Fun with Snakes

So today’s post is  going to be a slice of Tanzania for you. I have so much to share including a magic potion and some thoughts on fruit. But today let’s start with snakes. I’m not super-scared of snakes. I know that snakes are our friends and we shouldn’t typically kill them. And I am not typically a killer. I don’t like to kill animals, except mosquitoes of course. A long time ago, I even gave money to PETA, before they started throwing paint on people, which wasn’t nice. So please don’t judge me too harshly. But several days ago, while I was showering, I happened to notice half way through bathing that there was a small snake moving in and out of my drain.

I dosed him with shampoo so I could rinse. I finished up rather quickly and then tried to figure out what to do about the snake. He can’t stay clearly. But since he was in and out of the drain, I couldn’t grab him. Let’s be honest; I wasn’t going to grab him regardless. So, I guessed I had to kill him. So I soaked him with the closest thing, SPF 45 sunscreen. This did not faze him, so I grabbed the second closest thing, SPF 70 sunscreen. Also no real effect, which just proves what they say: there is no difference between SPF’s once you got to a certain point. Next I poured some powdered laundry soap containing a bleach-like substance on him. That seemed to slow him down and brought him out of the drain all the way. Off I go to make my coffee, thinking I’d come back and get him out, poor dead snake.

He wasn’t in the shower upon my return. In fact he was making his way down the hall to my bedroom. That’s one tough snake. So- and here’s where you’ll have to forgive me- I picked him up with a few napkins, broke him in half, put him in an empty water bottle, and put him in the trash. What kind of life would he have had with all those chemicals on him anyway? A few days later, his brother or sister was walking around my living room. I picked it up gently with a napkin, without any aerosols, and took him outside. But then I got to thinking, two snakes in my house? Is there a mama snake somewhere looking for her boys? I read Riki Tiki Tavi!

I thought I better get some information. There are two dangerous black snakes in Tanzania- the cobra and the black mamba. Now of course even if it had been one of those, these two were too small to do much damage, I figured. I googled black snakes in Tanzania and found lots of big mambas and cobras. Oddly, I also found a picture that looked exactly like what I dealt with in the shower.

It’s called a “Common House Snake.” Common House snake. I can deal with common snakes. I can deal with common houses. Common House Snake? Should there be such a thing? And what if it looks like a common house snake but it grows up to be a mamba, Africa’s longest and fastest snake, and among its most venomous. ?

Do they look that different as babies? How long does it take them to grow up? Is there a herpetologist in the group?