Two Snakes Displaced by Pond Removal

Although the fish are in a much bigger pond (I'll post pictures of that another day when I have some), and the pond hole has been mostly filled in, there are two critters that seem to be in habitat confusion. I regret to say that two snakes have been displaced from their home since the pond was filled in. Maybe more than two, we don't know. We've only seen the two.

The first snake came to my attention this afternoon. Misty found it beside our garden hose and electric meter in the back yard. She barked excitedly until I came to see what she had in sight. I quickly ran for my camera, of course, and then told her to back up. She complied. At the time I wasn't 100% certain it wasn't a copperhead. We've seen a few over the years, and I never like getting close enough to find out if it is or isn't.

But this one looked pretty much like the one that had been living in our pond in recent years, so I called my husband to ask him what he thought. He asked me some questions about slitted eyes and the color of its belly, and in both cases, I could not, and did not want to, get close enough to answer those questions. He said if it had slitted eyes it was poisonous. The way the sun was hitting its eyes, I couldn't be sure.

I took several pictures, then it slithered off to hide under the heat pump. I came inside to download the pictures, then I began to read some of my journal entry alerts. That's when I came across Dave's entry, Training Day, in his journal, Dead Investigations. The first photo he had posted there was of him holding a snake. I read through his entertaining record of what encompasses defensive tactics training, and then left a comment about the snake. I told him my snake was bigger than his.

He emailed me promptly! You know, I never got that kind of response in writing my paper journal. I love it when someone responds right away!  He said if I emailed him a picture of my snake he'd identify it for me. So I did.

Within seconds, faster than I could have found it on the internet myself, he emailed me again with the identity of the snake, and a picture off the internet. Seems my little critter friend is a Northern Water Snake, non-venomous. That was good to know.

I thanked Dave for identifying my snake, and went about my day, waiting for Steve to get home so I could tell him what we had hiding under our heat pump.

After I told him about the snake, and about the email conversation to identify it, he just grinned. Then he went out front to study the yard, to ponder, to relax. He called to me a few minutes later to come out front. He'd found the snake. I put on my flip flops, grabbed the camera, and ran downstairs to see.

"That's a different snake," I told him. "That one is richer in color, and not as big as the one under the heat pump." I took photos of that one too. Then Steve got his fish net, scooped up the water snake, and carried it off to the creek a few hundred feet from our home. Maybe it will find its way to the river. I hope.

Before he came inside, he tried to provoke the first one I saw from under the heat pump, but either it had already crawled off to a better location, or it refused to come out.

If anyone is missing the pond more than us, it is probably these two snakes. I feel bad for them, but there are plenty of ponds around here much bigger than the one we had. If Steve finds it, he will take it to the neighbor's pond or let it go in the creek.