I wanted to share an experiance with you that I think is pretty cool.
I took my son to daycare this morning, as is my daily custom. It was a typical, warm, humid sunny morning. When we opened the large glass double doors and entered the foyer, I was surprised to find several parents and employee's talking excitedly, with many of the women, and a few of the men, making those little "oh gross" movments with their hands and faces. I figured, as it sometimes happens, that some poor sick little kid had thrown up or something, and continued towards my son's classroom. About this time, a very large man, at least 250 lbs of him, and a full 6 feet tall, comes whipping around the corner with a 6 foot long stick that he had grabbed from outside someplace. As he moved past me, I heard someone from the horrified throng of people say "the snake is moving!"
AHA! My interest is suddenly peaked!
So anyway, I take my son and lead him over to the huddle of people, into which "large brave man with a stick" is also forcing his way. He says something like, "move ladies, I'll squish it really quick, and take it outside". Ok, this might be a problem! Thinking that a venomous animal has found its way into the daycare, and am glad "Brave Guy" brought a stick so e could at least capture it. I leave my son at the outside of this group of, now about 15 adults, and casually mention that I know a few things about snakes, and I could probably take a look. A few of the teachers are aware that I keep lots of snakes at home, so they begin to ask folks to let me through. ( this is all happeneing right inside a singal wide dorrway to an office). Unfortunately, "Brave guy" makes his way to the animal as well. Here is what I find:
Under a large glass salad bowl that has been overturned to capture the animal, is a 5 inch long baby Florida Watersnake. I mean this thing can't be more than a month old. So, I sort of chuckle to myself, and take the bowl off the poor thing, and "Brave Guy" says "Here! Kill it with this!" attempting to hand me a 6 foot long peice of Pine Tree. My face screwed up into one of those "are you an idiot, or just plain scared of things you don't understand" kind of faces. The guy saw my look of shock, and began to explain to me that this was a cottonmouth/water mocassin, and that a baby has just as much ability to bite as an adult, plus, they had found it IN the school, which made it twice as dangerous. I calmly tried to explain to him that this animal was not venomous, and that it could be safely placed outside. Now, I know this guy just wants the kids to be safe, and he doens't know me at all, so he continues to argue that it's too dangerous to risk. About this time, my son waddles up to me, and see's the baby "nake" as he calls them. Making sure that "Brave Guy" doesn't just smack the little snake, I reach down and pin the Watersnakes tail so that it can't quickly squirt under a cabinet or something. The thing doesn' t move it's so scared, just lays there and pretends its ground litter. "Hey Tanner" I say to my son, "take this outside". He smiles happliy, ( he loves to handle our snakes at home, but doesn't touch them unless a grown up is present), gently reaches down, and picks the little guy up. "Brave Man", is standing there in complete awe as my son and I walk outside, and release the snake in some bushes at the edge of one of Florida's many canals. This took all of about 3 minutes.
When I got back, I guess some of the teachers had let everyone know that I keep and breed snakes, and keep nearly 100 of them at any given time, so most of the parents had dispersed, happy that the incedent had ended without human, or reptile bloodshed. Everyone that is, except "Brave Guy". The only thing I can figure is that I must have embarassed this guy, because he starts telling me that I had just endangered my son's life, and he should call the cops. I tried to ignore him and so I just smiled and took my son to class. On the way out, he was still there, with that big stick in his hand, glaring at me. As I try to leave, he says "Moron!" and shakes his head. Now, I am generally a patient man, but I just could not keep my mouth shut this time. I turned around, and casually strolled up to him and said "Who's the Moron, the 30 lb 2 year old who just saved an infant snake, or the 250 lb idiot, who wanted to crush it with a 6 foot stick?" One of the girls behind the desk sort of smiled, and I walked out. He said something else, but it was mostly muttered, and I didn't bother to listen. I also didn't bother to tell anyone that there were probably more of them around the daycare. No worries though, my son can handle it!
Shawn
