Our (temporary) Pet Snake

I spotted this little guy on our neighbor's driveway on my way to pick up the boys from swim lessons.  He was the perfect size for the boys to play with so I set aside all of my instincts (no small feat) and caught him, with the hope that he was, in fact, a green tree snake and not a juvenile green mamba transplanted to this country illegally.

He was very docile and had no idea that if he'd have bitten me I would've screamed like a girl, thrown him back into the wild, and high-stepped all the way home.

It didn't take the boys long to notice I was holding a snake and they were beside themselves.  Their swim instructor (our neighbor) generously said we could have it and bid us a quick farewell.  ;)

We thought this tub would make a good temporary home for our new pet.

In a momentary lapse not typical of my seasoned boy mom self I actually considered bringing it inside for them to play.  I'm slipping, y'all.

Here they are (in the garage) waiting for our recurrent snake talk that includes but is not limited to:  don't ever touch one until we've identified it-we being Daddy or me, handle them respectfully as one of God's creatures, don't squeeze it or drop it, don't hold it by the tail among other things.

J dove in first after showing me what the snake did when I was inside putting S down and he put his hand in the tub.

"Momma," he said, "the snake opened his mouth when I put my hand in!  See?  His mouth is red!"

I had him demonstrate & did a quick fang check.  Kidding, but it was cool to see him open his mouth so wide.

They were tentative at first, but did great!

L's turn!

Had to remind him to support the body.

At this point with him wrapped around J's wrist I screamed, "Oh, wait!  I think it's a python!"  I got a laugh, but they're too knowledgeable to fall for that now.

Eventually I had to get back to my daily to do list and left them to play with their snake for 4 and 1/2 hours minus a lunch break.

They created a habitat with leaves, sticks, and two paper towel rolls.

They wanted to know what he ate.  I told them small bugs so they hunted and killed two flies in the house (yea, but gross) to offer him.

The plan was to keep him to show Hots, but when I took a break from preparing supper to check on them I  found that the poor little snake had left I think they may kill me and entered please kill me now.  The boys had become very comfortable with the now lethargic snake and I decided we'd terrified him long enough.

His nightmare was over when we set him free in the front flowerbed, thanking him for "being nice and letting us play with" him for 4 and 1/2 hours.  I was the most thankful.

I'll take one rough green snake each Monday this summer, please.  :)