Beyond Copperheads!

After a rough few weeks, the worst is over. Nate is almost completely recovered. He just has one bandage left over the bite finger. It's still black, and the nail looks kind of strange, but it's definitely healing.

His snake, Sassy, disappeared a while back, escaping in the house...
She obviously found the tiny hole in Nate's closet and managed to escape through there.

But last week Nate was visiting a friend's house, and they discovered...(surprise!)...another snake. Non-venomous, of course. As a matter of fact, this new snake is a rat snake like Sassy, but bigger. Nate thinks she may be another girl, because she doesn't seem to have those little hooks male snakes have for mating. She hasn't got a name yet, so for the sake of simplicity, we'll just call her "Sassy, Jr.".

Sassy Junior now resides in the large tank on Nate's bottom shelf. She likes to curl up under the bark hiding place. Nate picks her up in a clump and she slowly unwinds, crawling around in his hands.

Sassy Junior looked so docile, I wanted to pet her. Reaching forward, I lightly touched the back of her neck (do snakes have necks?) just below her head. Suddenly she flipped up and reared back, biting my finger. She didn't hurt me. No fangs. She does have tiny teeth, but I think she was just frightened and warning me. But poor little Nate's reaction surprised me a little bit, though it shouldn't have. He was really shook up by the brief encounter. His breathing quickened and his skin got pale. He was maybe even trembling a bit. He put her away immediately, saying over and over, "You okay, Nonnie? I can't believe she did that. You sure you're okay?"

I'm glad this experience hasn't dampened Nate's love for reptiles, because that is a healthy, normal boy thing. But I'm also glad that he has gained a healthy respect for the power behind a snake's bite. Since he was bitten over a month ago, several small Copperheads have been found and killed in their neighborhood. His mom, dad and sister have been keeping a close watch on him, and are obviously still a bit afraid to let him out of their site.

Nate and his sister, Mickie, were at my house the other day, and had five minutes to change their clothes and head for home. Their mom wondered what was taking Nate so long, and went to hunt for him. She finally discovered him in the front yard, catching the frogs in the pond, and making an official count of the froggie population explosion that has occurred this summer in the two tiny fish ponds. He was a little miffed at his mom as they left. She had disturbed him just as he was about to catch one of the little ones. That's not so bad, though. As you can see, he has one small toad, already.

Ah, boys! One of the mysteries of the universe.

See you next time,

deber

(and until then, be well, be wise, be curious and kind, and maybe just a little wacky.)