I may have killed a little snake

[Pearly]

very small, at first I thought it was a big earthworm... Until I noticed distinct ventral scales... I was planting few new flowers and digging with my little foot shovel. close up. I obviously didn't see it in there and must have cut half of his body with it..., he was still moving... I feel sick that I did this! And even sicker about leaving him to die. I moved him to the shade in soft grass sprinkled water... Though I should probably just put him out of misery but I have never killed any animal. Should I have just chopped his little head off with that shovel?.... I don't know! This will be haunting me now for a while. I hate that thought of any animal suffering. Now if maybe be worth of mentioning that I've lived with BIG snake and spider phobias for most of my life but have to say that in recent years it's been easing up some. I've been trying to put some conscious effort into overcoming some of that by educating myself about the species that scare me as well as contemplation/meditation of beauty and wisdom of Nature, and world around us. So maybe a decade ago, I'd freak out if I saw this tiny snake so close to me. It would have chills running down my spine and would run away and probably neglect that flowerbed for few weeks. Now, I did feel some discomfort but it quickly became all about this little creature's suffering which I had caused. I have this happen all the time when digging in my garden, but that's with earthworms and it makes me feel bad but not nearly as bad as this yesterday. Apparently there are MANY snakes here and in my crazy phobia-ridden brain I was just blocking the sight all those years of gardening. Any advice on garden snake handling if my shovel ever hurts another? Letting this little thing just die (pretty sure he ended up dying, the cut was through more than 1/2 of the body and spine and I think way above the anus level for him to survive) was just so horribly traumatic, it's like I can't shake it off. I hope someone's around to hear my confession and offer some words of experience and wisdom

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Does it have a ring around its neck?
If so, it's the same little ring necks we have here.
They 100% will not bite.
If I'd wounded him by accident, I would've humanely given him a quick stomp to death...and I really like them.

 

[Pearly]

No no ring, it was just grayish all they way. I just feel so bad about hurting him so bad. I went looking for him where i had left him but he was gone. Maybe a bird picked it up... So just "stomp"? Or chop the head off? Sorry, never researched humane ways of killing small animals. I always "saved" them, and not the other way around. Man! I can't believe I'm asking this kind of a question! Sorry again, Ed! I know I must sound really dumb and/or weird

 

[WithLisa]

Poor little thing.

Once I've hit a hedgehog with a shovel and couldn't kill it either. It was a horrible experience, still gives me nightmares...

 

[Pearly]

Poor little thing.

Once I've hit a hedgehog with a shovel and couldn't kill it either. It was a horrible experience, still gives me nightmares...

I love hedgehogs!!! I'd probably try to give it mouth to mouth

 

[WithLisa]

I love hedgehogs!!! I'd probably try to give it mouth to mouth

It was impaled on the shovel, I couldn't even get it off...

I love them too, even though I'm struggling to shoo a bunch of them out of my kitchen every evening. They are after the cat food and aren't scared of me at all anymore.

 

[Pearly]

It was impaled on the shovel, I couldn't even get it off...

I love them too, even though I'm struggling to shoo a bunch of them out of my kitchen every evening. They are after the cat food and aren't scared of me at all anymore.

Omg!!! I'd totally be feeding them! My brother and I used to play with them as kids in Poland. He had brought an orphaned baby home one time and we were keeping it until it got bigger and could get his own food. That little thing was stomping his little feet on the linoleum floor every night waking my mom and dad up. He just didn't appreciate our family diurnal lifestyle

 

[ZEROPILOT]

It's never fun to have to kill an badly injured animal. But it is sometimes 100% necessary.
Sometimes a big rock or a size 14 shoe is the best way.

 

[Pearly]

It's never fun to have to kill an badly injured animal. But it is sometimes 100% necessary.
Sometimes a big rock or a size 14 shoe is the best way.

That sounds horrible Ed! I'm telling you, as much as I love cooking and eating meat, if I had to hunt my family's dinner, we'd all be vegetarian

 

[wellington]

Don't feel bad, you didn't do it on purpose. I hit a woodchuck with my car a couple years ago. First time I ever killed an animal. I had to pull over I was crying so bad I couldn't see. I tried to miss him, but he went right under my car. I know how you feel, but it wasn't done on purpose. If you had known he was there, you wouldn't have killed/hurt him. So you don't have to go thru this again, hopefully, try sweeping thru the area first with something to scare them off before you start your work.

