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The Snakes — my Friends

My First Encounters with Snakes — by Karl Bachus

The snake story is very dear to my heart for it began with great fear and ended with love.  There was nothing worse for my wife Elke and myself than to encounter a snake.  Anyone who is afraid of snakes may perhaps be inspired by this story to try to overcome this common unfounded fear.  I will take you back to the time of my first snake encounters here at the original small pond before it became Moon Lake.

Not knowing any better we had inherited the common fear and horror of snakes when we spent the first summer at our newly acquired property.  In Germany snakes are rare so we were not expecting any here either.  We wondered where we had ended up when snakes constantly appeared out of nowhere.  Whenever we saw one it would race away in panic towards the water. Obviously these were water snakes that could swim very fast above and below the surface of the water.  Elke was afraid to go into the water, for snakes could show up at any time.  She wanted me to get rid of them.  At first her request made sense to me.

Armed with a rake for keeping them at a safe distance, soon I saw my first snake on the lawn.  I got hold of it and killed it with the rake in a terrible drama.  I was so upset that I said to Elke, “That’s it- I would rather live with snakes than kill another one.”  And so it was.  Elke was not happy about my refusal to kill snakes but she did not want to kill them either.

Somehow we had to learn to tolerate these snakes- but could we still enjoy our property?  Like a continuing cosmic joke, we soon encountered other types of snakes.
Some of the snakes were yellow with black strips; others were green.  Who knew what else would show up?  I had to do some research to see if any of these snakes were dangerous.  To our relief none were poisonous.  We could relax a little, but we were not happy to have all these snakes on the land.  If we wanted to keep the property we had little choice but to accept the snakes as part of the landscape.

My Change of Attitude towards Snakes

Over a period of several years I tried to overcome my aversion.  As a first step towards accepting snakes, I began observing them from a safe distance and by doing so became more confident.  Not to be afraid of snakes and then to actually love them took quite a while longer.  My initial motivation for dealing with snakes was simple necessity.  I would have to be patient; hopefully my heart would win out in this worthwhile quest.

As I changed my heart and attitude towards snakes so did they change their behaviour.  They seemed to become friendlier and no longer raced away in an irrational and unpredictable way.  They knew that they had nothing to fear and eventually came to ignore us altogether, including my dog Pax whom I had told to leave them alone.

Now we could watch them near the dock when they were hunting fish by diving to the bottom of the lake.  Here they would wriggle their tongues to attract fish.  If a fish were very close the snake would grab it and drag it onto land where the snake would swallow the fish headfirst.  It is amazing how a snake can deal with a fish that seems much to large to eat.  It may seem cruel but this is nature’s way.  We could even watch snakes mating on our dock, which had become their favourite spot.  Here in early summer during a mating ceremony that goes on for hours a large female snake would lie intertwined with three or four smaller male snakes.

Snakes frequently occupied our dock now where they would take sunbath for hours.  One day I wanted to have a sunbath here too.  As I slowly walked down the steps towards the dock I saw a snake.  The snake did not move and even when I passed, it seemed undisturbed.
Feeling a bit daring, I settled within a few steps of the snake on the same dock.  Nothing happened and the snake remained at ease on its spot.

This broke the ice and from then on during many summer a sunbath with a snake became quite natural on the dock.  Sometimes both of us would doze off.  Occasionally I would touch a snake with my finger whereupon it would arch its back with pleasure.  Snakes do not feel slimy as some people may think; to the contrary they are soft to the touch.

I have the impression snakes like people.  This must create great confusion in them when they encounter fear and hate.

Today I can walk on the land and hardly ever see snakes. They will not move at all so I have to watch out not to step on one accidentally. All snakes must know that I like and protect them. They seem to recognize even my steps. This became apparent to me when my friend Lynne came to visit.  She was frantic about snakes and to ease her concern I said that I would go in front of her when we walked around the lake, and there would be nothing to worry about.

After walking for a short distance Lynne became confident and must have forgotten that it would be better to go behind me.  On a stretch where I had never seen a snake before suddenly in front of Lynne a big fat snake rushed away.  For an outsider this must have looked frightening.  Before I could react, Lynne was hanging around my neck, full of fear and for a moment even forgetting proper language.

This incident among many other examples gave me the impression that fear actually attracts the animal one is afraid of.  I knew this from dogs and cats but this seems to apply to the whole animal kingdom.  Animals can teach us to overcome fear when we recognize and accept their purposes.  Still, we must deal with irrational engrained emotions, which have to be talked to like a little child, before we are ready to replace fear with love when there is nothing more to be afraid of.

