I haven't posted on here for about 4 years - but this post has made me !! LOL I had a good friend who would only have live trees- One night while sitting in the dark living room sipping a cup of tea enjoying the peace and the tree lights - she started to hear the ornaments hit together - she flipped on the room lights seperated the branches and looked into the tree - to find an 8 foot black rat snakes looking back at her! You have to her tell the story of how her husband picked up the tree - decorated and all and took it to the front yard and pulled the snake out of!!