Snake captured in back yard

A BEACONSFIELD family had a couple of close encounters with a copperhead snake before finally catching the elusive reptile.
Jose Meyer was delighted to have a snake handler take the good-sized copperhead to a safer place after it decided to settle in the Meyers’ Beaconsfield garden.
Initially, Mrs Meyer’s five-year-old grand-daughter spotted the snake when playing in the back yard.
“She came inside all excited that she had spotted a lizard,” she said.
“Happily she went back outside to then find that the lizard was in actual fact a five-foot long copperhead snake. I have never heard her scream so loud.”
A call to a local snake handler proved fruitless, with the copperhead keeping out of sight.
A little while later, however, the snake slithered back into view.
“I was gardening one day and I thought I saw a rat’s tail under the ground covers,” he said.
“It got away quickly and I continued to weed away, but in actual fact it was the snake again.”
The following week, the snake was sighted again, apparently looking for a sunny spot and water.
The snake catcher was called again and after two hours nabbed his prey.
“We are all very relieved that our reptile has been caught,” Mrs Meyer said.
“So much better to have it released in an area where it should be, than to kill it, which is against the law.”