A Snake in the House

I found a snake in the house today. It was tiny, perhaps eight inches long and an eighth of an inch in diameter. Normally I take a live and let live approach to snakes. I encounter one in the yard ever so often, and always let it escape, or try to help it escape. Typically it disappears into the undergrowth right away, and I go about my business. These snakes have always appeared to be nonvenomous. But the tiny snake in the house looked like a rattlesnake.

It had markings that I associate with a rattlesnake, and its behavior was quite different from that of the snakes that I have encountered outside. Rather than slithering away as quickly as possible, it took on a defensive posture, raising its head into the air with about a third of its length, and shaking the tip of its tail as if it had rattles, which it didn't.

I decided right away that I had to kill it if I could. It goes against my nature to kill any living thing. I am not radical about this, but usually animals and bugs that intrude into my house are simply escorted to the door and dispatched into the back yard. This did not seem like the right approach with a rattlesnake, even a baby one.

I tried to kill it as humanely as possible. I found a three foot long two by four in the garage, which I used to hold the snake down, and lopped off its head with a large knife. (A garage knife, not a kitchen knife.) Even with me looming over it with the two by four in hand, it didn't try to escape. As I positioned the two by four so as to get a good angle with the knife, it struck at the board multiple times.

It was a clean cut, like a guillotine. In a millisecond the deed was done. Of course we don't really know how much pain an animal (or person) suffers in such a death. I want to believe it was over quickly.