In our next episode I will tell you about my experiences when I renovated a first-settler century-old wood frame farmhouse with snakes living in its partly bulging walls.

Snakes in the walls

My neighbour only occasionally occupied the old farmhouse next door.  One wall that bulged to the outside was badly in need of repair.  I like to fix things.  I suggested to these neighbours who were also my friends that I would do the job.

While I was replacing several of the studs that had partly rotted from the dirt, which had been used as insulation between the walls, I was confronted with the fact that snakes used this wall with its southern exposure as their home.  These black and yellow snakes – common garter snakes – entered the wall through many small openings.  I encountered snakes not only on the ground level, but also on the second floor and even in the attic from where they sometimes peeped out to watch what I was doing.  Once I even found a snake on the windowsill of the second floor bedroom.

These were non-poisonous snakes, likely living on mice and insects.  Occasionally a very large colourful milk snake, a constrictor, looked out through a crack above the fireplace in the living room.

This all happened during the time when I still had not made my peace with snakes.  Certainly this house gave me an opportunity to get more acquainted.  I had little choice but to deal with them, for they could show up anywhere anytime.

After I got over my initial apprehension, these snakes began to fascinate me.  I saw how they moved vertically up walls or even bridged a two-foot gap in front of a basement window.  Often their bodies seem to defy gravity.  Once I saw one-third of a snake remain on solid ground while an amazing two-thirds of its body was almost horizontally suspended in the air while reaching successfully for the side of a gap.

By the time the job was done we had come to respect each other and I had even come to like these snakes.

That the snakes remembered me became obvious in a surprise encounter a year later.  One Sunday afternoon I walked over to the former jobsite.  No one was home and the grass I walked through was pretty tall.  Almost too late I made a quick double step to avoid hurting a snake on my path.  Immediately I apologized to the snake that hurried away.

As if on command it stopped in its tracks.  While I was still standing there, it returned to its former course and slowly passed me with less than a step.  At the same time the snake swayed its head repeatedly from left to right and right to left while looking towards the ground as if searching for worms before it very slowly disappeared in the high grass.  I was very touched by the way the snake had responded.  This is an experience I will not forget.

My neighbours were so inspired by the job I did that they asked me to re-do the whole farmhouse another year.  Walls, windows, floors, electrical wires, plumbing, even the roof, were scheduled to be gutted and renewed.  Fitzroy or “Fitz” for short, a friend of their family- a strong young man from Trinidad-became my apprentice and helped.  In Trinidad there are many poisonous snakes, which had given Fitz a great fear of them.  He said that he feared anything that wiggles, whether large or small.  In addition to snakes in the walls there were also hornets.  Sometimes our construction site became almost a life and death experience for Fitz.

I remember one incident when we were about to open up a wall to replace it.  Fitz stood back as far as he could while watching me take down the wall and said repeatedly: “There are snakes in the walls- there are snakes in the walls”.  At this point it did not really matter to me if there were snakes.  But for Fitz it was very different.  At one point Fitz mistook an object for a snake and made an unbelievable jump onto the top of a five-foot fridge standing nearby.  Here Fitz sat for the longest time not wanting to come down.  What a sight to see - a strong young man who was stymied by fear.  In the end the wall did not produce any snakes.  It took more than a year before the job was done and the old farmhouse had a new lease on life.

The following summer Fitz came to visit me at Moon Lake.  Right away he asked me if there were any snakes?  I replied that I had an idea they might hide in the cedar trees at the banks, but that I hadn’t seen snakes for a long time.  My response did little to ease Fitz’s tension.

I knew that fear attracts whatever we fear so I could do little when within minutes of his arrival a tiny, tiny water snake calmly swam past the dock.  “I told you there are snakes”, Fitz said.

Perhaps this tiny snake was telling Fitz that there was really nothing to fear.  But try telling anybody not to be afraid when fear is in the bones.  I know from my own journey that the emotional obstacles are tremendous.  I wish someone would have given me confidence then so I did not need years to complete my journey to overcome this unnecessary fear.

A Healing Session with a Snake

I would like to share an experience that gave me the strong impression that snakes seek human contact in a beneficial way.  The meeting with this water snake on my boat‑ dock was the result of seemingly unrelated coincidental events.         

