Best way I've found yet to deal with snake problems!!

[ditto]

lol, funny you should say that. i've got a snake (skinned and gutted) in my freezer now, thanks to my 'mountain man' boys! just waiting.....wwwaaaaiiiiittttiiiinnnnggg for that thing to be GONE! actually they roasted half of it, and had leftovers

 

[Moonkit]

Quote:
One way to deter a snake that is making repeated trips is to hard boil 3-4 eggs. When the snake swallows them they cannot break them to digest and usually die. I am glad to see the way you are humanly taking care of the copperheads. NOW...with that said there is one snake to keep an eye out for..not because it will bother your eggs or chicks but because they are very harmless and only eat frogs. Hognose snakes are rear-fanged (fangs are back in mouth..kinda like where our wisdom teeth are) and cannot even bite anything. They can be mistaken for copperheads sometimes. I usually have one as a pet during the summer months.....shhhhhh..don't tell DH. He is terrified of snakes! Hognose snakes will stand and spread their heads like a cobra to try and look ferious..they also will roll over and blow themselves up like they are dead as a defense mechanism. With you problem the egg thing may help some but I think what your doing is a very good idea..if you are catching this many snakes you can be sure you can multiply that times 20 and figure that many more are out there! If you have a lot of brush near your coops and runs removing those may help a little. Good Luck!!
Terry

If you flip them right side up.. they'll flip themselves back to insist that they really are dead.

 

[mitchell3006]

One of the best ways to dispatch snakes safely is Wasp and Hornet Spray. It is a nerve agent that causes near instant paralysis and death in snakes as well as insects. I used it frequently when working patrol as a police officer. I was the snake guy on the shift because I am not afraid of them. I do have a healthy respect for the poisonous ones. They were the ones that got the spray. The rest got caught and moved. It would amaze you how many "snake in the house" calls you get in the south.

 

[MiniBeesKnees]

sjhorse....you can still get 'snakeshot' for a .38, I have some for mine.
The little shells are cylindrical rather then being pointed on one end, and the ones I have are silver color with a clear blue flat topped cap...you can see the little pellets through the cap.

 

[yinepu]

We have a female Texas Rat snake that lives in our yard.. I have seen her slither under a hen and right back out the other side and the hen never budged. She is also "friends" with our barn cats. I've found them curled up next to each other sleeping.. the cat woke up, stretched, glanced at the snake and just yawned. Even our mailman was surprised at how "tame" our snake is. He saw me standing almost on top of her and she didn't even flinch. I know she helps herself to a few eggs here and there.. but she also takes care of any rodents we end up with (which the cats are too lazy to bother with). I just have to keep an eye on delivery men who may not understand about our resident snake and may try to run her over someday. So far she's been here at least three years that I know of. I hope she's around for many more!

 

[lauramalicksmith]

OMG, the snakes are a nuisance this year. Seems like it's cyclical, but this is the worst year we've ever had. We've caught at least 30 snakes since May, all rat snakes except for one copperhead. It seems like it's been a fortune in eggs because we've kept eggs in the pens at all times to keep the snakes from going after the bantys and young chickens that aren't roosting yet. It has been successful up until 3 nights ago. We do a nightly snake check and two nights in a row I've caught a snake choking one of our hens. She's the only one that's been broody and has been knocked off the nest by snakes going after the eggs, but then a small rat snake that couldn't possibly eat her (too big) was choking her. I got there in the nick of time and she was ok. But then the next night, same thing, different snake even smaller than the night before. Again, the nick of time and she's ok. But I thought that would be the end of her wanting to sit. Nope. So for her safety she has been moved to a chick pen that is 100% snake proof. She can now just sit and be a mom.

But the snakes just keep coming. We don't kill them (except the copperhead), but we release further away. Rat snakes do good for the environment so makes no sense to kill them. Because there have been so many, we're going to start marking them to see if they are making their way back or if it's all new snakes. But it has been exhausting!

These minnow traps are an interesting idea. What keeps them for going out the hole? Do they just not figure the hole out?

 

[emvickrey]

I gotta quit reading this. I'm getting the heebie jeebies. I can't stand snakes. My worst nightmare i've had many times over the years is of snakes. I have a copperhead and a rat snake i've been trying to get rid of for a few days now. This trap is perfect. I'll be looking for the minnow traps everywhere I go now. The rat snake is a long one and the copperhead I'm not sure of. Ijust saw enough of it to know what it is. There was about 2 foot of it I saw of it's tail end.

I had put out dome glue traps around my kitchen to try to catch some mice last fall. What I found in one made me sleepless for weeks. It was a baby rat snake. Last time a snake was in the house I moved. But it was a 6 1/2 foot long rat snake and it had been inside for at least 3 days. I was wondering how things where getting knocked off and pictures pulled off walls. One night we heard things getting tossed to the floor and when we looked we couldn't believe what we saw. It's head was stuck in the airconditioner.

Ok. gotta quit thinking about snakes. on to a happier thread. thanks for the idea though.

 

[hlf1996]

Quote:
She also said I should probably get some of these traps when my chickens start laying as I probably have snakes around anyway due to the horse feed and stuff; although if i catch a large spider, it's going straight to the chickens for disposal!!!

Ewww... I HATE spiders!!! Snakes dont bug me.. but spiders *shivers*

 

[ctbagley]

We just received our two minnow traps today and I set them this afternoon. I knew we had snakes eating the eggs right from under out broody hens...but nothing prepared my husband and I for what we saw this evening. We went to check on the chickens (in our barn) and there was a rat snake who had completely wrapped itself around our broody hen "constrictor style" and she was upside down in her nest. I thought she must be dead. My husband told me to get a bucket and he bravely grabbed the head of this 5 1/2 foot snake, I grabbed the body and we made it unwrap from the poor hen. Unbelievably she was still alive! Needless to say this snake is now headless! I've seen them get eggs, but to actually wrap around the hen, never seen that (I forgot to say she is a serama so is pretty small) He had to climb four feet of stall wall to get to her too. He avoided the minnow traps but that is because of the tasty about to hatch eggs above...I heard one egg peeping, so put it under another broody hen, hope he/she makes it. Mom is alive but she is tired from fighting the snake, so did not want to stress her with babies. Has anyone else ever seen a rat snake "act like a constrictor"? He also bit her enough to tear out about 1/3 of her downy feathers! I pray the minnow traps will do their job...this was such a horrible experience, I cannot sleep! I believe I will be buying some of the "bird mesh' too. Now this is war!

 

[Dianalm]

All snakes have a purpose. I wouldn't want to mess with one but I could not kill it. I think there are places that will relocate them.