two green babies haiku

Snake Baby, Em holding the baby garter snake, which later bit me (see UPDATE
below) when I tried to hold it, photo © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.

green metallic me
how old am i in snake years?
children have no fear

***UPDATE*** — I thought it might be fun to show what a lively baby the garter snake was. He or she (how does one tell?) was hard to photograph for all the whipping about.

Em was so brave and nonchalant that I decided to also be a courageous baby snake holder. So Em handed me the snake, she took the camera, and BOOM, that snake really took to me. It latched right on.

Their little mouths can open “sooooo big.” They really are adorable, and even as this one was munching on me, I just loved it.

-related to posts haiku (one-a-day) and WRITING TOPIC – TOADS & FROGS.

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snake awake haiku

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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Meet Baby!

Ever notice how some animals have a good energy about them, others not so good?

Dogs = good.
Snakes = bad.

The other day, our Evangelical Christian neighbors were out walking their dogs.

“Do you ever find any ssserpentsss in your field?” the woman asked.

The way Jim tells it, she hissed the word serpents. “As if she couldn’t stand the thought of snakes,” he says, and then he wiggles his shoulders in mock shudder.

Snakes can be scary. Especially poisonous snakes.

But Baby… well, Baby is a baby. Not in terms of her age, just her disposition.

She is, we’re told, old for a bullsnake. Almost 30.

The story goes: the previous owner of the place was driving down a dirt road on Indian land near the Arizona – New Mexico border. A baby snake went slithering across the road; the jeep barely missed it. The guy jumped out, caught the snake, and brought it home in a coffee can.

He built a six-foot-long, two-level cage in an enclosed potting shed next to the house. One whole wall of the cage is a south-facing window. 

The day we did our walk-through inspection, the guy asked us if we’d like to keep her. We had dogs, chickens, ducks, and turkeys. Why not a snake?

Indeed. Why not a snake?

She’s about eight feet long. Maybe longer. She’s alert, especially when she’s hungry. She’ll come up to where you’re standing and see what you have for her. Or maybe she thinks you’re the food.

Jim feeds her a rat, a big one, every three to four weeks. She usually eats it in a matter of minutes. I can’t watch. Once the rat screamed.

I’m not planning to introduce Baby to our neighbor. Unless, of course, the neighbor comes knocking on our door bearing a Bible. In which case, I might take her out to the potting shed.

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