Snakes are actually great! I hope I help you learn a bit more throughout this article! I hope to continue to add on to it every once in a while but I feel this is a good starting point that has a good amount of information. If I don’t cover something you would like to know or would like clarification on something just ask in the comments. Enjoy the read!
So as a huge reptile and snake nerd, I would like to clear up some of the common myths and misconceptions about snakes. The majority of this is going to be referring the the various rat snake species found throughout the United States as they are the most common ones I see brought up but I will get a bit into other native snakes as well.
But before starting out I need some things to get out of the way about snakes in general.
The first thing this that there is no such thing as an aggressive snake. The only reason a snake will try to bite is if they feel they need to protect themselves and are not able to get away. No snake will chase you, it is just taking the most effective path to get away from where it was which sometimes is the path you were on.
The second is that a snake will not bite if you leave it alone. A bite from a snake is the absolute last resort. There was a study done where a fake leg was used to step on a rattlesnake and well over 90% of the time the snake would try to get away or curl up into a ball to try and protect its head. Once again, no snake is out to get you. Leave it alone and nothing will happen.
The third is that killing a snake is the best way to get rid of them. It absolutely is not. Snakes will live in an area with a food source. If you see one on your property then chances are you have a rodent problem. By killing the snake you are just going to make that problem much worse. What you should do is, assuming it isn’t venomous, leave it alone. Set up some rodent traps (do NOT use poison or sticky traps) and it will move away on its own relatively quickly. If you don’t want to leave it until it leaves on its own, relocate it to a more distant part of your property or if your property isn’t big enough to do that, move it to a nearby remote water source. By relocating it, it is able to preform its job keeping wild rodent populations in check.
But most importantly, learn your snake species in your area. I feel that this should be something everyone should know. This helps you know how you should respond to relocation of the snake and if you need to call a professional or not.
So let’s start out with some of the biggest concerns and questions I see about snakes here.
1. How do I keep snakes away? The best way to keep snakes away is not having a rodent problem. Yes, a snake will eat eggs and even chicks occasionally but 99% of the time they come because they want a yummy rodent snack.
2. How do I keep snakes out of my coop? Block as many gaps and holes as you can with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. Yes, you need a chicken door but the less access areas the less likely you are to have a snake get in. If you have a run attached to your coop, use half inch HWC to cover at least the bottom 3 feet of the run and have at least a 2 foot predator skirt using the same HWC. Nothing is going to be 100% but if you are worried, take the precautions to lower the risk of it happening.
3. Is a snake going to eat my chickens? Chances are the answer is no. Once your chicks are fully feathered (or the size of one if they are bantams) then they are too big and quick for most snakes you will encounter. If you have 6+ foot pine/gopher/bull snakes around, then 6 weeks l is what I would say the risk of being eaten is brought to almost 0 as they are thicker bodied than rat snakes.
4. Is a snake going to hurt my chickens? Assuming that they are big enough to not be eaten then probably not. Snake bites do not hurt or pose a threat to a chicken. For one, snake teeth are much smaller than you would think. This means that the feathers are going to stop the majority of bites before it can even break the skin. Secondly, reptiles have an anticoagulant in their saliva which, while that sounds scary, is actually a good thing. This causes them the wound to not clot up as quickly as it normally would causing it to bleed more than normal. However as snake teeth are so small and thin this bleeding isn’t actually an issue but a helpful thing as it helps to clear out any bacteria which is why it is very uncommon for reptile bites to become infected. Snakes also do not “strangle” anything to defend themselves, only to subdue their prey. Chances are, your chickens will do much more damage to a snake than vice versa.
