Poor little rainbow boa!

A neighbour of mine just honked outside my gate, to tell me there was this "huge" snake trying to scale my wall, and that I'd better watch out because it was going to come get my dog. Riley and I went outside (yes, he's still up!) and there was a beautiful young rainbow boa againt my outside wall, all shiny and new; it had obviously just shed its skin. It wasn't that big, less than 5 feet tall, and really gorgeous.

The lady who called me was sitting transfixed in her car, with her hand over her mouth, horrified, and unable to understand why I didn't run screaming or go for my cutlass and hack it to bits or something. (She had tried to run it over with her car.) I tried to explain to her that I liked snakes but she was so upset that I felt embarrassed. So I thanked her kindly for calling me, explained that it was a constrictor and not a viper, and therefore little threat to my family or even my dog. Tabby is probably a greater threat to it than it is to her. I tried to curb my enthusiasm for the gorgeous, sleek, shiny creature, so gracefully curled up against my wall. I could see she was going to be sick.

I'm hearing Tabby outside barking, so I guess she's spotted it. I can only pray that it diesn't make it over the wall, because it would be done for. And that it doesn;t go by anyone else, because then somebody will certainly kill it. I hope it makes it to the river or something, unchallenged.

Snakes get such a bad rap.