June 10, 2017. When I dropped by my second-floor
office in the Seismology Building this morning to pick up my computer, I
spotted a five-foot long Black Rat Snake in the office next door. I suppose that it had climbed the corrugated
exterior of the building to hunt eggs and chicks in the birds nests under the eaves,
crawled into some crack between the roof and wall, and emerged in the
building's interior. I rummaged around
in my office until I found a large and strong plastic bag. I put it over the
snake (which had coiled up). Gently holding the snake through the bag, I
inverted the bag so that the snake was inside.
I carried it outside the building, released it and shooed it across the
lawn and into the woods. It climbed up
into a bush. Returning to the building to get my computer, I encountered a
second snake right by my office door. It had not been there five minutes
before. I bagged it like the last one,
released it outside and shooed it across the lawn until it slithered beneath a
bush. I returned to the building and
walked around looking for more snakes.
Finding none, I retrieved my computer and headed home. I stopped by the guardhouse at the exit and
asked the Security officer to call me if any more snakes were reported in
campus buildings.