Catching a snake is frustrating and time consuming if you are sitting out there waiting for it to come out of it's hole. You can't sit quietly enough to keep it from knowing you are there. They hunt by detecting heat and vibrations. The easiest way is to use the normal behavior of a snake to get it to go where you want. Snakes like warm dark places so you can lay out a paper bag ( a pillow case will be too bright, a burlap sack will do fine) with an opening arranged so the snake can go inside. Wire or a frame of some sort will help keep it open but the object is to create a dark cave. If there is no sun to make the bag warm put a heating pad under it. The snake eventually will go inside, curl up and go to sleep. Then you can scoop up the bag at the open end, twist it a couple of times and tie it off. Twilight is a good time as is noon. Those are times the snake finds a place to nap. Put the snake, bag and all in a garbage can with a snug lid. They can get out of anything that is shorter than a standard garbage can. The advantage to this is you don't have to chase it and it won't be injured and you won't get hurt either. Sandy

Thanks, sportsguy and wayne. Looked up some pictures and pretty sure that's what it was. The tiny size fits, too. From what I read, a brown snake is sub-terranean most of the time so that also makes sense that I found it pulling grass away from the wall. Wish I would have had the presence of mind to try to catch it for a better look (not to try to keep.) It was SO CUTE! He/she is welcome to eat as many slugs and bugs as it can find! Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.

There are NOT baby "water moccasins" (Cottonmouths). Your friend clearly doesn't know much about snake identification. This is a hatchling of either the Southern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor) or possibly the Eastern Coachwhip (Coluber flagellum) (the babies are difficult to distinguish from just the head. These snakes are harmless lizard eaters. The Southern Black Racer is one of the most common snake in Florida and that is the way I would lean on this one based on this photo. This post was edited by FHFchrish on Mon, Sep 16, 13 at 8:25

cmarlin - if we keep them, I'll clean them, but no paint, I think they look pretty rich and even though old, I actually like them. I think I'll probably put in something like Silestone in a mocha color and it would look great. What will determine whether we keep them is if I can find a good match that will appropriately fit. kelpermaid, I think they painted in the house recently, though I'm not sure - going to try and find out. I know they've lived there for 6 years, so if they are the only people who smoked there in the last 25 years since it was built, at least 19yrs of it had no smokers - but not sure how bad the last 6 years have been. creekside - now you've TOTALLY confused me! In some cases, homes need to dry to the interior. Kilz will prevent that. So will some other products. A spot of Kilz here and there won't hurt anything. Rolling it on all the interior walls may promote mold growth. So, if you are going to use Kilz after cleaning with TSP or something like it, you can't paint everything?? I'm sure I'm not understanding something here - I'll try to read the info on the link you sent - maybe call the co. next week. Carol_from_NY -thanks, I think my cleaning list is growing by leaps and bounds. The way I'm going, I may have to put my mother on the top of the car and tell her to hold on to the luggage rack for the trip up I'm going to have so many supplies to take! Thanks for mentioning the steamer, I have one and wouldn't have remember to think about taking it. I've never heard about putting gum in for smells, that's a new one. I'll try ANYTHING to get the house to normal. Thanks for all you suggested. Well, at this time we are in limbo. Inspections turned up a few problems, two problems that could be major, one that definitely is and has to do with a foundation failure. I am trying to get the owners to agree to fix what's on the repair list I sent them - which isn't everything that needs to be repaired, I took on the cheaper and more easily aspects of it. Will know more next week whether the deal goes through or falls apart. Wish me luck!! Thanks again to all - everyone has been extremely helpful, and it's all appreciated! Oh, one more thing - my Mom was there during the inspection and told me they had a machine running to take the stink out and she thought it smelled better in there - was probably an ozone machine. My nose will decide (if we close on it, that is) THANKS!!!!