Snakes!

Nhlanhla, our guard/gardener found two "baby" snakes the other day in our back yard. He dutifully killed them, saved them to show us, then got rid of them.

Needless to say, Levi (5) and Kayla (8), who were visiting at the time, were thrilled to see them. Dead or not, Levi drooled. He was very excited that there had been snakes in my backyard.

Later on, same day, but after 9pm, we returned home to the news that Victor, the night guard, had unsuccessufllly tried to kill the mamma snake. about 4 feet long. hmmmmm.

I wonder if she's missing two of her children...

I got into my "First Field Guide to Snakes & Other Reptiles of Southern Africa" book and began to look up info about our snake.

It's a molesnake. No harmful venom. It is a constrictor. No worries.

No worries? It's a SNAKE.

Dave says all snakes are poisonous. But the book says farmers appreciate the mole snake. It is very helpful to get rid of little mole critters. Squeezes the life from them, and eats 'em up, then moves into the burrow. Not too bad for the snake--Bed and Breakfast in one swift move. Although we do appreicate the mole-termination, we just don't care for this kind of terminator to hang around and raise a family!

Couldn't she just eat the mole and move on to the next yard?

One more thing the books says about the snake...it's bad tempered. It will bite if messed with. Venom or no venom, I don't want to be bitten by a snake.

So I hope between Nhlanhla and Victor, they'll get rid of the thing!

It's never been boring on the missionfield.

Y'all come!