I know there are plenty of snakes in Nigeria. There's been the corpse of one hanging in the cashew tree from before we moved into TCNN; James and Ruth often see them at school before the groundsmen take care of them; a friend found a decent sized cobra in his veranda, but I haven't seen a live one myself before yesterday when I moved a large bin on our porch and there it was.
I rather like snakes and usually wouldn't harm one but unfortunately ignorance breeds fear. I didn't know enough to allow this one to slither off. It was small but those can be the most deadly so I picked up a handy piece of wood and bashed it before finishing it off with a trowel. Thankfully both dogs were otherwise occupied and didn't come along to help. I couldn't allow the prospect of it getting into the house, being surprised by human or dog and biting.
If anyone can identify what it is and whether it is indeed dangerous I would be grateful. It has stripes going around its head but lengthways on its tail. In between there are leopardlike spots and its belly is pale yellow. If it's harmless the next one will live. If I'm still ignorant the trowel's coming out again.
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