Trapped snake

Trapped snake
Originally uploaded by Beaver w/ a Toothbrush

Our well pump stopped working again a few weeks ago. When we set out in the morning to try and figure out what was wrong I noticed this snake when I was walking back to the house from the shed.

She was caught under the south side of the mobile. I thought she might be dead but I gave her a bit of a poke with a stick and she moved slightly.

We took a break from well fixing and dug out around her to try and see where she was caught. The mobile has chicken wire buried around it and while there are plenty of spots where it's completely rusted and gone, the snake had tried to go out through an intact piece.

As we dug she pulled her head out and gave us an annoyed look. We were a little worried about what kind of snake she might be but when we saw her head and she unwound a bit, it was clear she was a gopher snake.




That made us want to save her all the more. We have plenty of gophers around that we'd like be rid of. Husband got some gloves and gripped her head while I got around her with wire cutters and tried to cut the chicken wire away.

I thought I had freed her so husband let her go but it was no good. We shaded her with some scrap wood and went to work on the well again to give her a break.

We came back later and Husband grabbed her again. I got braver and really got in there to see what was going on. I found that she had wedged herself into one of the pieces of wire. I could barely get the wire cutters between her and the wire. When I finally cut the right piece though it was obvious. She started backing out right away.

Husband let her go and she reversed under the mobile and was gone.