Hi guys!

I just wanted to tell the 'Tail of Stanley the snake'
[url="http://s219.photobucket.com/a.../cc207/ProffesorDTC/StanleytheSnake.jpg[/img][/url]
Last spring I was surprised to find a ~ 20" garden snake in my garden one day when I came home from work. I thought it was 'cool' and let it be. However, the next day 'he' was there again when I came home and I wanted to check on the 'annuals' I had recently planted - so I want to the garden to check on the plants. I had expected him to slither away when I came near, but he just held his ground and let me pluck, trim and adjust the mulch all around him :?: Emboldened by his nonchalant behavior, I placed my hand ~ 1" in front of his face - he just stuck his tongue out a number of times (to smell me) (or maybe he was hoping for some of the beer in my other hand :lol ) This continued for a couple of days - he was cool with me and I offered no threat to him. One evening while we were interacting such, I showed him to one of my neighbors - but a couple of the kids saw and heard what I was saying. Seeing their interest I touched Stanley on the head to get him to slither away (so the kids wouldn't get him) - much to my surprise, the snake didn't withdraw and tolerated my 'petting' of his head

:?: . I finally had to pick him up to get him to go to his 'night home' and be safe from the little b*stards. This continued (Stanley and I 'communing' each evening) for ~ a week, until one day I came home and he wasn't there

I figured that I had just missed him that day, I got home a little later than usual - but when I walked my dog I found Stanley broken and mutilated on the side of my unit ----
torn apart by sticks and one of them still through him! 
Needless to say, I was sad and angry. I never found out which of the little monsters did this, not that there was much I could do...
I'm sorry that this isn't a "happy pet story", but I wanted to share with y'all the joy that can come of having a truly wild creature befriend you (and the heartbreak that unknowing/ unthinking/ uncaring people can cause :x ) I also wanted to, in a way, immortalize Stanley