Death of a snake Tom Smith

Yesterday I killed a snake I should not have, and I feel a little bad about it.  Eldest son Luke came in from taking down the garbage to the road to report, with some intensity, that he had discovered a snake by the drive way.  I asked how big it was and he said, pretty big.  He took me to the spot, and I had some difficulty seeing it at first.  Then I picked it out in the leaf litter, and sure enough, it was a pretty big snake, maybe 4 feet long and not skinny.  It looked like a Western Rattlesnake to me, which, though I am much more open minded about reptiles than most, are just not welcome on my little slice of rural paradise.  I pretty much determined that this one was fated to die.

Luke handed me the hoe, which is my preferred instrument of dispatching rattlesnakes.  Yet as I studied the critter, I noticed that its head did not look like that of a rattlesnake, and it did not have any rattles either, though it was shaking its tail.  It was hissing loudly, rather disconcertingly in fact, and coiled and struck my hoe, as well it might, when it got near.  I should have hesitated here, and thought about what I was doing, but in the confrontation of man with snake, a certain concentration comes over one, or me at least, that makes it hard to turn back.  I hit the creature so hard it snapped the handle on the hoe, which was old.  A few more blows and the reptile was dead, if still squirming in that way they do, as if to deprive you of the finality of at least getting the crime over with.

Today I have positively identified the victim as a Pituophis catenifer or Gophersnake, a perfectly benign constrictor that no doubt chose our address because of our many rats, which are really unwelcome.  The San Diego Natural History Museum observes

When Gophersnakes become agitated, they often vibrate their tail. When this occurs in loose, dry vegetation, the resulting sound resembles that of a rattlesnake. This behavior, along with the dorsal blotches that might be mistaken for a rattlesnake's diamond pattern, often results in the snake's being killed by a frightened person!

And that is exactly what happened to this Gophersnake.  Shoot.  It may not be quite as bad as killing a mockingbird, but it is still regrettable.  Second son  Patrick observed, somewhat disgustedly, that we did not need to kill that snake, and he was right. 

Rattlesnakes I have no problem killing if they are around my house.  They are not endangered or rare, and if your dog or your toddler is bitten by one, you are in for a world of hurt.  A few years back a toddler in Jamul died from a rattlesnake bite, and I expect a child who was bitten would recover slowly and perhaps not completely.  Dogs are killed by them often enough.  You can transport and release them, but that is more bother than I am prepared to go to for a rattlesnake, and I don't think it is a good use of public resources to get the County to do it for me, or rather, it.  This makes me a poor Buddhist, a religion that holds it wrong to kill any living thing, and that if you do so, you are more likely to be reincarnated as a lower animal yourself.  If that happens, I hope I don't come back as a snake.

HERE is the story of a 13 year old boy bitten on the palm by a large rattlesnake.

Comments

[dearieme]

I used to dispatch snakes in Queensland with a spade. I had done my homework: distinguishing young Brown Snakes from young Tree Pythons required "microscopic examination of the anal scales".