It’s not uncommon to find Texas rat snakes around our place. We have egg-laying chickens and rat snakes really seem to enjoy consuming their eggs. I don’t even know the number of times we’ve pulled rat snakes out of the chicken coop, oftentimes with a bulge in their belly from their latest chicken egg meal.
This afternoon I walked out onto the back porch and watched a rat snake making its way down the chain suspending our porch swing. I suspect it was after the barn swallow eggs. Barn swallows are prolific here – We have three nests on the front porch and one on the back. Although rat snakes are quite skilled climbers, it must be near impossible to reach those nests.
I hollered to Elvis, my husband, to look at the snake descending the chain. He did . . . and then asked me to please relocate it. I told him that it would move off on its own, to which he replied, “I want it to move off on my terms, not its terms.” Oh geez, really? To quote a friend of mine, “Can’t we all just get along?” Yes, actually, we can. I won this one with my spouse, and the snake is now curled up underneath a planter box and will, I’m sure, move along when it’s ready. More than likely it will move along to the chicken coop and we will meet each other once again . . .