A Snake in the Grass

It was a lovely afternoon and the temperature shot up to 88 degrees in my neck of the woods. I was sitting outside on the curb of my driveway with my feet in the grass, watching the dogs play. Then I noticed there were two lizards on a nearby tree. One was only a few inches long and blended well with the tree bark. The other was very colorful and at least seven inches. They both appeared to be watching me, which I thought was rather odd.

Suddenly my cat was beside me, creeping as if in attack mode. I assumed he was going after the lizards, so I held him back and told him to leave my friends alone. Instead, he continued to push forward, even struggling with me. He is a very large cat and as I turned to grab him with both hands he broke free and took a leap near my feet...and that was when I realized he was not chasing the lizards! There was a four foot garter snake in the grass and it was moving across the top of one of my garden shoes!

I grabbed the cat and ran up the driveway. I wasn't afraid of the snake as much as I was spooked by the fact that it was so close and I didn't even know it! I'm not sure if the cat was going to try and eat it or if he was trying to protect me. Niblet is a very protective cat and generally growls when someone pulls into our driveway a few seconds or when he hears sounds outside.

I'm really not comfortable with the cat chasing snakes, though. We also found a cottonmouth on our property a few days ago and there are a few other poisonous varieties of snakes in our area. We have two ponds and a spring-fed creek on the property and attract all kinds of wildlife, which is why the cat is generally an indoor cat. I must admit that I was glad he snuck out this afternoon. I appreciated the warning that there was a snake on my foot!