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

[MelissaBA]

Looks like a great idea but I was wondering if there was anyway the snake could get out of the trap or does he get in and become unable to figure out how to get out of there?

 

[gpop]

if you use the silver gee's wire trap they are less likely to get out. the sharp wire ends prevent them from getting out. also after swallowing the egg the snake is to big to fit even if it tries.

 

[gpop]

first thing to consider is the trap and the construction of it. I have used other traps but have found that the silver Gee's galvanized work best for catching anything that will squeeze into the hole. if you use the black traps you will find that the vinyl coating makes it smoother and more likely for something to work its way out. especially the black ones with a ring in the hole. The silver gee's cost a little more but have a sharp cut wire which prevents critters from going back out the way they came in. not only minnows but snakes, squirrels (red ones in the attic), barn rats and chipmunks too. they oughta call a catch anything trap. I have found toads in mine. the gee's have an extension you can buy to make the trap bigger. twice the size twice the catch. if you find a gee's carefully checkout the hole to see what I mean about the wire.

 

[twocatslaughing]

Wow, I never even thought about snakes going after chicken eggs. I have never seen a snake in our yard but when spring comes rolling around you can bet we will use your idea. We have these minnow baskets as I use them for pond filters and they work great for trapping leaves and junk from pond motor.

 

[NeTexasDude]

OK so you have a couple of different traps. One looked like two minnow buckets the other looked like a poly netting something... what is it and where do you get it, Thanks for your help.

 

[bear8357]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/515899/best-way-ive-found-yet-to-deal-with-snake-problems/170

 

[Elwood Lightfoot]

I love, love love this idea!! I am going to stop at the Wal-Mart today on my way home and pick up a couple. Already had one 6' snake in my run this season, and that was enough for me. He was only a few inches away from my roosting pullets when I went out to tuck them into their coop for the night... and making his way forward. Well, I didn't even stop to think, just grabbed his tail, flung him outside the run and then ran out afterward and stomped on his head with my flip flop until it was crushed. Talk about going all Mama Bear on his tail (er...head), lol!

BUT, then I felt guilty for days, because turns out it was only a harmless coachwhip And stupid!, because had it been a cottonmouth I would've had been on a course of antivenin, because he did get me a couple times before we were done going 'round. Yikes!

And BTW...for those of you using (or considering) moth balls, my neighbors suggested that to me last summer after I found a cottonmouth curled up underneath a dog bed on my porch. I was so glad I did some research before I poisoned my property!

Moth balls are TOXIC:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002477.htm
http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/naphtech.html
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/naphthal.html

Moth balls can be FATAL to infants and small children:
“Storing treasured baby clothes in mothballs can be lethal, say leading pediatricians from Australia and New Zealand. The doctors say the fumes could lead to severe brain damage in babies and even death from the insecticide naphthalene used in mothballs. . . At least one infant death in the past three years and more than 100 reports to Australian poison control centers of children affected by mothball fumes were cited by the group. Inhaling mothball fumes can severely damage red blood cells.” http://www.aarp.org/health/medical-research/info-02-2011/mothballs-fumes-toxic-to-children.html
“4000 children per year are exposed to moth balls with over 600 of these cases requiring medical attention. Ingestion of one moth ball can be toxic to a young child, and even lethal if G6PD deficiency is present in that child. A key symptom is jaundice (yellow skin) which can progress to organ damage and death.” http://www.ct.gov/dph/lib/dph/environmental_health/eoha/pdf/moth_balls_fs.pdf

If you sprinkle moth balls in your yard, rain can cause the naphthalene to leach into the soil and it can end up in your eggs:
“Naphthalene can dissolve in water, attach to soil, and leach into underground drinking water. Some naphthalene dissolves in rivers, lakes, or wells and evaporates within two weeks. Bacteria destroy naphthalene in water. . . Naphthalene does not build up in the flesh of animals and fish. However, dairy cows exposed to naphthalene could have some naphthalene in their milk. Likewise, laying hens exposed to naphthalene will have some of the chemical in their eggs.”
http://dhss.delaware.gov/dph/files/naphthfaq.pdf

And to top it all off, the moth ball as snake repellant theory appears to be nothing more than another old wives’ tale. At least one study has shown that napthalene (main ingredient in moth balls) did not elicit avoidance behavior in snakes:
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1431&context=gpwdcwp
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06501.html

Thanks for sharing this, I agree and never have used mothballs due to the toxicity I think aromatic cedar pieces would work as well and smell much better for clothes that, is in the coops I just try to seal places where snakes can get in and use the minnow traps along the walls to guide them into the traps, the eggs inside really make no difference as far as attracting snakes the venomous ones don't go for the eggs anyways.

