snake awake haiku
March 14, 2008 by ybonesy
Baby Bath, Baby the Bullsnake taking a bath the first day she comes out of hibernation, photos © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
coiled in water
baby awakens with flair
winter has ended
-related to posts: haiku (one-a-day), Meet Baby!
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Posted in Animals & Critters, Haiku, Nature, Photography, Seasons, Wake Up | Tagged Baby the bullsnake, beneficial snakes, bullsnakes, gopher snakes, haiku about snakes, images of bullsnakes, images of snakes, pet bullsnake, snake, snakes of New Mexico | 20 Comments
redravine.wordpress.com 
“nobody puts baby in a corner”
good haiku–great pic of baby!
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Baby’s back! Hey, I had forgotten about the hibernation. Now tell me again – Baby just went to sleep for the winter? And then woke up this week? How did it work? I still can’t believe you have a snake for a pet. 8)
Great haiku and photos. The first photo has so many textures and shadows and light. I love it. And is that Sony in the background, those little legs? Or is that Otis?
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Good eye, McFry. Those are Otis’ legs (always standing at the back door — let me in, there are wild animals out here!).
Well, during the winter she is pretty much just coiled and non-moving. She has shavings in her home, so she’s snuggled in those although not covered. (My understanding is that snakes in the wild find basin-type places where they can hang out in groups under leaves and branches and debris. Or, at least, Jim uncovered a few of these snake “pits” a few weeks ago.)
Suddenly I got the, “Come check this out!” call from outside. Jim happened to walk by the window to Baby’s room and there she was, sitting in water. Just that morning we had checked on her, touching her skin through the wire mesh. We might have been the impetus for her fully waking up.
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Scot, not this baby… 😉
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YES, Otis, the poor guy. How is he doing BTW? I didn’t know that about snakes, that they hibernate in groups. What kind of snake pits did Jim find? And were they on your land there in NM? He’s the most amazing animal man, isn’t he? I’m always amazed at his stories. Most he encounters right there on your land.
You and Jim should write a book (complete with photographs) of your animal, wildlife, dog, rooster, chicken, snake, hummingbird, cricket, roadrunner, earth adventures in your own backyard. I’d buy it. It’s kind of the semi-urban version of living off the land. 8)
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What a gorgeous photo, that first one. Simply stunning. I may swipe it and make it my desktop background.
My reminder that it’s Spring?
I spent an hour outside today picking up all the cigarette butts I’ve flung beside the driveway just outside my garage door. Ugh!
Must. Quit. Soon.
Brian
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Thanks. I really appreciate the kudos on that photo. I thought it probably contained all the “do-not-do’s” of photography with respect to the framing (or lack of it), not getting the entire snake’s body, etc.
BTW, you should see the snake today. It was pulsating. Literally, its entire body expanding-contracting-expanding-contracting. I wish I had a video camera — it was hissing and emulating the rattlesnake by rattling the tip of its tail. It was so mad, and I believe the reason is that it’s hungry-hungry. Time for the first rat of the season. Ugh.
QM, Otis is OK. He got two molars extracted. They were impacted and infected. We had hoped that his behavior would change right away, but he still refuses to go outside. Jim thinks it’s an outdoor ghost that’s got him scared, esp since Rodney the Roadrunner has met its demise. Hmmm….
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QM, the one snake pit that Jim found was filled with Garter snakes. They are gorgeous. I’ll find a link and add it. (Here’s a photo link: http://www.pitt.edu/~mcs2/herp/snake.pics/t_sirtalis.jpg.)
Dee drove the tractor today across the field (all by herself) and said that she saw snakes all along the way. We have so many snakes out there that have found the long grasses to be a real sanctuary. Lots of other habitat, too, and now Jim is pretty worried that he’s destroying it by cutting the grass.
We should do a “Jimbonsey Farm” book. I guess until then I’ll just keep writing about the birds, mammals, and reptiles on the blog ; – ).
