re: "Snakes, Why did it have to be snakes?"
We also have coral snakes (I almost step on one jogging one day) and cottonmouths (came close to being bit by them many times as a boy.) And we have tones of copperheads. I have killed three of them in my yard this spring.
I have heard that copperheads are really not that poisonous. That they have a mild venom, but I don’t want to find out.
A couple of weeks ago my wife, who is terrified of snakes, was proud she stood up to and killed a snake by the trash can. I told her it was a non-poisonous rat snake.