Help! SNAKES!! Anybody have any magic fix for a snake population explosion??!

[TopHatsNSpats]

OK, I have lived on this farm for 15 yrs now, and I have never ever seen snakes like I have this year. I am guessing it was the mild winter, but this is RIDICULOUS. I have been fighting, and losing babies, for the past several weeks. I have so far killed more than 20 and they just keep coming. Mostly those darn black snakes and these guys are big enough to force a hole through any weak spot in the outer chicken wire screen that covers the chain link. They can somehow get through the 1 inch mesh. Some are big enough to kill the bigger birds, though not to swallow them apparently... They keep finding places to weasel through where the wire is attached. Seems like nothing I do is enough; and I can't really afford to cover all the outdoor pens with screenwire or hardware cloth. Nothing else stops them! I have electric hot lines set up, weeds cleared back 20 feet away, and the darn things are in my HOUSE!!! They are EVERYWHERE. My son killed a huge rat snake in with the baby Brahmas this evening; this is absolutely driving me nuts. Not even the cats seem able to keep them under control. I have never had anything like this before and I am at my wit's end!

Anybody know any good remedies for snakes? Help!! Just to explain the setup, I have chain link pens (because of coyotes, they will go through the chicken wire) and then it is covered with chicken wire to keep birds in and smaller predators like raccoons and such out. I have a line of hotwire around it, also to fight the coyote issue. But it is not stopping the snakes. Any suggestions??

 

[Penny Hen]

Get a pig if you can have one where you are. They will eat your snakes. Even a couple of mini pigs can do the job if you don't want to deal with full sized hogs. Pigs just LOVE snakes! Had someone dump a pair of juvenile mini pigs about 8 years ago in my area. They made their way to my place and took up residence. Well I am zoned for no pigs because of the fragile erosion prone soil here. So the city comes out and says I can't have the pigs. I say Not my pigs, catch them if you can. Well you can't feed them you know, he says. I'm not I said. Well what are they eating? Oh snakes and grubs and hickory nuts. I had it good for about two years and that pair cleaned out the snake infestation I had. But my idiot neighbor felt bad for them in the winter and he coaxed them into his shed with food and tamed them. So of course the city made him get rid of them. I told him not to tame them but no.. He had to go do it anyway.

Moth balls are supposed to shoo them off. I know of a lot of people who religiously throw moth balls under their house to keep snakes from taking up there.

 

[TopHatsNSpats]

Thanks, I can actually have hogs tho I'm not really wanting a big one, but if a couple of pygmies would help, I'm willing to try almost anything at this point. I thought about goats, for the same reason. I tried the mothball thing but it never worked, well I didn't see as many so maybe it did LOL I am ready to try about anything. I almost lost it when he told me he found that big snake in with my baby Brahmas...

 

[mamahen1980]

My mother swears by ground up lime. Says its helps with all kinds of critters.

 

[TopHatsNSpats]

Thank you, mamahen, I'm a farmer so I have lime already, that is certainly a cheap and easy fix. Wonder if it will work better if I add it to moth balls? I'm also on Craigslist, right now, looking for one of those little potbelly things. Can't hurt, my farm is out in the middle of nowhere zoned totally ag and anyway we have feral hogs out here so tame ones shouldn't be an issue. Thanks for the good ideas! Looking forward to seeing if they work, and if anyone else has any fool proof snake remedies, sing out!

 

[mamahen1980]

I would like a small piglet but having my chicks was alot more then I thought but to me so worth it I hope it all works for you

 

[mamahen1980]

Any improvement in your neck of the woods with the snakes?

 

[TopHatsNSpats]

Not yet, still seeing way too many, but someone suggested I get some *adult* geese, so now I am the proud owner of a pair of China Whites, at least they have the knobs on the bills so I presume they are Chinas. My son caught them this afternoon playing tug of war with a black snake, so I am impressed! Still trying to find either some small pigs or maybe a few goats, goats would not only kill the snakes but also would eat the grass so deal with two problems at once ;o) I also went around the house looking to see if I could find where they were getting into the house itself, and found a hole in the corner, looks like maybe mouser or rat damage, that I repaired. Then I tossed both lime and moth crystals under the house. So hopefully we will not have them in the brooder again!!

 

[mamahen1980]

Wow geese awesome. Goat trimming down grass would help with no hiding places. Sounds like a lot of great ideas. You should be without snakes before you know, good luck!

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Surround the area you wish to protect with deer netting bunched on the ground. I'd read about deer netting keeping snakes away but didn't understand how effective it was until we caught one by accident. I laid some deer netting in a pile on the ground, went in the house to do chores, came back out a few hours later and found a snake caught in it.

Here's a thread about it: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/346915/deer-netting-works-great-for-snakes

You loosely roll the deer netting into a sort of tube and they can't get through it without getting caught. Of course, getting them out isn't the easiest thing in the world to do but better than them getting your chicks and eggs.