This evening I went out to get a screwdriver from my work bench. As I headed back towards the door into the house I saw a http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/l.g.californiae.html stretch out against the wall to the right of it. I didn't yell, but I did kind of jump around and back (it would have been quite humiliating if anyone else had seen it. It was a baby at that - just about a foot long. I guess the warmth of the car engine drew it in (its cool tonight). I used one of those http://www.amazon.com/32-Reacher-Grabber-Pick-Stick/dp/B0016P1VT2 to grab it and take it out to the yard. I didn't want to hurt it - they're very beneficial for killing rodents and even rattlesnakes when they're grown (and they aren't venomous). Still, it unnerved me and now I'm looking all over my house hoping to not see one in here. That very thing happened with another baby King Snake at my work a few years ago, so I know they can find their way indoors.
So I find I'm a big chicken where snakes are concerned.

Ever find an unwelcome visitor in/near your house (non-human

)? Did it make you cautious for a while afterward?
Hehe I love snakes, esp pit vipers. Such cool adaptations! When I was 7 I brought home a 12 inch squiched garter snake to my mom. She was thrilled!

Haven't really had any unwelcome visitors like that in my house, but once in a while there'll be a garter or bull snake in the girls' outhouse where I work. Great teaching moment! Well, assuming I can get the 4th grade girls to stop screaming... It's pretty interesting and frustrating to so how gender-related some fears are...
The only unwelcome sanke was a cotton mouth that slithered through our platoon's cigar perimeter while training in Louisiana and 11" of rain. Oh, and ran into a few rattle snakes while doing some land nav at night. Did you know their eyes shine green? "immediate action drill: react to jake" LOL
Most of the unwelcome visitors are furry. I woke up in my http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/moxiepix/b1_1168.gif to a racoon that was abscounding with my applesauce packet. Mice in the attic drive me crazy! I hear them, adn I know they're just making more babies, so there will be even more...! Then there was the red squirrel who snuck into the rustic cabin through a whole in the floor under the woodpile. He found his way to the garbage can. When I rattled it, he jumped onto my shoulder and then out the door!
One cockroach that woke me up trying to dig its way through my sheet and into my ear...
No bears yet...