Even though they scare me, I felt bad

I decided to do some yard work yesterday by weeding out the very overgrown areas under my shrubs/flowers. I know the "George" the black racer lives around the area somewhere, as he (just say it's a he) has let his presence know to me a number of times by slithering around the front yard. I kept this in the back of my mind as i started to pull some weeds. It was getting too much for my hands and back to handle, to i grabbed the garden hoe. Well now I'm making some progress. As i chopped the hoe into the dirt to cut away some weeds, a strange thing caught the corner of my eye. It was wiggling  and hopping around like crazy.I cursed and jumped back thinking it was George. Looking a bit closer, i saw that it was about a five inch piece of his tail. As much as i don't like snakes, I couldn't just chop them up (unless they're poisonous) I hope it can grow a new tail, do they? So now I'll have to keep a look out for old stubby.