 

[surfergirl]

he will heal and be fine. I just had one my husband hit with a shovel and his feeling ended up coming back below the wound and he lived. it was a warm winter day while we were digging we hit his hibernation hole. I nursed him a few months until spring and the first warm day and zero freezing days left I put him out near his hole he was using to hibernate. he ate slugs while he recovered, they are tough reptiles. I cleaned his wounds with water and then put Neosporin on his wounds. it was exactly the same grass/ground snake as the one you pictured above.

 

[Pearly]

Don't feel bad, you didn't do it on purpose. I hit a woodchuck with my car a couple years ago. First time I ever killed an animal. I had to pull over I was crying so bad I couldn't see. I tried to miss him, but he went right under my car. I know how you feel, but it wasn't done on purpose. If you had known he was there, you wouldn't have killed/hurt him. So you don't have to go thru this again, hopefully, try sweeping thru the area first with something to scare them off before you start your work.

Good idea with trying to scare them off. Back in my "I'm petrified of snakes days" before getting inside my densely overgrown flowerbeds, I'd whack my shovel and stump my feet on the ground bunch of times. I had read that they could feel the vibrations and would run off.

Guess it was working bcs in my 20 yrs of gardening in my little piece of heaven I had never had an surprise encounter with a snake. I had seen a little garter snake once slithering through my back patio once and another time I went to turn on the faucet by the garage where plants grow like crazy loving the dripping water there.
That time the snake was pretty big and brown, with patchy pattern. I didn't take a good look before it had run into the bushes. To this day I'm not sure if it was corn snake, copperhead or maybe rat snake... I was too freaked out to go after him.

That was my second and last encounter with live snake in my garden.
I credit TFO and you guys for my attitude change towards the snakes. It's not that I would ever be able to hurt one before when I was so scared of them, but just felt extremely almost viscerally uncomfortable when seeing one.

Now, it's a great relief for me to say that all I felt towards that little thing was compassion and regret for causing him suffering.

I want to thank you guys for teaching me about appreciation of all reptiles, not just tortoises.

 

[Pearly]

he will heal and be fine. I just had one my husband hit with a shovel and his feeling ended up coming back below the wound and he lived. it was a warm winter day while we were digging we hit his hibernation hole. I nursed him a few months until spring and the first warm day and zero freezing days left I put him out near his hole he was using to hibernate. he ate slugs while he recovered, they are tough reptiles. I cleaned his wounds with water and then put Neosporin on his wounds. it was exactly the same grass/ground snake as the one you pictured above.

I am so relieved to be around animal fanatics like myself. I love your little snake story.

 

[ColleenT]

i am so sorry. i totally understand. even the part about being afraid to end it's suffering. it's always emotional for me and i would cry if i had to kill anything. but we are sometimes faced with difficult decisions in life.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

As hard as it is to have to kill an animal, it's still easier than watching it suffer. Knowing that it will die any way. This is especially true with mammals. (To me) Anything that can show expression and make sounds of anguish.
That's too much.

 

[surfergirl]

As hard as it is to have to kill an animal, it's still easier than watching it suffer. Knowing that it will die any way. This is especially true with mammals. (To me) Anything that can show expression and make sounds of anguish.
That's too much.

I agree to some extent unless it has a chance to survive and it is hard to know what decision to make sometimes. I had one of my cats get a hold of a chipmuck and damaged his stomach so bad that i thought his death was certain but something made me a give him a chance, let him rest and see if he was worse in the am. I doctored his wounds and put him on papertowel. I had a microwavable heat pad used for pups and so i put his nest on top of that. To my surprise he was not dead the next morning. I always keep rodent food to bait my zaptraps for mice/rats and so i set a couple of pieces in there to see if he would eat, also feed native foods. I put a water bottle in there for drinking. He started drinking right away but took a few days before i saw teeth marks in the food. I just would only disturb him to warm the pad and check water, food and life. It took about 3 months, but besides a disfigured side view on his right side he was as fast as ever. I let him go asap on his recovery.

If i had taken his life not sure it would have been the right thing to do. Obviously if a deer is lame, broken back it is an easier call. i saw a kitten crawling across the road where it was hit, obvious spinal injury i stopped becasue i could not bear seeing it suffer. I took it immediately yo my vet and had him make the call. She was out of her suffering asap thank goodness. But again Sometimes best to let them go and let them decide their fate just in case they can heal through it. Sometimes We do not really know what decision is best because they cannot tell us how they feel. To me putting them out of their misery is easy compared to making the decision of if i should or shouldn't give them a chance to live. I also always euthanize if possible. To me the cost is worth their comfort. I hate having to figure out the fastest way to end their suffering, no matter the animal, bug, life form....