As some of you may know, I am a contractor. I went to do a roof repair job on a lady's garage this morning that had a tree fall on it.
The woman came out and opened the garage up and from inside I could see a snake skin hanging up over the wall into the soffit. I pulled it out, and it was about a 5' long rat snake skin. They are not poisonous, but they can get big and be a little fiesty. I have had some bad experiences with them previously doing exterior work, particularly working on soffits. They tend to squirm their way up in them to get to birds nests. I have literally had them snap at my face while up on a ladder and had to jump.
I digress. I walked out of the garage and started pulling tools out of my work trailer, and the next thing I know the customer begins to scream.
She said, there is your snake! So I walk back into the garage to see. Halfway sticking out from under the door sill, and curled up on a concrete step was a snake. Upon further inspection, I realized that this was not a rat snake. It had a pointy head and totally different markings. I said to her, um...ma'am...that is not a rat snake. That is a copperhead, and you just stepped right over top of it into your garage and didn't even know. Granted, this is the least poisonous of all pit vipers, it's still a fucking poisonous snake!
She was wearing flip-flops, and could have been bitten without even knowing. No, they probably won't kill you, but it would have certainly ruined her day.
I grabbed a shovel and decapitated it. I took home the carcass and skinned it. Ironically, my customers last name was Cecil, referring to Cecil the Lion that everyone is pissed of about being killed in Africa. Anyway, Cecil the copperhead is going to be made into a piece of art. My wife and I are both artists, so we are into that type of thing.
In closing, I wanted to share this with everyone as a caution to always look where you are walking! Some snakes blend in to their environment so well they are almost invisible. We had been walking around this snake for nearly ten minutes and didn't see it.
Please be careful! Thanks!
