Yeah, it definitely startled the hell outta me, I had to do a double take to verify that it really was a coral. I probably would have let it live (maybe) but we have 2 cats (one of which is mainly an indoor cat and curious by nature) that were outside at the time and I didn't want them getting bitten. As far as "how I caught it", the answer would be: with a machette.
edit: my first instinct was to grab one of the 12-gauges, but I figured I might give the neighbors a heart attack.
