A young woman friend writes that this summer has seen an increase in the rat population; particularly in her part of south Dublin. "The two cats make their contribution to cutting local numbers and regularly present the owners with gifts of their latest catch." Enjoying a lunch break at home in the autumn sun, she took a stroll around the garden and went to investigate what the cats were finding so interesting in the longish damp grass at the edge of a herbaceous border. From a distance, it did not look like the usual form, more like a discarded stick .. . On closer inspection it was a snake! Our friend and both cats leapt backwards. "The snake hissed and lunged forwards, we leapt back even further." It was a small snake, light brown with darker brown lozenges, about 18 inches long and about two fingers wide.
Removing the cats from danger (and herself as well) she writes, the cordless phone came into its own. A series of calls (all the time keeping the snake in sight, but at a safe distance) was made to her local vet, the Veterinary College and Dublin Zoo with sympathetic responses and warnings not to approach too close. It was the DSPCA which came to the rescue. An officer arrived within half an hour, and having quickly identified the snake as a Rat Snake, confidently picked it up! It had obviously escaped from captivity; was suffering from cold (possibly, too, a slight mauling from the cats), was sluggish and posed no threat. Although they do have a reputation for biting, they don't carry any venom, said the DSPCA officer. Investigation on the Internet provided further details. Rat Snakes (or Elaphe Obsolete Spiloides) are inhabitants of the southern states of the US and feed on mice and rats! "Now that we know it is not venomous, perhaps we should have left it to continue the battle with the mice and rats", she writes. "The event livened up an otherwise calm autumn lunchtime. But there is a niggling concern. Was it the only escapee from a local snake fancier's collection? Weeding may never be carried out with the same enthusiasm in this area of a Dublin 6 garden." Y