I am not much of a snake guy, they move a little to fast for me. Through the years I had become complacent about them. I killed a rattlesnake about 10 years ago and saw a non poisonous snake a couple of years later, that was California. Now, I see a snake almost everyday, some in the house.
One day, not long ago, I am looking for something and move some beer cases and here is a big black snake. It is almost dark and luckily I have a flashlight, I grab a piece of pvc about 6' long, the whippy kind. The snake is attracted by the light and a couple of gentle nudges with the pvc have no affect, he keeps coming towards the light, I can't turn off the light as I won't be able to see him, catch 22. I poke him a little harder with the 4'piece of pvc, then he did a most incredible thing, he started bobbing up and down like he was gagging, then he upchucked a hens egg, which was why he was behind the cases in the first place, one of my hens likes to lay there. After he did the get rid of the egg thing I remembered the Animal Planet segment and knew he was now in a fight or flight mode and when he reared up and did a cobra thing I knew it was not a flight mode. I am now down to about 2' separating us and the 2' piece of pvc is now more like a noodle than a weapon. My secondary concern is that I am standing next to two wide open French doors and if I flee, which is my primary survival mode reaction, I leave the house unguarded. I summon what little courage I have left and poke the snake as hard as I can about 6 or 7 times. The whippy pvc is not cooperating very well but at least one of the blows must have hit as the snake turned and slowly left, about 7' long.
Within the last 10 days a neighbor of mine was snake bitten and died. I try to wear shoes more often, flip flops don't offer much in the way of protection.
