My Dad had an interesting moment this past weekend while working on the downstairs bathroom.

We were putting in the venting for a new exhaust fan, and he had gone outside to pull off the cover so we could slide in the new pipe. He took off the cover and stuck his hand in to clear out the opening.

Unfortunately, there was more than old insulation and wood shavings in the hole.

There was a garter snake in our foundation wall.  In the background Dad watches from a safe distance.

Sorry for the dark photo. Here’s another view from the outside.

Matt examines the intruder

Dad’s not a fan of snakes, so he was not the best person for this to happen to. He left operation snake relocation to Matt.

Fortunately, he’s just a little guy… the snake that is, not the husband.

Technically, I guess you could say the snake wasn’t actually in the house, but that isn’t a lot of comfort to me. Especially since when we walked around the back of the house a few hours later we discovered he had returned and slithering his way along the window sill.

Matt made a grab for him, and the snake headed right for his old hideout in the vent. He climbed the lattice and the vines on the foundation wall just as easily as though he was gliding along the flat ground.

Matt’s second attempt to nab the snake was successful, and the snake was re-relocated. Then we went to work pulling down the lattice and vines so as to avoid any repeat of this scenario in the future.

I’ll admit the back of the house looks less attractive now with the bare concrete, but it’s a small price to pay.

As you may be able to tell from the title of this post, this was not our only thamnophis encounter this weekend.

I was walking along the border of the far field on Friday evening when I heard a rustling in the grass. It took me a little while to spot him, but I was able to identify the source: a huge garter snake (much bigger than Matt’s new friend). He was also much more shy than Matt’s friend, and as soon as I moved closer to get a better look he slid away and hid in a pile of rocks.

At the time, I was wishing he’d stuck around so I could take a picture. Now I’m pretty happy he was so anti-social. Here’s hoping he prefers his rocks to our walls–and he’s looking for a small garter friend to keep him company.