All you snake lovers...

[Iowa Roo Mom]

Attagirl! I'm new to the forums and new to chicken-husbandry. I must say tho, being an avid snake lover and a snake mom (I have a speckled king snake named Fluffy) You did the right thing. But, that being said and as much as I LOVE snakes- if that snake gets in with your chickens and starts killing your babies, I wouldn't hesitate to kill it. But for now... way to go girl!

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
I the snake starts killing babies, then build a more secure brooder.

 

[gallusgallusgalore]

I had my first encounter with a five feet four inch rat snake today that I thought was a rattler and I was not as brave or merciful. My 3 yo son ran into the pen before I did and was maybe six inches away from it. The snake was in a cage with some older bitties and already fat from one of my gl sebrights

. I freaked out and grabbed the axe and 'took care of him'.

 

[montcapu]

poor gl sebright... well at least you took care of the problem

 

[theOEGBman]

ATTAGIRL!

Awesome job buddy. Im very proud.

 

[gypsy2621]

Atta Girl.

You did well.
believe it or not I have been around some pretty large snakes, either Red tails, Burmese( which scare the life out of me) Retics( same fear both are just too big and dangerous to have as pets)
To this day if I come upon one out side I will still jump out of my skin. Its called the Startle Factor.
Every one has this factor and some have it so deeply ingrained that it turns into a phobia.
I totally understand some peoples fear of snakes. I am the same way with frogs.
While I wont kill a frog I will in fact go running screaming like a little girl. I will find someone to remove it from my vacinity. ewww they just creep me out so bad.
Silly fear, yep it certainly is.

To everyone with a healthy fear of snakes, I can suggest looking up on line, at the library, with your county extension which snakes are native and which are potentially venomous and get to recognise which is which.
The reason I ask this of people is, too many harmless snakes are mistaken for a look alike venomous variety.
good example.
Up here in NH we have water snakes, now for I dont know how many years they have been mistaken for Cotton Mouth, Water Moccosins, They are marked similar but if you turn them over and look at the belly the markings are wrong color, not only that the common water snake here is much duller in its top line appearence.

I wish the picture of the one that was visiting my water pond hadnt gone up in the fire,( computer melted).
I called Fish and Game and took a picture for ID purposes and they said a common water snake, sent a Biologist out to measure , weigh, and check its general health.
The Biologist proclaimed it the healthiest snake he had seen ,asked if I minded keeping an eye for it as Water Snakes in our part of the state have become a rare find. and to find one so healthy was a good sign they may make a come back.
People killed them wantenly because of the Moccosin appearence.
It was a huge old snake I was thrilled to have it around, no mice !
I evevn went so far as to ask hubby to put Shiners in the water pond so the snake would feel free to stick around.
every year we see off spring from this or another snake.

Sorry didnt mean to hijack nor ramble but I truely love snakes and would love it if everyone got to understand their benifit rather than kill first and whine about mice later.
Thank You.

 

[halo]

If it does get in with my babies, I hope Ill be able to somehow someway catch it, or pick it up with a broom handle and drop it in a feed bag, or SOMETHING, and just move it somewhere. As scary as it is to me.......GAWD!!!!!!!........I know how wonderful they are to have around, and since Im out in the country, Im sure I can move it to a more hospitable environment than my baby pen. I hope theres enough mice to keep him busy.

 

[gypsy2621]

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology/fl-guide/Elaphegguttata.htm

this is a good link to the corn snake in Fla , it also has some other good links.
I really like the anerythristic, its a cool pattern.
this is one of the reasons for such a long post before.
the Morphs some wild corns produce are fascinating.

 

[Wendyba29]

I wish more people would just "roadtrip" the snakes instead of just killing them. They serve a very important function in rodent control! Just yesterday I was checking on a broody hen when I turned to leave the coop and saw shiny black scales at eye level. Scared the living crap out of me!!!

He was on the perch right at head level and about the biggest Black snake I've ever seen about 5 ft! I had noticed a decline in the mouse population, but with babies on the way I'm not taking any chances, so he got a nice ride down the road. Just my 2 cents worth for whatever it's worth.