Our Venomous Snake Encounter

Noelle, my 9-year-old Havanese, and I were out for a walk the other day. it was after a full week of Florida torrential downpour thunderstorm afternoons, so quite a few homeowners in our neighborhood had not cut their grass.

As many of you know, long grass = hiding places for snakes. And with all the wet weather and higher water levels, snakes were coming out areas they might not normally be found.

A Quiet ZZZZZZZ! Was Our ONLY Warning

If you are familiar with venomous snakes in Florida, a rather pretty one is our Pigmy Rattlesnake. It is small -- a full-size pigmy is 12" to 24". They are camouflaged well, and their warning rattle is so soft -- it sounds like an insect's wings -- that if they are hidden in long grass, you may not hear the warning rattle.

Fortunately, when Noelle took one step into the grass alongside the sidewalk, it was a very quiet morning -- and may have been a large pigmy -- because we heard the insect-like ZZZZZZ and Noelle jumped back onto the sidewalk.