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ybonesy – baby is so beautiful…what a neat idea that you guys touching her may have woken her out of her winter slumber. What do you feed her – live mice and rats, or?? Ildiko, my sister loved snakes and kept a constrictor as pet for a number of years, and also raised rats for food for her. You guys lead a magical life, just great for your gilrs! G
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YB. My sister & brother-in-law have desert tortoises, in So. CA.
Most of the year they plod around the back yard, taking their time at sunning and eating. But in the fall, they get their annual scrubbing and nestle down in blanket-lined drawers of a big old dresser in the garage. (No cars allowed in this garage.) In the spring, when scratching noises are heard coming from the dresser, the drawers are opened, and they emerge, fully rested from their long nap. What a life!
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Rodney the Roadrunner has met its demise? Did I miss something?
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G, thanks. Baby is beautiful, partly just because she’s so big. She’s quite old for a bullsnake. She eats rats, live. We don’t raise them, though, like your sister did. She only eats about one every five weeks from March to December. She can eat a medium-sized rat, which if you ever came across one in your house, you’d think was gigantic! Kind of yucky. I can’t be anywhere close come feeding time.
QM, a quick note since I’m about to log off, but yes, Rodney died, or at least we think it was Rodney. We found him in the orchard under an apple tree, probably the work of Rafael. He’s the bird hater, roadrunner terminata…
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I was away from home yesterday and first saw the photos of Baby on my iPhone. Even that small, I was blown away by them. I was fascinated, completely fascinated, because in the second photo, Baby looked so cute — like a Disney character. Ironically, earlier this week, a friend asked me to find the Mary Oliver poem in which the line, “There are so many stories more beautiful than answers” appears. I finally found the poem in her volume, House of Light. The name of the poem? “Snake”. In its entirety and in honor of Baby and QM and yb (who I both hope live to 103) and Palm Sunday here it is:
And here is the serpent again,
dragging himself out from his nest of darkness,
his cave under the black rocks,
his winter-death.
He slides over the pine needles.
He loops around the bunches of rising grass,
looking for the sun.
Well, who doesn’t want the sun after the long winter?
I step aside,
he feels the air with his soft tongue,
around the bones of his body he moves like oil,
downhill he goes
toward the black mirrors of the pond.
Last night it was still so cold
I woke and went out to stand in the yard,
and there was no moon.
So I stood there, inside the jaw of nothing.
An owl cried in the distance,
I thought of Jesus, how he
crouched in the dark for two nights,
then floated back above the horizon.
There are so many stories,
more beautiful than answers.
I follow the snake down to the pond,
thick and musky he is
as circular as hope.
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OMG, sharonimo, that poem is so intense and beautiful and appropriate to this post. Synchronicity! Thanks for sharing it. I will read it again and again. Circular as hope. There are five lines in a haiku. Also, standing in the jaw of nothing. Wow.
oliverowl, I meant to comment last night on your comment. The previous owner of the home we live in now also had (in addition to Baby, who we inherited) an old, old female desert tortoise. Her name was something dignified, like Clara. I just remember thinking it fit her completely. The owner didn’t leave Clara with us, because unlike Baby, who needed a whole room and big cage to live, Clara could sleep in a box (or dresser drawer 8) ) and when she woke from hibernation, could live in an enclosed area outside. He did leave us a few box turtles, one of which we accidentally uncovered while raking leaves the other day. We quickly threw everything back over it and hope we didn’t disturb it too much.
Great story about your sister’s annual traditions with the tortoise. (It also reminded me of the annual treks the sea tortoises make to lay their eggs on beaches, and the baby tortoises emerging much as your sister’s emerge from their drawer.)
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BTW, sharonimo, I think Baby is cute, too. Not quite a Disney character, but close 8)
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What a wonderul Mary Oliver poem about Baby. Total synchonicity. I own the book House of Light but had not looked at it in a while. Then at the last poetry reading at Teri’s house, we read from Mary Oliver’s whole body of work, going way, way back. The poem she gave me to read was from House of Light. It’s a wonderful book. Thin – but every word counts.
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Haha! That’s cute!
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