ONE WILD NIGHT!

That escalated rather quickly!

It all started out so simple. Then, we wound up at the pond. Soon we were overwhelmed with wildlife! It's amazing how fast things like this can happen.

ONE CRAZY VIDEO!

This video pretty much gives you a play by play. If you've ever wanted to see Hive account@papa-pepper grabbing snakes out of the water in the middle of the night, now is your chance. Also, at one point I grab one using only one finger, since I already had a huge snake in that and and was trying to use a camera and flashlight with my other hand. This gets pretty crazy!

A PHOTO PLAY-BY-PLAY

Things started out simple. As we were walking past a door that leads inside, Red-Pepper found a tiny Northern Water Snake. We have no idea what it was doing so far away from the pond, so we thought that we should maybe take it down to the pond, since concrete isn't really its natural environment.

At the pond, we noticed that things were pretty active. Right away we caught a large Leopard Frog. Just check out the size of it compared to that tiny snake.

While admiring the frog and snake, we saw a head under the water peeking out of the mud. I was able to get the creature out of the pond bottom, and it was a small Snapping Turtle!

About a half day after finding my first Snapping Turtle in town with Monster Truck the Pepper and Sweet-Pepper, I had now found my second one with Pinkie-Pepper and Red-Pepper! What a beautiful creature! Don't you think?

Although we were not able to capture it, we also saw a large Bullfrog in the pond. These have been a favorite of mine ever since I first met them as a child. Thankfully, my Hive account@little-peppers can now also enjoy these amazing wild creatures.

AND THEN... SNAKES!!!

Then came the snakes! I noticed a head poking out of the water, and figured that it must be a Northern Water Snake, like the little one we found, only bigger. Sure enough, the pond was "full" of these serpents.

Thankfully, I had some wonderful little helpers, since I had not remembered to bring a snake bag. It's still early in the year, but usually I like to keep one on me since they come in so handy. Check out those brilliant little helpers holding them snake so safely!

Speaking of safely, Hive account@papa-pepper did not do such a good job. With my left hand I tried to record video while also pointing a flashlight. I did pretty good, I think. But then, after capturing the largest snake of the night, I saw another one. With only one free finger on my right hand I attempted to capture the creature. While I caught the snake just fine, I was not able to safely secure its head, so it bit me. Thankfully, when I grab a snake like this and it bites me, it makes it very hard for it get away! ;-)

Yeah, having these extra hands around to help is surely a blessing. Especially since we ended up catching five snake total! I know that many grownups would not be comfortable doing what these small girls are doing, but these Hive account@little-peppers like checking things like this out. Also, it gives them an understanding and appreciation for these creatures on a much deeper level.

Here is a photo of that tiny snake that started it all compared to the big one that we found. I think it's amazing how quickly we can have a whole bunch of fun out of nowhere! I especially like it because no television, computer, or tablet was necessary, and even the children had fun (if you know what I mean).