A Very Scary Tail

Last Wednesday began like any other. Little household chores needed to be taken care of : especially ones that weather proofed the house as we were headed for our coldest weather in about 5 years. My husband had to clear out a drain in the shower and in doing so he had the window to the bathroom opened for some time and this is a key to a drama that unfolded hours later. The only change in our normal schedule was that my husband had to work evening hours that day and I would be home with cats on a very cold night alone. The day proceeded normally and as I preparing some coffee in the kitchen around 6pm I noticed that Ping and Gracie and Jinx were all congregated in the dining room. What really caught my attention was Abby going after Gracie, so I followed and out of the corner of my eye I caught the image of a shape and I turned the light on because it was totally dark in the room. Just where Abby had run was a SNAKE! A snake which was coiled to strike I might add. I freaked out. I had 5 cats very intriuged and I had a very short time to make a very quick decision on what to do. I felt I needed to have something that had some type of handle of it to keep some distance away from this snake who was NO happy camper at this point. So the only handy thing was a mop which I use to clean the hard wood floors with. It's like a swiffer mop with a hard plastic head on the end and a very long handle on it. So I just grabbed the mop and acted. I was actually proud of myself for 'catching' the snake under the head of the mop, but then it dawned on me what am I going to do now? My husband wasn't due home for hours, I had 5 cats milling around very interested in this wiggling creature I had under the mop. I didn't know if this thing was poisonous or not and I didn't want any of us to get bit. I was stuck because if I moved I knew I would lose the snake. The only object close to me was the china cabinet. I opened the drawer and inside was a heavy bevelled glass display tray. I hated to do this but my options were very low at this point, so as I held the mop with one hand and I used the glass tray to squish the snake. I didn't see any other option other than to kill the snake because more than anything I was felt I needed to protect the cats and myself. So for nearly an hour I battled with this snake, he fought me valiantly. But finally in the end I prevailed. I wasn't sure he was dead because he kept moving and I didn't know if I should pick up the mop and honestly I didn't even want to go near him. Finally I decided he had to be dead and I went and got the broom and swept him into the garage where I put a heavy can on top of him just in case he wasn't really dead. Silly I know. I figured at this point I was going to let my husband take care of the rest. I was so distraught by this point I was hyperventing. Abby knew I was in a panic because she was trying to calm me down. I called my husband at work and could barely speak because I was so scared it was just such a intense experience. We can only surmise that when he was working on clearing the drain in the bathroom that this snake seeking the warmth coming from inside crawled in to escape the very cold day. It is obvious how quickly the cats discovered him, so I know he got in that day. He was about 12 inches long and gray with diamond shapes on him. I thought about taking a picture of him dead, but I was too scared to go into the garage, because I really wondered what kind of snake it was. I still get goosebumps when I think about any of this. Has anyone ever had a snake inside their house?

By the way, the cats thought this was wonderful. Ping was especially intrigued, but then he is my adventurer. I shutter every time I think about Abby darting right in front of the snake when she went to chase Gracie. I think that is when it went into it's strike posture, and now that I examine the events, the only reason I think I was able to snag it was because it was cold and slow. I really hated to kill it, and if there had been any way to get it out of the house without harm I would have done so, but I was too concerned about the welfare of the cats and myself and I just couldn't imagine it being loose in the house.

But ever since this happened I cannot help but look into all of the corners now with a wary eye...and I still get those scary feelings. I hope I never have to deal with anything like that again. Although the cats had a total different feeling about it.