I and my mother were returning from a walk and as we entered the courtyard of our house, we saw our big tabby cat called Headache pawing at something. Then we realized what it was: a snake.

We shone the torch on the snake and recognized a young common krait which is a venomous black snake with white bands.

By the time the snake reached the tree, Headache had almost killed it. I screamed out to my father: “Snake! Snake!” My father and a servant came running. They killed it by putting a flower pot on the coiled snake. Fortunately, the snake remained intact. So we put it in a box which we kept in the fridge. I wanted to study it. I measured it. The snake was 40 cm. We opened its mouth to see the fangs but couldn’t see them. Instead we saw the wind pipe and a raw of tiny teeth.

In the evening, we looked on Internet to find information about the common krait:

In India, there are four most venomous snakes and the common krait is the deadliest of them. The other snakes are the Russell’s viper, the Saw-scaled Viper and the Cobra. The common krait has a black body with white bands, and a white dot on the neck bone. This snake comes out at night. It has very toxic venom. If the snake bites you, you have to rush to the hospital otherwise you die within 8 hours. It stays in rat holes, debris and piles of bricks. Sometimes it comes into houses.

After two weeks, we saw another young common krait. This time, it was our neighbour who was screaming: “Snake! Snake!” I and my parents looked at it. My father killed it.

After another two weeks, as I was searching for Headache’s kitten, I removed the plastic cover of the scooter. Something cold like a cat’s nose fell on my foot. I threw my foot up and a tiny common krait fell on the ground. I called my father and he killed it.

Now we are all suspecting a nest of common kraits near our house. Even Headache often acts as if some disturbing creatures were around.