I love my job sometimes...

[Skittles1101]

I'm a 911 dispatcher, and especially this time of year I start getting the "OMG THERE'S A KILLER SNAKE IN MY YARD!!!!". Now, our animal control is like....eh. Basically if I called him to respond to this he'd say "Tell them to call back when it's INSIDE the house, it belongs outside" lol. So, I always ask them to send me a picture to my work email so I can ID it and let them know if it's harmless or not (I live in Massachussetts by the way, we don't even HAVE dangerous snakes in our region lol). I've had two such calls this week so I figured I'd share the pictures of the cuties!

The first one was from a man, concerned because his wife is freaking out because there's a snake sunning in his yard and he has a two year old daughter. Here is the culprit.



I of course advise him that it is a harmless little eastern milksnake, and if he really needs to get rid of it for his wife's sanity, use a broom and shoo him towards the woods. I promised him it wouldn't fight back. He sent me another email, thanking me, said he was on his way without a fight, and they named it "Hershey" lol.

The second one actually just occurred right now. A woman called very VERY scared and said her landscapers found a HUGE snake and they put it in a tub because they don't think it's wild. I calmed her down and told her to email me a picture lol. Are you ready for this HUGE snake??



I also advised her it was an eastern milksnake and it's harmless, and it's more scared of you than you are of it. She laughed it off, then told me she asked her landscaper to "relocate" it. They agreed to bring it back and release it in the woods behind their business so she can be at peace.

Two beautiful snakes, I've saved the day yet again. Most people jump to killing it if they don't know what it is, so it's nice when I have people calling for help. I thought my fellow herpers would enjoy seeing the vicious beasts