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| Snake caught in bird netting to protect grapevines. |
A Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus
oreganus helleri) became tangled in bird netting under the mother-lode vine at
the corner of our property and the snake seems about as long as the vine. There is always a serpent in the Garden of
Eden. Always.
How do you remove a live rattlesnake from bird netting
without a shotgun, 22 or shovel? Death was not an option. “Don’t kill it,” the
Vineyardista pleaded. “The last time you killed a snake the princess became
ill.” Is not killing the rattlesnake you captured like pissing into the
wind? After you let it go, what are the odds that it will come back to bite you
(or worse, your dog)?
First, I loosened the net from where it was caught at the bottom
of the fence, to Ms. Snake’s hissing and rattling. I could see a way to cut the
net to free her, but it became clear she was tangled and would not be able to
wriggle free. So, I called the SnakeBusters, aka our neighbor Steve who is something
of a herpetologist with a naturalist’s respect for God’s great creatures, among
which he includes snakes. When Steve arrived with a hoe this is what we did:
Releasing Tangled Rattlesnake From Bird Netting
1.
Cut netting around snake.
2.
Before cutting the final strands of net, Steve
attempted to pin the snake’s head to the earth, so we could trim the net closer
to the body. As the snake was on a steep slope of decomposed granite, traction
was poor, and there was a chance Steve –could slip and fall onto the snake.
(This California SnakeBuster works in sandals.)
3.
We cut the snake free of the snags and she crawled
to lower ground.
4.
Steve climbed around the vines to level ground,
met the snake, picked it up with his hoe and brought her to the dirt road by
our shed. (Nothing like carrying a snake along a thin, steep path of
grapevines. He could have easily slipped.)
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| Snake on ice. |
6.
With darkness falling, we decided to bring the
snake to the animal shelter in the morning, where they had the proper gear to
take care of her.
7.
I picked out a wine fermenter (aka, 24 gallon
Brute container). Steve lifted the snake into the container, and we put on a
lid – leaving a crack for air. (Hint: Don’t knock over a Brute container at your neighbor’s house in
the country at night because you never know what’s inside.)
8.
In the morning, I checked on Ms. Snake. She was
quite “genki” and still very pissed. I pulled the container to a shady area and
she rattled at me.
9.
Back at the house, I tweeted and called the wild
animal rescue shelter. I never got through.
Not seeing anything on their website about snake rescue, Steve and I
discussed plan B.
1.
This was plan B, which in hindsight should have
been plan A.
1.
After work, I bought two 10 lbs. bags of ice at
the Deli.
1.
Got home, and carefully poured the crushed ice
into the container. The first bag covered most of her. The 2nd bag
covered her completely. The snake was iced at 6:30 pm
1.
At 8 pm, Steve came over with his hoe (his
favorite snake tool).
1.
We dumped the container, with the snake emerging
on the top of the ice. She was moving slowly,
but I would say not immobile by any means. Ideally, she would have been on ice a
few hours. Instead, it was 90 minutes.
Still, she was moving much more slowly than the day before.
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| Southern Pacific Rattlesnake on Ice. |
1.
Steve calls Ms. Snake “him” but I’ve had
experience with 1,000 year old cultivated snakes in China and I know that this
is a snake princess from the Middle Kingdom who is seeking her revenge on me.
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| Steve manages the snake with his hoe. |
1.
In the morning, I carry the container down to
the open space canyon adjacent to our property, kick it over and out comes Ms.
Snake, angry as ever. When I’ve let smaller snakes go in the past, they quickly
scurry away, but Ms. Snake just sits there. I take “our favorite tool” (a stick
we use to hang bird neck) and prod her down the hill as she rattles at me. I
tell her the same thing I tell the birds I free from the nets: “Don’t come
back.”
A friend asked me, “How long is
she?” Answer: “I don’t know – we were
too busy to measure.” And we still didn’t measure her the 2nd
day. I would say she was big enough and
she commanded our respect. Steve called her a beautiful specimen.
In hindsight, plan B would have
been a good plan A. After we had trapped the snake the first night, that would
have been the time to put her on ice (making sure there wasn’t so much ice she
would drown when it melted) and to ice her “overnight.” A few more extra hours
of cooling would have made her a bit easier to handle.
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| Born Free. |
