This story is not mine – one of my ESL students from South
America told it. When she was a girl, her mother needed to use the bathroom at
night. The family did not have a bathroom in the house, so she offered to carry
a light for her mother to go to the outhouse some distance away from the house.
After they got to the outhouse and the mother started to do her business, they
both saw a snake in the outhouse. The girl screamed and ran back to the house,
taking the light with her. The mother was left behind in the outhouse - in the dark,
with the snake. After her mother finished using the outhouse and made her way
back to the house in the dark… well, she was not very happy with her daughter!
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I spent several years working for a state park in Florida that had a large number of cottonmouths (another venomous American snake). I almost stepped on them several times. Once, I found one curled around my backpack, and I had to use a large stick to pull the backpack away.
Last autumn, I was walking beside a busy road, and saw a (non-poisonous) garter snake in the middle of it, threatened by cars. I ran into the road, grabbed the snake, and threw it into the nearby woods. Since a snake had caused my own life, I was very happy to be able to save a snake's life.
While i don't have any interesting snake stories myself. We have a category of beggars in our city that make money by performing live snake shows. All for the cost of 1 dollar (100 Pakistani rupees approx). They carry it around in a bag and "control" the snake with a flute.
I personally paid twice to watch a snake show.
1: Outside a Chinese restaurant, while i was waiting for a table.
2. At the beach. (The snake actually tried to bite me this time around as I was foolish enough to step over it, but i persevered as it nearly missed my leg). But the show went on.
Waw, you live adventurous lifes in the States and Pakistan. I am not sure that I could sleep well knowing that there is a snake in my garage. Near the Alps, where I live, we just have small reptiles. I think there are Vipers which are venomous. I never met any.
We are plagued by stone marters, cute animals which eat up the cables of our car if we leave it outside. I have to bring my car to the garage next week, nothing is working properly anymore.
We live on a farm. I was raised in the city and when I first moved out to the country, I was quite surprised that my husband´s grandma had a large black snake living in her basement which did not bother her at all.
A few years ago, we discovered a snakeskin about 6 feet long (1.8 m) in our garage. Later we discovered a black rat snake had made our garage his home. By this time, I knew that this type of snake is not aggressive and is better about keeping mice out of a farmhouse than having a cat. (Total no maintenance ´pet¨ that feeds itself and never caused any trouble.) I did learn to make sure the lights were always on when I got out of the car so I never accidentally stepped on him. I never wanted to stick my feet out of the car in the dark. But I myself decided the lack of mice was better than not having him!
This is a description of this helpful snake:
https://www.todayshomeowner.com/dealing-with-black-snakes-around-your-home-or-garden/ ;
