2nd snake in Coop

One was a 14ft burmeese (sp?) python. Arnold could suck down an adult chicken in less than 10 min and be looking for another one.

yeah, a 14 foot python can pretty much eat whatever he wants. Yikes! They are gorgeous though.
 
I lost my 5 week old RIR roo to a black snake...I think it was a "rat" snake not a racer. My roo was a pretty good size for 5 weeks old. The snake was about 5' long. I really don't think they can eat an adult chicken. If they're hungry enough they may try which would be to late for the chicken because they kill the animal before they try to eat it.


I'm sorry for the loss of your roo. I too had worried they would kill the chicken and then leave it when it was too big. Guess I need to work more on repelling them. Thanks for the reply.
 
Snakes? How creepy! I'm going to get chickens in the spring and am trying to learn all I can in preparation. Does anyone know if snakes are a problem in Michigan?
 
For now our chicken pen is against our storage container. We have a gopher and a gater snake living under there. Should I worry about the eggs? I have not ever seen a snake in the pen, only squirrels. Our hens have not been laying much lately, I have been thinking it's because of the heat.

Monica
 
We have a gopher and a gater snake living under there. Should I worry about the eggs?

I've experienced Gophers eating my eggs. I think the chickens would make a meal of the Garter before it got to the eggs. I love snakes. I have 5 pet snakes actually. I despise anyone who kills them. There is no reason. I love my chickens and I love my snakes. I've fed live chickens to Monitor lizards and it doesnt bug me. Once they become a food item, they are no longer pets. The only reason people kill snakes is out of stupid anger and fear. I get mad at people and some people freak me out, but I dont go chopping off their heads with a shovel. And I dont think you'd appreciate it too much if someone tried to cut off your head. You have no one to blame but yourself, you didnt build your coop good enough to keep them out. Its not hard to scoop up a snake and plop it in a bucket for a long drive out to some mouse infested field. Its people like you that are destroying this world. Animals lovers should love all animals, not pick and choose. Loving chickens and despising snakes make no sense at all. Except for the fact that snakes are different, and they are "slimey". People come up with excuses to hate something they dont understand. If you would take them time to admire the beauty of a snake, maybe you wouldnt think about cutting it in half. Maybe you would think about the good it will do in the ecosystem and let it go. If not, its your loss. I'd like to see you wriggle around on your belly with no legs or arms and see if you dont try to find the easiest meal to survive! By destroying the snakes, you make the rat and mouse population explode, which in turn will cause all of your chickens to die from diseases spread through the mouse feces in their food. You killed your birds.
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Quote:
I've experienced Gophers eating my eggs. I think the chickens would make a meal of the Garter before it got to the eggs. I love snakes. I have 5 pet snakes actually. I despise anyone who kills them. There is no reason. I love my chickens and I love my snakes. I've fed live chickens to Monitor lizards and it doesnt bug me. Once they become a food item, they are no longer pets. The only reason people kill snakes is out of stupid anger and fear. I get mad at people and some people freak me out, but I dont go chopping off their heads with a shovel. And I dont think you'd appreciate it too much if someone tried to cut off your head. You have no one to blame but yourself, you didnt build your coop good enough to keep them out. Its not hard to scoop up a snake and plop it in a bucket for a long drive out to some mouse infested field. Its people like you that are destroying this world. Animals lovers should love all animals, not pick and choose. Loving chickens and despising snakes make no sense at all. Except for the fact that snakes are different, and they are "slimey". People come up with excuses to hate something they dont understand. If you would take them time to admire the beauty of a snake, maybe you wouldnt think about cutting it in half. Maybe you would think about the good it will do in the ecosystem and let it go. If not, its your loss. I'd like to see you wriggle around on your belly with no legs or arms and see if you dont try to find the easiest meal to survive! By destroying the snakes, you make the rat and mouse population explode, which in turn will cause all of your chickens to die from diseases spread through the mouse feces in their food. You killed your birds.
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I repectfully appreciate your opinion but I remain to have the right to protect my flock as I see fit and not feel guilty. I do not go out of my way to kill a snake and can live quite peacefully with them. I would much prefer to deter them and not even have an issue but when those efforts have failed I will what I have to. I do not fear them or think they are slimey. Anywhere else they are just a snake. In my coop, they are a predator. I am in the process of obtaining plans to make a snake trap so killing will not be necessary.
While I understand the necessity of using live animals to feed pet snakes, I personally cannot bear witness to someone dropping a sweet little live bunny in a glass cage for a meal where it has no way to protect itself or escape. It just gets to sit there and become a meal. Do I despise anyone for that? Nope. I also feel sorry for pet snakes that never get to live as intended, just put on display and live it's life in a cage. Out of all the snakes I provide a peaceful home for on my acreage, killing two is not doing to do any harm to the ecosystem.
While it may not be hard for you to "scoop up" a snake to drop in a bucket to relocate it, I seriously doubt this would be a wise or prudent thing for me to attempt to do with a 5 1/2 ft snake. Snake handling should only be attempted by one who has had proper training and experience. While not poisonous, a bite can result in extremely nasty infections. Had I had someone present at the time that could have caught them, relocation would have certainly been my choice.
Snakes are not the only rodent control method available. Yes, they are good for that but believe me, those two snakes would much rather belly up to the egg buffet than catch a mouse. Had I provided them with an endless supply of easy meals, they would have never eaten another rodent the rest of their lives.
Sorry you despise me.
 
It came to my attention that I owe all in this thread an apology. In between my chores of destroying the world, I took a breather and did further research on snake control and neglected to share. I discovered that there are snake traps which allow you to catch and release. You can find sites where you can either purchase ready made or find plans to build your own. They look fairly simple in design, some requiring nothing more than hardward cloth, fasteners and a funnel or cone. Sorry, I do nat have any links handy but a simple search for snake traps will locate information for you.
 
OEGBman
I DID NOT say anything about killing ANY snakes! You could not have gotten any idea of how I fell about snakes from my post. For your information, I grew up with snakes, my brother always kept some. I have always jumped at the chance to hold snakes, One of my favorite places in zoos is thr reptile house so that I can look close up at snakes that I would not have an opportunity to otherwise. I have taken our grand daughter to library programs on reptiles so that she can learn and apprecieate them. When she was 3yrs. old she helped hold her first snakes. One was an 15ft. rose boa! She wasn't sure until she saw how I loved to hold it.

When we see OUR gopher snake(who has been with us for 2 yrs) we see how big he has gotten and take pics. of him DH moves him away from the house if he was found nearby, otherwise we just watch him.
I was only wondering because we have not been getting hardly any eggs lately and didn't know if it was just from the heat or what. I have found a couple of eggs dropped out of the nesting boxes and broken on the ground. Next time you want to go off on someone make sure that you know where they are coming from.

Monica
 

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