What to do if you and your kids encounter a Snake!

Ah the joys of Spring and with it comes beautiful flowers but also an abundance of snakes. Not to make you paranoid (like I am) but the snakes are every where, in the grass, the flower beds, and even in the lake where you live. Snakes provide an invaluable service around your home by eating any rats or mice they see. Last week my kids and I had our first snake encounter!

I was leaving my parents house and walking through the garage with my daughter when suddenly she SCREAMS – SNAKE! Of course she takes off into the house and leaves me in the garage with this now very angry and very scared snake. What Do I Do ? My initial reaction was to stay still and give the snake and chance to move along but, this snake was only interested in watching me as it moved closer and closer! Now, I will be honest I REALLY do not like snakes. They scare me. I don’t even like to see them from far away but even less have a showdown with one in a garage. From everything that I read online most snakes that your find around your home are not aggressive unless they are cornered. Now, if I think back to the snake that I had a run with it was in a corner – but that was not my fault. A snake supposedly only has an attention span of less than a minute long (this was not the case for my snake). This snake was not interested in moving on. And I certainly could not just stand still forever and let it come closer and closer. So, I grabbed for a small shovel that was in the corner of the garage and tried to get the snake to move along. I realize now that I probably just scared the snake even more but once it moved out of the corner and took a minute to realize it – he or she moved along. And so goes my St. Patrick’s Day snake story and the waitress at the Irish Pub told me it was good luck to see a snake that day but I sure didn’t feel lucky.

Here are a few good tips to tell your kids. Warn your kids that the snakes live outside along with many other animals. Always make sure they are wearing closed toe shoes on the off chance they step on a snake. Tell your kids not to stick their hands in any holes they may find in the yard, as they my be where the snakes are living. And lastly, as hard as it my be tell the kids to stay still till the snake has moved on and then they should run and tell an adult.

Also, Here is a guide to what snakes are in Florida.