Quote: This is awesome thank you, They are really easy to make and can be any size one would want them to be

OK so you have a couple of different traps. One looked like two minnow buckets the other looked like a poly netting something... what is it and where do you get it, Thanks for your help.

The one that looks like poly netting is just a plastic coated wire I got it at wal-mart, the others I picked up at different sales somewhere, the ones that have a ring in the inner hole are the easiest ones for a snake to escape from as I understand it it's the animals vision looking through the mesh being unable to see a difference and confusing it so the hole is invisible, and the tendency it to go up or down to a corner that makes it impossible to find the hole

My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts. Recently, we moved to the lake and bought a pontoon boat. Yesterday, we had our son and daughter-in-love and 5 grandchildren with us for tubing on the lake. Our son saw a tail coming out from under the boat on top of one of the pontoons. We had been pulling two tubes…and our daughter-in-love, Jenn, saw it was a copperhead. Before that the kids had been jumping off the boat into the water and had been near the pontoons. We wondered what to do? Then, I saw several posts that began to give us some ideas or rather options. We thought also, since we are renting this house and the dock doesn't have a boat lift, we'd buy a boat trailer and cart it out of the water. Though it would be a hassle it would be better than having someone bitten or frightened to death. I'm mostly freaked out about the poisonous snakes and having our grandchildren around the dock and lake frontage area now that we've seen a copperhead. We've seen corn snakes…black, yellow, and white striped, a nonvenomous water snake. I'm wondering if the minow buckets would help around the dock? Hornet and wasp spray, we may try too, to evacuate the copperheard, if it's still there. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

While it isn't impossible for the snake you saw to be a copperhead it might not likely be, Depending on what part of the country you live if it was indeed venomous it could have been a Florida Cottonmouth the pattern markings are very colorful in young snakes as they get older they lose a lot of it and turn darker almost black, and they range well into Alabama, Miss, and other Southeastern states, I've been a big fan of catching and keeping reptiles for most of my life and one if the most common things that have offended people over is showing them that most of the snakes that are seen around the water are common water snakes that are non-venomous like the Diamond backed water snake and not a Cottonmouth, A long time ago they weren't Copperheads and Cottonmouths, they were Highland Moccasins and Lowland Moccasin, Highlands diet consisting of rodents, lizards and small birds they wouldn't forage so much around water for food where the Lowland that eats mostly an aquatic diet and is not apt to forage very far from the water, in any case the minnow trap would still work and can catch any kind of water dwelling critter, I've caught Lesser Sirens in them before and snakes that are usually drowned when I check the trap I only use the traps for snakes when I am not using them to catch bait for fishing LOL

 

[Bob G]

I don't care for snakes. Regardless, some of them are beneficial to mankind and I don't understand why people want to kill them all. If it is one of the four venomous snake breeds in America, or one of the subspecies, yes, I can see dispatching it for good because it is a danger to people and animals. Those breeds are the rattlesnake (it rattles as a warning to stay away), a copperhead, a cottonmouth (it does not rattle but when it opens its mouth you will see the reason for its name, it's all white inside), and the coral snake (red and yellow kill a fellow, red and black friend of Jack.)

Some snakes, the King snake, for instance, eat rattle snakes. Why kill it? Oh, it ate one of your eggs. Well, I guess that's good enough, right? The regular garden snake keeps rats and mice at bay. Just relocate the harmless snakes, kill the harmful ones. Otherwise, let them live.

 

[sweetie birds]

Thanks, I'm going to try this. One of my grown hens was attacked & wrestled to the floor of the coop by a 3-4 foot King Snake! We don't normally kill beneficials but this cannot happen again.

 

[sunnyocala]

I already had two of these very common minnow traps at home but I stumbled on to one at walmart that was cheap and thought "I bet that would work!"

I set it along the wall inside of my coop and 2 days later had a rat snake in it, A couple days later a copperhead and then another, so I dug around till I found the two old traps and set them inside also and today I had two more copperheads, I knew I had snakes but didn't know it was this bad and am really loving the effectiveness of the Minnow/Snake traps, I figured if anyone else hadn't already thought this one up I'd share it and maybe it can help others save a few birds and eggs, Happy hunting and thanks for looking, Bill