Black snake!!

[MysticalMom]

Quote:
Ok. I know the old wives tales dont work.... But what about something like Liquid Fence Snake Repellent? It's supposed to be 100% natural and safe for the earth and your pets. Says its guaranteed to work. Have any experience with that?

I'm having a problem with black snakes in the duck pen. I never kill a non venomous snake and don't have any fear of scooping them up and taking them to another part of the farm. But they come back!! No matter how far away from the house and pen I take them they come back and I know this because I caught one big female with a nice scar down her side. I took her down the driveway and let her go in the far xmas tree field a good ways from the house and duck pen and a week later.. I was scooping her up again and taking her somewhere else.
I don't get it either. I can't really find any place they could be getting in except the front door. But they get in. I check and check for mice etc... I did find one nest before I got smart and removed all the straw except in their nests boxesand started using stall dry instead ... but I haven't seen any more. ( Probably due to all the darn black snakes) The ducks don't seem to pay them any attention and it's usually the snakes trying their hardest to get away from the ducks if they aren't hiding. But I dont want one of my ducks to get bitten and if they ever start having some babies for me I don't want the ducklings to get eaten.

Tonight I got 2 of the suckers. A 5 footer and a 6 footer.

Ugh. I don't know what to do so any advice would be great.

 

[MysticalMom]

See... here's a pic of my DH holding them. This is an every other night thing!

 

[kbird]

I lost a chick the other day to a black snake. He found a way to get in to the coop, and when I saw him he had a half-eaten chick in his mouth. I read here that sprinkling sulfur around the coop will keep the snakes away. Where do I buy it? Is it harmful to the bigger chickens if they happen to step in it?

 

[Valley quail breeder]

They must be extremely plentiful this year i relocated around 10 several miles and more re appear and kill my pheasants and quails most that they kill are almost adults and baby chicks. had a 6 footer try & swallow a pheasant but couldn't found several dead and the snake in there pen. here's a pic of a few i caught earlier this year. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=347509&p=1

 

[MysticalMom]

Quote:
And see that's what I'm worried about. when and if I ever have baby ducks, I don't want these monsters to eat them. Does ANYONE know if that Liquid Fence snake Repellent works? I know it's 100% natural and is supposed to safe for the earth and your pets etc, but does it work?

 

[Thamnophis]

Quote:
Sulphur has absolutely no effect on snakes. Might as well lay a horse hair rope around them, as the cowboys used to swear by. It a wives's tale.

 

[Chickengal505]

Nope it works alright real good trust me i live in the center of snake central! Water moccasans ,Cotten mouths ,black snakes ,king snakes you name 'em i got 'em sulfer works real good! dont listen to downers trying to put down red neck tried and true ways of taking care of pests...

I go

they go

 

[Thamnophis]

Quote:
Sorry, but its all totally worthless. People make and sell this stuff because they know people are sometimes desperate and willing to try anything. Hair ropes, black hose, sulphur - its all 100% worthless.

It has been said a billion times, but the only answer is to build a structure that protects your birds.

Take a minute and read my web page on snake repellents:

http://www.justbelowthesurface.com/...ellents-work&catid=43:farm-wildlife&Itemid=61


Joe

 

[Thamnophis]

Quote:
I was in Everglades national Park a few years back, looking at a huge brown water snake (Nerodia taxispilota) basking on a downed tree at the edge of a pond near a popular hiking trail.

A local ranger walked by with a group of tourists in tow on a nature walk. He saw me looking at the snake, announced to his group it was a venomous water moccasin and proceeded on.

A few of the tourists stayed back to look at the snake. I quietly mentioned that it was actually a harmless water snake, not a moccasin. One guy in the group was incredulous. He said with an indignant air that the snake was just identified by a national park wildlife expert and who was I to disagree, etc.

So I snuck up behind the tree and grabbed the snake. I brought it back up the bank to show the group. It was chewing vigorously on my forearms, as water snake usually do when you grab them. The loudmouth was aghast. Others were horrified at apparently suicidal actions.

But I showed them the characteristics that differentiated harmless water snakes from moccasins: the absence of fangs, the divided caudal plates, the lack of a "pit" that all pit vipers have, etc.

The point I'm trying to make is that you have to be careful about whose advice you listen too. Even well educated and trained people can be very wrong about snakes.

Sulphur is a very toxic and dangerous element to be sprinkling into the environment. It does NOT repel snakes - they just glide over the top of it. People who use it may see a decline in the number of snakes because they use it in the spring and as the heat of summer arrives many snakes become more nocturnal. They assume the sulphur worked, but actually the snakes changed their behavior.

And if your wondering - water moccasins and cotton mouths are two names for the same species. No need to mention them twice.

 

[MysticalMom]

Quote:
Sorry, but its all totally worthless. People make and sell this stuff because they know people are sometimes desperate and willing to try anything. Hair ropes, black hose, sulphur - its all 100% worthless.

It has been said a billion times, but the only answer is to build a structure that protects your birds.

Take a minute and read my web page on snake repellents:

http://www.justbelowthesurface.com/...ellents-work&catid=43:farm-wildlife&Itemid=61


Joe

Thanks! That's what I figured.

I can't figure out how they're getting in. I guess I have more investigative work to do.