BABY SNAKES!!!

After being bitten recently by a copperhead snake, now every time my daughter-in-law Esther goes outside her house, she keeps a garden hoe handy. She is in much better health, though still recovering from a snakebite that happened on May 31st, 2008. My oldest son, Jimmy--who is a prankster like his cowboy father--likes to tease his beloved Esther by telling her not to worry about what happened to the snake, as it surely died from biting her!

One day last week, Esther was in their double garage, which has a large storage shed attached. She was cleaning out these buildings, as my three granddaughters wanted the shed fixed up as a large playroom or small apartment for them, with airconditioning, heating, and so on. For a long time, no one had  lived in the house way out in the country--a beautiful place with huge old oak trees and lots of shade-- that they had bought last fall, so a lot of cleaning up is still required.   

I  have jokingly informed the girls they need to fix it up nice, so that when Mamma (Me!) comes to visit, she will have her own private little place to stay.  Not really, of course, as I love staying in the big house with all the family. The three girls and one little boy always have a jigsaw puzzle laid out or some project going on. The girls and I usually do some cooking, making candy or a special dessert.  The oldest girl, September, is quite a cook already. I have taught her how to make my famous vanilla fudge and my candied pecans.

Jimmy heard Esther calling him to "Come a'running!", and when he got there, she had killed a baby copperhead in one of the buildings. About that time, Jimmy and Esther both realized there were a LOT of baby copperheads, squirming all around on the cement floor! To say the least, not one of those baby snakes survived Esther's hoe and Jimmy's shovel.

 I read on the Internet that copperhead snake babies are born alive, and as many as eighteen snakes can be born. They don't get any special care from Mama or Daddy Copperhead. Once born, they are on their own, catching their own mice, lizards, and insects and usually hanging out together until they are older.

The baby copperhead is a greyish-tannish  snake with faint markings like the adult copperhead, but sporting a distinctive sulfurish-yellow-colored tail. Like the adult, the baby copperhead snake blends in with the leaves or ground and does not retreat but "freezes" when in danger, so you can be right beside one and never even know it.

Apparently, Daddy and Mama Copperhead have decided to make Esther and Jimmy's home THEIR home. I told Jimmy the best thing he could do would be to have a lot of cats who would catch all the mice and lizards, thus removing the snakes' source of food. Also, a cat would alert you to a snake's presence. A dog who gets along good with cats would be nice, too, as a dog would bark at a snake and let you know it is there. (They had a puppy, but she went up to the highway and was run over by a car.)

I have always kept a lot of cats and never had any rats at the horse barn or the house. The few field mice that come up don't last long under all those watchful eyes. I would be willing to part with a few of my good mousers, if Jimmy and Esther want any of them.  With two new litters of the cutest kittens , I will soon be needing  to find good homes for some of them. 

 Maybe the girls can help me name them the next time they come up.  We could call them "Mouser, "Snaker," and "Hunter",  and hope they live up to their name. Just so the girls don't name one "Copperhead!"