One of six ball pythons found over the last couple of weeks here in Wells County. In all fairness, none of them were very big, in the 50-inch range. But STILL!!!!!!
I was so proud of myself over the weekend for silently leaping over a snake on a trail run.
No scream. No spasms. No hyperventilating. As I told my sister, who never even saw it but wondered what was up with my hurdling maneuver, there’d been a 2-foot garter directly underfoot. I would’ve stepped on it if I hadn’t adjusted my trajectory. But I didn’t overreact, and that’s major progress.
So then she tells me about the six pythons found out in the countryside in our county. And of course I had to go interview the people who found them.
And so after a day of immersing myself in all the details — not to mention another episode from 2010 when three Indiana kayakers found an 11-foot Burmese python along a creek near Lafayette — Traci wants to go on another trail run and … I simply couldn’t do it. We ran on the paved River Greenway instead. And even then I couldn’t stop scanning the riverbank, just in case.
So now one of my worst fears has come true. I can no longer tell myself that there’s nothing to worry about, that there aren’t any dangerous snakes in our neck of the woods. Because who knows how many crazy exotic pets people are keeping in their homes — until they get tired of them and decide to just dump them out in the countryside?
Arrrgggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!
I will not … let this keep me from getting back on the trail. But it will be hard. And this sucks.
You know, pythons are not venomous. But then, I’ve never seen one in the wild and if I found out they were left along the rivergreenway in Fort Wayne I might have second thoughts about running along that stretch of trail.
I don’t think ball pythons tend to be very aggressive, either. But it’s one thing for my mind to know something and another thing for my emotions to react accordingly, especially if something startles you.