Total Bummer

it was my idea to go back and get the snake pole, which was a dumb idea.  i kinda wanted to go back and see...what? that the snake really got away?  if we could recoup our highly effective snake capturing device? i don't know, but going back was a dumb idea. anyway, as we came back from running some normal summer monday errands, we happened to stop at the intersection where we had pulled off to release the snake the night before. there it was:  the pvc pipe, with the snake next to it, tangled in the rope. i had thought that his head was free inside the pipe and he was backing out, and therefore would be okay, but it looked like he tried to slide out forward and got trapped.  total relocation fail. the snake died.

i feel really bad about this.  i love snakes. we have two pet snakes for goodness' s(n)ake, a ball python and a corn snake.  i was so thrilled that we had managed to deal with the egg-stealing snake problem humanely, but turns out, not so much.  not for lack of trying! mostly for lack of experience. i guess it's good that we saw what really happened, instead of assuming super success. i am glad we tried to do the right thing, and i definitely feel like i learned something.  i can't quite say what the something is, exactly, but it has to do with nature/domestication, ancient struggles, good intentions, fear, and decisiveness.

anyway, sorry about that, texas rat snake.  we really tried to do good by you. and i trust and hope you had a pretty easy snake life up until that last bit.  if there's reincarnation, i hope you come back as something awesome.

(i had a dream monday night, after all this...i was holding this snake gently, like my pet snakes. i could see his pattern, and he was shiny and healthy.  i put him on the ground and he slithered off.)