I am one of those 'weirdos' that don't kill snakes...so good for you for letting it live! Snakes are also mother nature's pest control and have a place in the world. Now a copperhead?...different story, especially if you have kids or dogs! My boys found one here several years ago that was sooo big we had to measure it. It measured 5' 3" not even completely straightened out (impossible to get a live snake straight!). According to our snake book, we think it was a type of king snake. They took it way back behind the house to the creek and let it go.
The very next day it was back and was up in one of the holly bushes by the house! We caught it again and took it over a mile from the house and let it go again...if it had come back that time it would have been REALLY freaky, but he didn't. We knew it was the same snake because it had swallowed something big (rat? baby rabbit? ground squirrel?) and had a big lump in his belly. If my husband had found that thing he would have been DRT (dead right there)!
