There’s nothing like direct field experience to augment the mind-numbing spray of classroom lectures all Master Naturalist trainees must endure. And it doesn’t hurt to have a top-notch mentor either. Carla Blakey (trainee) and Cat May (mentor) are one such team. Cat gets her trainees out of the classroom on a regular basis. Most of the time you can find Cat at the Lost Pines Nature Trails (LPNT) or the Colorado River Refuge (CRR). She’s a charter member of the River Rats, a ubiquitous group of volunteers who keep these parks sparkly clean and neatly barbered.
Cat and Carla were out on the trail that connects the Cottenwood King/Two Bridges trail system with the parking lot one day recently (doing maintenance) when a memorable teaching moment presented itself. Seems this Texas Rat Snake had gotten itself entangled in exposed erosion control netting, most likely as a result of recent flooding. No telling how long the snake had been held prisoner, but it evidently had tried everything and could not break free. I’m sure “lucky” did not describe how the snake was feeling, but alas, some clouds have silver linings even though they all look alike.
Now to put this in context, understand that Carla is not a snake person. With all the complexity of analyzing shapes and markings—size trumps all. This one was a good 5-5 ½ feet long and already in a less than cheerful mood. Cat has a long history of finding snakes of various kinds at the LPNT/CRR and only weeks prior had discovered a huge Western Diamond-Backed Rattlesnake on one of her forays into the flood zone. So here they were: mentor and trainee, both pondering what to do, while their bodies were keenly poised to pump out a warming spurt of adrenal fluid.
Rarely will you find Cat May without trash grippers in her possession, an important implement in the River Rat business. But this is only the beginning of gadgets and devices she is known to carry on her person. On this particular day, Cat also possessed a tiny pair of miniature scissors, neatly tucked inside a Swiss Card carried in her billfold. So, a plan was hatched: Carla was assigned the task of taking photos while Cat was to be the reluctant surgeon (the democratic process has no place in handling snakes; once you take the lead, absolute rule is the only way to go). Cat held the snake’s head securely in her mechanical grippers with one hand and gingerly tried to snip away the netting with the other. The only problem? The scissors had a broken spring, which meant it required two hands to actuate the blades. Meanwhile, the snake’s personality is growing progressively darker.
As it was becoming obvious that Carla needed to secure the snake’s head, thereby freeing Cat to do the fine stitchwork of cutting the netting of a wreathing snake, Carla’s hands began to shake. She didn’t want to apply too much pressure to the grippers. . . how much pressure is too much, anyway?? That hasn’t been covered in the training curriculum yet. You guessed it: the snake slipped loose the gripper, immediately coiled its upper body into a tight S-shape and began striking whomever and whatever it could! For believe in nothing though one may, there are moments in life when we belong to the creed of whatever church is nearest. Fortunately, the netting limited the snake’s thrusting range so no one was bitten by the frightened herp.
After the snake was completely cut loose, it was time for show and tell. . .Cat examined the reptile for signs of bodily damage but could find none. Despite the harrowing experience, Carla managed to snap some fantastic photos. After the formalities and an expression of good wishes, the snake was set free. It stopped a minute to reassess the situation and with the memory of a goldfish, it vanished like snow on open water. It had an empty belly to fill. Cat described the experience this way: “So, Carla and I had a quick course on ‘Snake Rescue 101’ and thank goodness the subject was a ‘friendly.’ I guess that’s the ‘101’ part—if it had been an ‘unfriendly,’ like that rattler, or a Cottonmouth, no doubt we would have had to make a quick trip home so I could change jeans.”