It wasn’t dangerous, This Time…
*I must put a disclaimer on this post: you should never put yourself in a dangerous situation with any wild animal. Leave the area and call an expert to handle the situation if necessary.*
Yesterday I was doing some maintenance on our neighbor’s pool. I had to disassemble the filter housing to clean the four filters inside. To do that there is a band around the housing held on by a bolt/nut set-up. As I was unscrewing the nut (it is spring loaded) it fell to the ground behind the filter housing. It was in plain sight but beside a rock on the ground. The rock was about as big as a dinner plate. Right before I reached for it I thought, “That would be a good hiding place for a snake”. So I recognized that there could be danger there but due to the testosterone poisoning that all males have (it makes us do stupid things most of the time) I reached for the nut bare-handed anyway. As I get it in my hand, sure enough I saw the body of the snake that was indeed hiding about 8 inches from where my hand was (that is well within striking distance for most snakes).
I live in Dallas and we do have a variety of snakes, especially in the particular area in which my house is located so it is not unusual to see them. I will say that as I see the snake, no fear coursed through me and I didn’t jump back or get out of there. I simply finished the task that I had before me. Two weeks before this I helped my neighbor catch one and released it back into the wild. The reason I didn’t “freak out” is simple. I recognized the type of snake it was and knew it was non-poisonous and essentially harmless (FYI, a harmless non-poisonous snake will still bite you). My understanding of this snake being harmless stems back to an event in the past when I met one that wasn’t.
Several years ago, Emily and I went for a jog in the Nature Preserve near our home. It was in March and a very nice day, not too hot, not too cool. She was about 2 strides in front of me when I heard her scream. As I am about to step right where she stepped I hear a rattle. There is no sound like that sound and no feeling of fear quite like that feeling. Somehow the adrenaline rush I had made me leap further than ever and I missed landing where the snake was. Once I was able to stop running, I went back to look at it and Emily freaked out more about that than she did the original encounter but I wanted to see what we were up against. It was a very large Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. It was lying beside the trail soaking up the sun and she probably woke it up when she stepped right beside it. So here we are far away from home, wearing the minimal amount of clothing (appropriate for a jog, BTW), with no communication to get help if we needed it and at the time no real knowledge of the danger we were in. After looking at the snake from a distance, we ran on but not with the same perspective on the environment for the rest of the jog. We were much more aware of the dangers around us. Of course I went home and read everything I could on snakes but especially Crotalus Atrox (Latin for Western Diamondback Rattlesnake).
I learned that it is cold-blooded (actually I already knew that). I learned that it kills people (the second most dangerous snake in the United States, only second to Crotalus Adamanteus, the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake). I learned that it is one of the most aggressive snakes in the US and rarely backs down from a confrontation. I learned because I had an encounter with a dangerous Serpent.
I have actually encountered this serpent 3 times since then but they were mostly babies so I was able to put them back out into the wild (yeah I know, crazy isn’t it). I know most people think the only good snake is a dead snake but they do have environmental benefits such as they eat rats. The difference with the other three encounters was; I made sure I communicated to someone who could help me, I put on protective clothing, and I had the proper weapon to either put it back where it belonged or kill it if I had no other choice.
I tell this long story to share these lessons: I will never after recognizing potential danger, continue with my task without fully checking out the situation. Always have on protective clothing. I found a new hiding place for potential danger. Knowledge is key and you learn best from your encounters.
There are dangers all around us. The Serpent is there always; sometimes harmless unless provoked sometimes it will kill you just because of its nature. If you have studied and recognize the danger you can still complete your task even under the circumstances. But if you find yourself in true danger, communicate with someone who can help you, make sure you are prepared beforehand by putting on the “Whole Armor” and choose your weapons carefully so you can kill it if necessary.
Matt's Anthology 