Snake season -- A spring-time visit to the breeding grounds
While browsing through the feed this morning, I came across @crazymumzysa's post Five Slithery and Scaly Snakes. Just looking at the photos made my heart beat faster, my chest grow uncomfortably tight. I have a healthy fear of deadly snakes, which is one of the reasons I continue to live in a part of the world where the snakes are entirely benign.
We don't have boa constrictors, or pythons, or even rattlesnakes. What we do have are garter snakes (or garden snakes) -- slim little creatures that pose no threat unless you happen to be a frog or a mouse.
There's a ravine just a few miles from my parent's farm where thousands of garter snakes gather to hibernate and breed. If you visit at the right time, you'll find snakes piled in mating balls and even hanging from the trees.
I took my kids there a couple of years ago and they loved every second of it. While I stood at the top of the ravine and watched (because even harmless snakes give me the heebie-jeebies when they're available in mass amounts), my daughter sat on the ground near the largest pile of snakes she could find and laughed as they unravelled and slithered over and around her legs.
They carefully picked up snakes, marvelling at the feel of their skin and the intricate details of their scales, and then carefully set them down. They watched how the snakes moved along the ground and in the trees. The prairie grass surrounding the ravine moved and rustled, even though there was no wind. Just snakes.
I'm still not a big fan of snakes. I'd never keep one as a pet and I generally keep my distance -- even from the harmless ones. But sometimes it's worth it to face an irrational fear, because you might get to experience something cool and slightly breathtaking. Like a giant pile of snakes.