5. If I relocate the snake will it come back? This is one of the most common things I see spread around here on BYC that snakes will do. This is actually not true at all. Yes, the snake probably was just looking for a meal and found some eggs. However snakes will eat what they can find. An egg isn’t the ideal meal for a snake. And even more, birds in the wild lay a certain amount of eggs and once they begin sitting on them usually won’t lay more until the following year. This means that the snake isn’t “programmed” to keep returning to the same place over and over. Once it is relocated it won’t likely return to the coop but keep moving trying to find, preferably, its next mouse of rat. Does this mean it is impossible for it to return? No, but if it does try to move it further away then last time and see if it is actually even the same snake to begin with.
Now let’s dive into exactly why you shouldn’t kill snakes you find.
As I have established, snakes are great rodent control. While yes this is a benefit to you, by allowing to have snakes around your property you actually are protecting your flock (at least the flock members too big to be eaten by them). By not having anything controlling your rodent populations, you are encouraging much more dangerous predators. Hawks, owls, foxes, and many other predators are going to have a much more likely chance of popping up and unlike snakes, not discriminate against what life stage they will go after.
Rats have also been known to bite chickens. By having feed in close proximity to where chickens sleep, you are going to attract rodents no matter how you store your food. If the smell attracts them but they cannot get to the food, they may go after your chickens. Rats have been found to actually bite off the toes of chickens and take chunks out of the legs of broody and even roosting chickens. They have very nasty bacteria in their mouths and it almost certainly will result in serious infections.
How do you identify a dangerous snake?
While you really should know your native snakes, identifying them can sometimes be difficult.
First things first, unless you are knowledgeable about your local snakes already, don’t follow everything you have heard about venomous snakes. One thing that is spread the most is that venomous snakes have cat like pupils. The only thing this actually identifies is if the snake species is nocturnal or diurnal. King cobras have round pupils and ball pythons have cat like pupils. Yes, it is one of the better things spread as the majority of venomous snakes in the US do have the cat like pupils but things like coral snakes have rounds pupils and are found in the country. Furthermore a lot of snakes eyes are hard to get a good look at without getting close to them.
Another thing that is spread is that if the snake is “fat” then it is venomous. This is also not true. Things like coral snakes are really thin and a lot of water snake species, especially if they are gravid, can be very thick.
The last common one I am going to cover is that if it has a triangle head, it is venomous. This is also false as many non venomous snakes will flatten their heads to make their heads seem larger than they are. Things like coral snakes once again break this rule. And almost all colubrids found in the US will flatten their heads to a more triangular shape when they are scared.
So if none of these are stead fast rules they how do you identify them? Well if you can see a rattle then that is pretty obvious. However rattlesnakes can and due loose rattles in the wild and rattlesnakes who have just hatched will only have a single link. So just cause you don’t see a huge rattle doesn’t mean it can’t be a rattlesnake. But if it has a very large head for its body, has at least an unusual look to the end of its tail, has a pattern that looks like what a rattlesnake in your area would have, and a thicker body or just think it could be, call a professional snake relocating service and see what they think. Some will do it for no cost but if they do charge, it is much better to not put yourself or someone else in danger just to save you some money. Some snakes that are commonly confused for them are hognose snakes, bull/gopher/pine snakes, water snakes, and certain individual rat snakes can be confused for them due to some similarities they can have between the different snakes.
For copperheads, look for the copper bands, a wide triangular head, and fat body. Some water snakes have some extremely similar look so once again, do not deal with it yourself and call a professional if you are sure that it is a copperhead or are not confident that it isn’t a copperhead. Water snakes are the most commonly confused species with them. Here is an example of a water snake that looks similar to a copper head I have found.
Cottonmouths are also identified relatively similar to the others. Look for a triangular wide head, wider body, and if they feel cornered and can’t escape you may get the infamous threat display with the open, white mouth that they are named for. Do not deal with it yourself and call a professional if you are sure that it is a cottonmouth or are not confident that it isn’t a cottonmouth. Water snakes are most common mixed up species.
I am not going to go over coral snakes as they are much more difficult to identify compared to others. Just remember that the red touch yellow warn a fellow saying is not a for sure rule with all coral snakes.
