09/11/2026
My son found this snake in our workshop a couple days ago. We live in East TN, Tellico Plains. We are nestled in the woods, so I’m honestly shocked this is the first one we’ve seen in 3 years living here and a little relieved because I’m tired of always telling my family to watch for them and be careful. I started wondering if we are blind to them.
My husband was about to end him “for the safety of our children and animals”. Because of this group, I turned into Fern and pleaded for its life.
My husband is a cool guy and begrudgingly tried to catch him with an extended paint roller (with roll removed, using just the hook). Unfortunately, the snake gave him the slip.
Now my poor husband was scared to go into his workshop and began to speculate I was trying to get at his life insurance policy by not letting him kill the snake— which is totally preposterous. Maybe I was just trying to get him to clean his workshop? Did he ever think about that? No, of course not.
Today (while he is at work) I proved my undying loyalty by dragging items out of the shed with extension grabbers I bought for this occasion. I was hoping I’d find him and also really hoping I wouldn’t find him. But there he was, nestled underneath a folded tarp.
My extension grabbers did the job perfectly of picking him up and placing him in the cooler. And he was so chill about the whole thing, even if he preferred living in the workshop.
“I respect you, snake.” I said with a strangely prepubescent voice that wasn’t my own, then carried him to the edge of my long driveway and left the cooler behind, tipped over with the lid up. He didn’t slither out so I left it there. He can have that cooler now.
I showed a friend the picture and he speculated it was a female who was pregnant. Does that seem accurate? Or maybe it was fat from a meal?
I purposely didn’t identify the snake for those who are learning, but thanks to this group, my son knew what it was and I knew what it was—no questions. Also thanks to this group, he or she is still alive.