even more fun is that this is entirely true. I am exhausted today because of the drama we experienced throughout the day. This is legitimate drama too, not something to over react to... Bet you want to know what we found in the garage, huh?Can you say....RATTLESNAKE? Not just a little, baby rattlesnake like we found in the back yard a year ago. This was a full-grown, BIG Western Diamond-backed rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox). It gets worse... we found it because I tripped on it... Yup, I was quickly walking through the garage, heading out to the trailer in preparation of a lunch meeting we had, and my foot caught on something on the floor. Since I was moving at a pretty brisk pace, it took a few more steps to slow myself down before I could turn to see what in the world I had tripped over.
Imagine my surprise when I saw a very large reptilian tail disappearing over some dog fencing. I am not proud to admit that I did bounce around a bit before becoming coherent enough to tell Steve what was going on. It must have been pretty funny for an outsider looking on to see me dancing all around outside the garage door sputtering and going "ick". When I finished my histrionics, I carefully walked over to where I last saw that TAIL only to discover there really was a snake in the garage. Not only was it a snake, it was a very LARGE snake and it looked to me a LOT like a rattlesnake.
The reason I was not so sure about the rattlesnake part was the darned thing didn't make a noise. You always hear about the warning rattle that those snakes give before striking, but there was no rattle. There are snakes out here in Arizona that look a lot like rattlesnakes, but are not. I was hoping that this was one of them, but I knew the shape of this snake's head was very much like a rattler, not like the gopher snake that has similar coloration. The really cool part about living in Arizona is that if you find a rattler, all you have to do is to call the local Fire Department and ask for them to remove the snake.
The Fire Department usually comes quickly, in our case, they came with the hook and ladder truck. Luckily they did not come with lights flashing. They arrived about 5 minutes (it seemed like HOURS...but really) and were really great guys. I had hoped they would show up quickly because I was concerned that the large snake in the garage would slither somewhere we could not find. Luckily the snake pretty much stayed put, it did coil waiting for some type of attack from us...but it really didn't go anywhere. The firemen came with what looked like a 5-gallon paint bucket and pincers (about 3-4 feet long) that they use to catch the snake.
Since luck was with us, the guys were able to quickly catch the snake before it hid somewhere. When they grabbed it, we discovered that we had at least a 5 foot, pissed-off snake on our hands. They even had a little trouble keeping the snake in the bucket, it kept trying to push the lid of the bucket off. What was super scary was that this snake had lost it's rattles. There was no way to warn us it was there, we could have been bitten at any time since it could not make any noise. The firemen said I was super lucky I wasn't bit, since I did accidentally kick the snake. Adding to that comment, they looked around and said that there was a very high likelihood that there were more rattlesnakes in the garage...somewhere... Imagine... I think the one fireman giggled, but I couldn't tell... They went on to say that in all likelihood, this particular snake has probably been camping in the garage all winter long... Lovely... Gives new meaning to look before you leap...
Once we got over the shivers of having a LARGE snake in the garage, we did manage to make our lunch appointment. After returning home, I wandered over to the neighbor's home to let them know what had occurred. The next thing you really won't believe. As I was returning to the house (we are next door neighbors, all I did was walk the gate between our properties) another large rattlesnake was laying across the path I had walked minutes earlier.
Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. So, on the phone again to the Fire Department to have them come out AGAIN to remove yet another rattler. This one was a little colder, not as pissed and did have it's rattles attached. It still didn't rattle, so if I had not been watching this time where my feet went, I would have stepped on this snake too... I am thinking along the lines of St. Patrick. It seems the rattlers like to come out when I am wandering around. If this keeps up, nobody will want to be near me here in AZ. The firemen came again to the house, again grabbed the snake and put it in the bucket. At least this one was not as pissed off and did have it's rattles. I still didn't get rattled at, and am not sure why. So in less than 3 hours we had two relatively large snakes removed from the property.
What was a bit embarrassing is that the guys who responded to this second call were the same ones who responded to the first call. When they pulled up, the first thing they said was, "You found another one already?" They did reiterate that the first one they got was really big, but something had bitten it's tail off, hence no rattles. What is really good (in my eyes, not Steve's) is that the Fire Department does not kill the snakes, they just relocate them about 5 - 10 miles away. Hopefully those snakes don't have a sense of home and will not return... what a thought...
So, here I am, sitting in the study, INSIDE the house, with all the doors firmly closed. We have double-checked the weather stripping to be sure no snakes find their way into the house. Next step is to clean out the garage completely, and try to keep the snakes OUT (assuming that we got all the snakes out already). One theory is to crunch up moth balls and sprinkle that around the perimeter of the garage. Supposedly the snakes don't like the smell of mothballs... We shall see. I will keep you all posted on our progress...
Until tomorrow...
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