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We walked out our front door one evening and saw a Texas rat snake beneath a fir tree right next to our front door. Looked like an old bicycle tire. It scared the bejeebers out of my wife. I got a hoe and put it four or five inches from the snake's body and rotated the handle of the hoe quickly back and forth. The snake cautiously stuck its head around the tree and promptly struck at the hoe. Rat snakes aren't venomous, but they can be aggressive.

I moved the hoe closer to the snake, and the snake took off through our bushes. It was about five feet long although it didn't look that long when under the tree.

When I looked 15 minutes later it was back under the same tree. I faintly touched the snake with the hoe and the snake took off in the opposite direction than before. I wouldn't hurt it because I know it helps rid us of small rodents, but I would try to keep it away from our front door.

We haven't seen the snake since. We did see a baby rabbit that could easily fit in your palm in our front bushes the next morning and an adult rabbit sitting under the tree where the snake had been,

Here's the snake as we first saw it. The head and some of the snake was behind the tree.