Because I am always careful when felling trees, I was most surprised when a forty-foot dead elm tree accidentally landed on my left foot.  Immediately my foot began swelling like a balloon.  It was a miracle that it was not broken.

Three days later my friend Joanna arrived unannounced on a surprise visit.  Joanna is a strong and practical person, five foot tall, always smiling with two big dimples.  She is also a healer practicing laying-on-of-hands.  We will meet her again in the fascinating story about stones.

Joanna arrived on a beautiful summer day that was conducive to spending time together on the dock.  Joanna held her hand on my sore foot until the pain was almost gone.  We had lots of things to talk about.  At the same time we were also watching the friendly fish.

Perhaps after an hour or two Joanna asked me, “Where are the snakes? I haven’t seen any.”  At that very instant I noticed a fairly large curled-up water snake motionless next to Joanna.  I replied:  “Just look to your left.”  Joanna is not afraid of snakes- she only smiled when she saw it.  I had the impression that this snake was part of our healing ceremony.

The sun was already casting longer shadows when we were still on the dock with the snake.  At this point two men arrived from the forestry department to enquire if I had beavers.  When Joanna and I got up to greet the two men on the elevated deck the snake was still with us.

The men were puzzled, seeing a motionless snake next to us.  I explained that this was a friendly snake.  When I limped back down the seven steps to the dock, passing the snake to retrieve my teacup, the snake still did not move.  This unusual sight made the men stare at it while making some funny comments.  Only then did the snake begin to uncurl and then gently slide into the water.

For me this was a memorable experience.  Perhaps our time together healing my foot was also a time for healing human and snake relations.  Animals must know more about us than we would like to give them credit for.  They are like a mirror reflecting our attitude towards them and perhaps they would like to help us if we let them.

Snakes are True Friends now

Although I have many more friendly snake stories to tell I like to end with a few recent incidents that can demonstrate that snakes are truly my friends now.

While replacing siding on my garage I noticed a grass snake close to me where I worked.  I had to watch out not to step on it for it seemed to want to be exactly where I was.  It was swaying its head and then occasionally sticking its head into the soil as if looking for worms.  In spite of my stepping left and right of the snake all the time, it seemed to like my company.  To avoid an accident I touched it gently to guide it towards my garden.  The snake just did not want to leave me.  It took a while before I could coax it to move on.

My friend Ken is another person who was surprised by the behaviour of snakes at Moon Lake.  Ken was helping me to place a seven foot steel post at the steps of the rear dock.  We both were much involved with a sledgehammer we used to pound in this post.  While I was hammering and Ken holding the post he exclaimed, “There is a large snake on the dock!” This water snake was within a couple of steps, quietly curled up and watching us as if this was totally normal.  Seeing this motionless snake I responded, “This is a friendly snake.”  The snake remained with us the whole time.  Ken seemed to be a bit uneasy about it and admitted that he had never seen one so close by.

During the next summer I had three visitors from Germany – Karin, Ursula and Werner.  They were fascinated to see a large water snake resting on the dock by the house.  I mentioned that this snake was my friend and often relaxed on the dock.  From a distance Werner took a photo of the snake.  We then settled on the adjoining deck that is seven steps higher up.  Here we played the ‘Code Master’ game, which I had invented.  With lots of laughter we were quite noisy sitting on four chairs next to a small table.  This went on for a while.  Only at the end of playing did we notice that the snake had come up to us from the dock and had settled within a couple of steps of our joyful party.  This water snake must have watched us the whole time and apparently wanted to be close to us.  Perhaps she even wanted to join us at play?  Werner took another snake photo – now at a close range.

Even after my visitors had left, the snake still remained totally relaxed on the deck next to my living room where I had never seen a snake before.  Later when I returned to the deck the snake was gone.  I saw only a smaller one resting below on the dock.  For a while I lay down next to it, contemplating my snake journey that began with a great fear and had such a happy ending.  I am absolutely sure that my friendship with snakes will be a lasting one.

Although I have no experience with poisonous snakes I cannot see any reason why they would respond any differently to positive and loving thoughts.  If we encounter an aggressive snake, it is not the snake; it is the fear in us that makes the snake aggressive.  We are the ones who determine what we will encounter.  To negate fear often seems impossible, but it is the only way.

I can safely leave my snake stories behind now.  Think about them when you encounter a snake or any other animal.  Watch your thoughts and feelings and you may be surprised to experience animals in a way you never seem possible.