A Mesa homeowner saw a long, slender black snake cross his back patio in the morning. A few hours later, his wife still wasn’t interested in going outside until someone had checked the yard, so Marissa came out to take a look.
There wasn’t much cover in the backyard, and after searching the few likely hiding places, she was getting ready to leave when the next-door neighbor spotted her and asked if she was looking for a snake. As it turned out, the snake had apparently just moved one yard over.
The neighbor had seen a black snake in her backyard and was carrying a shovel with the intention of killing it. Someone else was already on the way to rescue the snake, so Marissa offered to find it in the meantime.
She located a beautiful black Coachwhip wedged into a narrow gap between the house and the fence. It had recently eaten, and the large meal in its stomach was preventing it from squeezing the rest of the way through.
Marissa carefully freed the Coachwhip and waited for Nick, who had already driven out to rescue it, then handed the snake over to him.
Not the snake Marissa expected to find, and technically not even in the yard she was called to, but a pretty good outcome for everyone involved, especially the Coachwhip.
