A new resident

Although I a definitely consider myself a biologist and was a science teacher with SNAKES in my classroom, I DO NOT LIKE the little slitherers....so when we heard from neighbors that there have been at least two 'incidents' with RATTLESNAKES in our neighborhood, I wasn't happy. Apparently, they're pretty rare around here, but two confirmed sightings- one of them just 2 houses away...I shudder just thinking about it! Gross.
The biggest issue is just that I'm scared of letting Elise and Gus out in the backyard without my being right next to them. We love our backyard garden, great fenced in green area, good shade to play in, etc...I used to let Elise run around and play while I sat on the deck (within 20 feet of her!) feeding Ainsley or whatever. Now I won't do it. If she pays attention to her favorite cartoon characters Dora and Diego, she thinks it's ok to play with snakes, pick them up, put them around your neck, etc...but we've been practicing better snake "handling". I ask her "What do you do if you see a real snake outside?" "Run away and yell 'No snake, no snake'". Nice.
On that same note, Adam's mom has been here all weekend (a Great visit-more on it later!), and she was outside for a few minutes at one point and came running in quickly to tell me there was a SNAKE in the backyard. AUGH. My curiosity overtakes my jitters, so I grab a camera and run outside. It was about 3 feet long and, according to neighbors, it was a non-poisonous Black Snake. I still didn't like it. Here are a couple pictures. We followed him around the yard for about 10 minutes and then he slithered out under the fence. I'm VERY concerned now about another little (or not so little) guy getting in, but we won't give up. We'll continue to play in the backyard, but make a lot of noise when we go out and my eyes scan the fence and sunny spots as soon as I step outside...we'll see.