How do you relocate non venomous snakes?
(Coming soon; featuring Elmo my Texas rat snake)
Elmo would like to thank you for reading this!
So as a huge reptile and snake nerd, I would like to clear up some of the common myths and misconceptions about snakes. The majority of this is going to be referring the the various rat snake species found throughout the United States as they are the most common ones I see brought up but I will get a bit into other native snakes as well.
But before starting out I need some things to get out of the way about snakes in general.
The first thing this that there is no such thing as an aggressive snake. The only reason a snake will try to bite is if they feel they need to protect themselves and are not able to get away. No snake will chase you, it is just taking the most effective path to get away from where it was which sometimes is the path you were on.
The second is that a snake will not bite if you leave it alone. A bite from a snake is the absolute last resort. There was a study done where a fake leg was used to step on a rattlesnake and well over 90% of the time the snake would try to get away or curl up into a ball to try and protect its head. Once again, no snake is out to get you. Leave it alone and nothing will happen.
The third is that killing a snake is the best way to get rid of them. It absolutely is not. Snakes will live in an area with a food source. If you see one on your property then chances are you have a rodent problem. By killing the snake you are just going to make that problem much worse. What you should do is, assuming it isn’t venomous, leave it alone. Set up some rodent traps (do NOT use poison or sticky traps) and it will move away on its own relatively quickly. If you don’t want to leave it until it leaves on its own, relocate it to a more distant part of your property or if your property isn’t big enough to do that, move it to a nearby remote water source. By relocating it, it is able to preform its job keeping wild rodent populations in check.
But most importantly, learn your snake species in your area. I feel that this should be something everyone should know. This helps you know how you should respond to relocation of the snake and if you need to call a professional or not.
So let’s start out with some of the biggest concerns and questions I see about snakes here.
1. How do I keep snakes away? The best way to keep snakes away is not having a rodent problem. Yes, a snake will eat eggs and even chicks occasionally but 99% of the time they come because they want a yummy rodent snack.
2. How do I keep snakes out of my coop? Block as many gaps and holes as you can with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. Yes, you need a chicken door but the less access areas the less likely you are to have a snake get in. If you have a run attached to your coop, use half inch HWC to cover at least the bottom 3 feet of the run and have at least a 2 foot predator skirt using the same HWC. Nothing is going to be 100% but if you are worried, take the precautions to lower the risk of it happening.
3. Is a snake going to eat my chickens? Chances are the answer is no. Once your chicks are fully feathered (or the size of one if they are bantams) then they are too big and quick for most snakes you will encounter. If you have 6+ foot pine/gopher/bull snakes around, then 6 weeks l is what I would say the risk of being eaten is brought to almost 0 as they are thicker bodied than rat snakes.
4. Is a snake going to hurt my chickens? Assuming that they are big enough to not be eaten then probably not. Snake bites do not hurt or pose a threat to a chicken. For one, snake teeth are much smaller than you would think. This means that the feathers are going to stop the majority of bites before it can even break the skin. Secondly, reptiles have an anticoagulant in their saliva which, while that sounds scary, is actually a good thing. This causes them the wound to not clot up as quickly as it normally would causing it to bleed more than normal. However as snake teeth are so small and thin this bleeding isn’t actually an issue but a helpful thing as it helps to clear out any bacteria which is why it is very uncommon for reptile bites to become infected. Snakes also do not “strangle” anything to defend themselves, only to subdue their prey. Chances are, your chickens will do much more damage to a snake than vice versa.
5. If I relocate the snake will it come back? This is one of the most common things I see spread around here on BYC that snakes will do. This is actually not true at all. Yes, the snake probably was just looking for a meal and found some eggs. However snakes will eat what they can find. An egg isn’t the ideal meal for a snake. And even more, birds in the wild lay a certain amount of eggs and once they begin sitting on them usually won’t lay more until the following year. This means that the snake isn’t “programmed” to keep returning to the same place over and over. Once it is relocated it won’t likely return to the coop but keep moving trying to find, preferably, its next mouse of rat. Does this mean it is impossible for it to return? No, but if it does try to move it further away then last time and see if it is actually even the same snake to begin with.
