Cats’ playthings!

There are a number of cats that hang around the villa in Spain.
They are pretty friendly but they are also great hunters.
I was sitting outside eating when I noticed a cat in the grass with something in its mouth. I put down my knife and fork and grabbed my camera to investigate.
From a distance, it looked like the cat had a tail in its mouth but when I got nearer, I realised it was a snake, either a young one or an old one.
What to do! Should I just let nature take its course and let the cat rip the little snake to pieces, or if the snake was venomous, the cat could be in serious trouble. I decided to intervene and distracted the cat and removed the snake by giving it a stick to wrap around. It was only about 20 centimetres long. I took his photo before releasing him in the long grass.
As to the other one, this rather large cricket, about 6 centimetres long, was sunning himself beside the pool when another of the cats came along and started to chase it when it moved. I managed to make a barrier of myself to allow the cricket to make his escape.