Serpent in Paradise

Yesterday as I walked past the French door that opens on to the porch/pool deck I noticed a brownish largeish snake slither under the old coal burning kitchen stove that decorates a wall out there. The stove was my grandmother's, and that tale is for another time. I called Sal to come look, and fetched my Snake Stick (pictured) to catch the critter. CRAP! A genuine moccasin!! Not a brown water snake or Hognose snake. These are often mistaken for moccasins. No, this was the real thing. And, it had just fanged a large skink, now twitching under the stove.
In recent years I have come to understand that living things are no less deserving of life than we are, and so have become more likely to catch and release than squash or kill. Example: Wasp in the house? Catch it in a glass and let it go. Ditto with a fly. Step over bugs or critters on the ground if possible rather than crush them. Catch and move snakes. (I still poison rats in the greenhouse, though, and eat meat too. And I understand the definition of “hypocrisy”.)
But I have a firm agreement with poisonous snakes. I don’t go into their territory to kill or bite, and I don’t want them in mine. Mostly it works. We live in an area criss-crossed with streams and not far from a lake. We have cotton mouths, pygmy rattlers, regular rattlers and copperheads in the watershed. They almost always stay away. And if I see one in the yard or edge, or on the road, I try to move them on. Not so this moccasin. This beauty was inside the screened porch. Inside with lots of plants and pots to hide in. Inside with the pool. Inside for how many days? Just luck that I saw it, instead of getting a bite under the table or when reaching to pluck a dead leaf. I did try to catch it, but couldn't, so I reluctantly shot it. At some level I am still sad, and am working through this with the help of some guides I have in the spirit world. I have written about this in earlier essays if you care to look. Yeah, that’s right: Search? Spirit world? If you know me you know my argument is with Religion, not Spirits. Big difference.
Paradise is again serpent-free (I hope) , and the loose screen found is now fixed. This morning both of us looked very carefully before stepping barefoot onto the porch. And will for some days to come.