It is always a pleasure to introduce a new guest blogger. This is Aubrey - the sculptor and artist from Canada that we talked about a week or so back. He specialises in fantastic cetacean sculptures, and the other week we showed you a video of the progress of his work on a fantastically detailed fin whale skeleton. Now he joins us as a blogger...As a young boy I spent many a day hunting snakes in Southern Ontario. I vividly recall returning home on a good day with a sack full of Garter, Ribbon and Dekay Snakes. The hunt had my Friend Robert and myself drudging through ravines, swamps, creeks and open meadows in search of our prey.
The stories I recall are numerous the snakes many.
One such story was set in early spring of 1973. Equipped with nothing more then a blue gym sack to hold our snakes and a few apples we set out on the hunt. Our destination was Black creek pioneer village set in North Toronto.
Briefly, Pioneer village is a recreated Victorian community from the 1860's. Outside the gates of this park (village) remained a few cellars from homes long past. The basements were nothing more then pits after more then a century of erosion. But it was in these pits that Robert and I found our prey. Sliding into one of these pits we found ourselves up to our ankles in snakes. A green mass of slithering flesh. The stench of moss and the secretions from the snakes was overpowering. The ground below us moved in all directions. This spring ritual found hundreds of males all seeking the affections of one solitary female. This mass of snakes is called a Mating Ball.
We then went about selecting the biggest and healthiest snakes available. We quickly filled our bag with snakes then set off home. The snakes that were taken from this ravine would be relocated to others. We got the idea from watching Mutual of Omaha's
Wild Kingdom. Starring Zoologist Mel Perkins along with his sidekick Jim Fowler.
Upon returning home the snakes were stored in my friends backyard, where his father built giant pens for us to house our snakes. At any given time I would say we would have several hundred, of all sizes, colors and species. Our greatest catch was a two-headed garter that was around four feet in length with a rather bad disposition.
After a long day of work I would then return home. I smelled so incredibly bad that my mother would make me almost strip down in the backyard before entering the house. She also would insist that I take a bath, which at 15 I thought I could do without.
Many years have passed since then but at 51 I still can't walk by a log without taking a peak beneath. About a year ago shortly after moving into my new home in Whitby, Ontario, I discovered a local ravine. It was quite heavily treed and bush filled. Working my way down to the river I walked gingerly for about 20 minutes before discovering among the bulrushes and a rather large swamp some fallen logs. After shifting several of these logs all I came upon were some crickets, toads and one little field mouse.
About to give up I then noticed a large piece of bark lying untouched in the grass. Lifting this large piece of bark I was left looking straight at a huge albino Garter snake. It was one of the largest snakes I ever saw and the first albino ever. I estimated its size to be over 4 feet long. Reaching for the snake he lashed out at me biting my hand. The bite is more surprising then painful. Most people don't realize that garter snakes have small teeth no fangs and are not venomous. His strike landed between my thumb and first finger drawing blood. It then darted for some tall grass. Grabbing it by its tail, it tangled its body into the grass, this is a defensive mechanism these snakes use making it hard to extract them. Not wanting to hurt it I released my grip.
This beautiful and very, very rare white snake disappeared into the undergrowth silently like the ghost it looked. I hope to hunt for him again this year only this time with my camera in hand.
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