I HATE to hear of snakes of any kind being killed. I personally have removed coral snakes, Diamondback Rattlers and a few Cottonmouths from my(and friend's and family's) property and release them somewhere far away. I am an expirienced snake handler though. (hence everyone calling me to remove them) I do understand that occationally some poisonous ones have to be killed. But people should understand that for every snake killed means 1000s on rats and mice and other pest thrive! People that go out of there way or indescrimately kill snakes "Just to be sure" piss me off! IF the snake is posing a threat or is found in the coop with a full belly, than maybe. The snake is just doing what snakes do...eating and protecting themselves. It is sad, snakes have been on this planet for MILLIONS of years before humans. But I personally have noticed a DRASTIC decrease in them. I am the type that will go out and look for them. I have since I was like 9 years old. And I can remember seeing so many more back then. I think PREVENTING them from coming arount in the first place is the intelligent approach. Like I posted earlier, Moth-Balls work great, so does sulfur AND there is many snake repellants sold in stores.(although I have never tried any of them). A snake is CONSTANTLY flicking its tongue ti smell and taste it's environment for food or threats, so repellants work much better on them than on most pests. Just my 2 cents(sense). Not to offend or point fingers. Also there are MANY Critter Removal companies that will come and remove them and release them for a very small fee.(usually around $30 or $40)
Mark