Now let’s dive into exactly why you shouldn’t kill snakes you find.
As I have established, snakes are great rodent control. While yes this is a benefit to you, by allowing to have snakes around your property you actually are protecting your flock (at least the flock members too big to be eaten by them). By not having anything controlling your rodent populations, you are encouraging much more dangerous predators. Hawks, owls, foxes, and many other predators are going to have a much more likely chance of popping up and unlike snakes, not discriminate against what life stage they will go after.
Rats have also been known to bite chickens. By having feed in close proximity to where chickens sleep, you are going to attract rodents no matter how you store your food. If the smell attracts them but they cannot get to the food, they may go after your chickens. Rats have been found to actually bite off the toes of chickens and take chunks out of the legs of broody and even roosting chickens. They have very nasty bacteria in their mouths and it almost certainly will result in serious infections.
How do you identify a dangerous snake?
While you really should know your native snakes, identifying them can sometimes be difficult.
First things first, unless you are knowledgeable about your local snakes already, don’t follow everything you have heard about venomous snakes. One thing that is spread the most is that venomous snakes have cat like pupils. The only thing this actually identifies is if the snake species is nocturnal or diurnal. King cobras have round pupils and ball pythons have cat like pupils. Yes, it is one of the better things spread as the majority of venomous snakes in the US do have the cat like pupils but things like coral snakes have rounds pupils and are found in the country. Furthermore a lot of snakes eyes are hard to get a good look at without getting close to them.
Another thing that is spread is that if the snake is “fat” then it is venomous. This is also not true. Things like coral snakes are really thin and a lot of water snake species, especially if they are gravid, can be very thick.
The last common one I am going to cover is that if it has a triangle head, it is venomous. This is also false as many non venomous snakes will flatten their heads to make their heads seem larger than they are. Things like coral snakes once again break this rule. And almost all colubrids found in the US will flatten their heads to a more triangular shape when they are scared.
So if none of these are stead fast rules they how do you identify them? Well if you can see a rattle then that is pretty obvious. However rattlesnakes can and due loose rattles in the wild and rattlesnakes who have just hatched will only have a single link. So just cause you don’t see a huge rattle doesn’t mean it can’t be a rattlesnake. But if it has a very large head for its body, has at least an unusual look to the end of its tail, has a pattern that looks like what a rattlesnake in your area would have, and a thicker body or just think it could be, call a professional snake relocating service and see what they think. Some will do it for no cost but if they do charge, it is much better to not put yourself or someone else in danger just to save you some money. Some snakes that are commonly confused for them are hognose snakes, bull/gopher/pine snakes, water snakes, and certain individual rat snakes can be confused for them due to some similarities they can have between the different snakes.
For copperheads, look for the copper bands, a wide triangular head, and fat body. Some water snakes have some extremely similar look so once again, do not deal with it yourself and call a professional if you are sure that it is a copperhead or are not confident that it isn’t a copperhead. Water snakes are the most commonly confused species with them. Here is an example of a water snake that looks similar to a copper head I have found.
Cottonmouths are also identified relatively similar to the others. Look for a triangular wide head, wider body, and if they feel cornered and can’t escape you may get the infamous threat display with the open, white mouth that they are named for. Do not deal with it yourself and call a professional if you are sure that it is a cottonmouth or are not confident that it isn’t a cottonmouth. Water snakes are most common mixed up species.
I am not going to go over coral snakes as they are much more difficult to identify compared to others. Just remember that the red touch yellow warn a fellow saying is not a for sure rule with all coral snakes.
How do you relocate non venomous snakes?
(Coming soon; featuring Elmo my Texas rat snake)
Elmo would like to thank you for reading this!
