my roommate the snake

Last night was one of those nights when sleep was a stranger.

I finally drifted off around 6:30 this morning, but I thought I heard construction going on in the house. It turned out I was not delusional. Omar had decided to clean the solar panels on top of the pavilions on his own.

I had not yet figured out what he was doing when he knocked on my bedroom door and excitedly told me to come. On the way, he told me there was a snake in his bedroom. My first thought was that the adult coachwhip snake that has visited us three times was putting in an encore (slytherin patio).

I was wrong. There was something sitting on the ledge behind the toilet seat. But it looked more like a long worm. Almost like one of those Guinea worms that work their way out of human arms on the Nature Channel.

Omar was correct, though. The moment it saw our movement, the snake was on the run. In its fright, it kept getting further and further from the bedroom door.

Omar grabbed the squeegee he had used to clean the panels and I grabbed a plastic bucket. Between the two of us, we managed to corral it in the bucket. I then freed it in the lot across the street.

I have looked at the photographs several times trying to identify what type of snake it might be. My best guess is that it is a very young coachwhip snake. For a moment, I thought it might be a young green vine snake, but the head is wrong. Snakes are one of the few animals that have their life-long shape the minute they crack out of their eggs.

Omar is not as fond of snakes as I am. But I imagine even I would have been a bit startled if I had discovered a snake on (or in -- because that does happen) my toilet.

If you have any identification suggestions, please add them below.