We often have garter snakes in our yard. Pretty good sized ones, too. Often they're over 3" long, and more than an inch in diameter. They're relatively harmless. And we always like following them around when we spot them.

Last year, we found one sitting in a little dip in our yard where our sump pump ejects water. When we spotted it, it slithered into the pipe. Not wanting a snake in the house, I turned on the pump, and we scooped up the snake and let it go in the nearby marsh. In order to block the snakes from getting in the pipe, I took a cut off piece of wire shelving, and built a grate in front of the pipe opening.

Worked like a charm.

The Sysmidgets decided to dig around the pipe this weekend. They decided that their sandbox would be much more fun filled with gravel rather than sand. They're weird that way. After we sifted the gravel back out of the sand, we went to put it back by the pipe. I found a snake's tail sticking out of the grate. I gently grabbed it, to pull it out. There was about 18" of snake there. No head. The snake had apparently tried to squeeze past the grate, got stuck, and died. I'm guessing that it tore itself up a bit trying to get out. And with the ejector pump running every now and then, the snake head probably got carried back down into the sump pump well.

Of course, the Sysmidgets were fascinated by the find. And we got to repeat this joke for the rest of the day:

Q: What's worse than finding a worm in your apple?
A: Finding half a worm.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 15, 2006 at 11:46 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.