Brown Snake in run!

[Miltonchix]

I've seen programs on the Discovery Channel about this snake. (By NO means makes me an expert

) They are pretty bad snakes. I'd put either an egg injected with poison or a ceramic egg near the hole he's been slithering through.
I'd be more worried about getting bit at this point. The program I watched indicated that Browns tend to "bite first, ask questions later". So, for YOUR safety and then your birds I'd find a way of ending Mr. Browns life quickly.
By the way, you are one BRAVE soul lifting floor boards searching. I'd of been looking for a torch to burn the place down.

 

[purpledonna]

You can try and put some snake mesh around the base of your enclosure.... not very nice thing to see! It was most probably after your eggs or looking for water. A call to a snake catcher or Parks and wildlife might help you with regards to their habits or catch it for you. Did you watch where it went? You will need to watch out for any other animals you have... dogs or cats...

Good Luck!

 

[HEChicken]

To answer your question about the rat skull, no, snakes don't usually spit up recognizable pieces of their prey. They have extremely efficient digestive systems, that allow them to convert almost all of the animal - meat, bones, fur, toenails etc - and afterwards they poop out a little turd that *might* have a little fur visible but that's about it. I'd say the rat died of other causes.

Do you live in an urban or rural area? If rural, I'd say you'll be seeing a few of them around (my friend in rural Vic has a property that is teeming with brown snakes). If you live in an urban area though, you may be able to call the wildlife department and have them come and take it away for you?

 

[ranchhand]

Here at our property we only kill the poisonous snakes that get into the fenced areas- now that I have looked you brown snake up, I recommend a shotgun! That is one nasty character you have!

Here's some info for the unaware- http://www.australianfauna.com/brownsnake.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_brown_snake

Seriously, don't take chances with it- blast from a distance if you can and then be very careful about reflexive biting after it's dead- I had a copperhead try to bite for a full 30 minutes after it's head was severed.

The other option that I have read here but never tried is bird netting- plastic mesh - rolled up loosely and put all around the coop/run. The snake tries to go through it and gets caught and tangled. Then you kill it.

Good luck! And be careful!

 

[Brindlebtch]

The guy used wadded up bird netting. The snakes would try to crawl through it and get caught and then stuggled and wrap themselves tighter. You can get the netting at any Home Depot, but I have know idea where to get it in Australia.

 

[gsim]

Quote:
He rolled plastic mesh/netting into a slender cone-shape and tied them so that they kept that shape. Snakes cannot back out of a place, so when one went into the wide end, it was trapped. Could be they were water moccasins. He kept the cones by the water near to his place and a few near the coop/run. He caught them by the dozens. A piece of deer netting or plastic construction safety-barrier would do to make several. When you catch him, just cut the head off

and slit him open from end to end

and toss him in to your chooks.......Mmmmmm gooood! A high-protein treat.

 

[nnbreeder]

A Brown is nothing to be messed with. You might ask around, there may be someone in the area that will take and capture it and take it back to the Bush where it belongs.

If the summer is starting off dry they could be coming in looking for water or the rodents could be looking for water and the Browns follow them in. It seems that in dry years there is more people contact with Browns then in other years.

 

[Poliwag]

Quote:
I have lived in the bush a few times in my life and seen my fair share of snakes. We once had a Red Belly Black snake in our house! Now that was a challenge to get out, those things are aggressive!

Anyway, it has been a few days and I still have all my chooks (and chickens) and I haven't seen it at all. Could have been just "visiting"

Thanks everyone for your advices. I will see about covering up those holes.

 

[satay]

I am not sure which part of Australia you are in but if you are up this way at all, there are several snake handlers who can remove it for you if you see it again. Snakes will eat a whole animal, rats, small chicken and eggs. Try to find a way to make sure your coop is snake proof. Most snakes even the poisoness ones will only attack you for 2 reasons. They are afraid you are going to attack them or they are hungry. The heat at the moment has a lot of snakes on the move.

 

[satay]

No snakes do not spit up any of their prey so as someone else said that rat would have died from some other reason.