I saw a snake just outside the chicken pen yesterday. Good and bad. Good because at the moment we are having a bad rat problem (I really do love living in the woods). Bad because that snake was 3-4 feet long and I have NO idea what it is. I am concerned that it will eat our baby chicks or poults that our broodies will be hatching in a couple weeks. It is probably big enough to eat a half grown chicken. I poked at it with a stick to make it go away and it was quite aggressive, coiling and striking the stick several times before going on its crabby way. It slithered into a hole just a few feet from the chicken pen.
I am almost 100% sure that this is NOT a venomous snake. But, like I said, it was quite aggressive and quite possibly large enough to eat our bantam EEs ... I am quite certain it would have little to know problem with the seramas and the chicks would barely be a snack. As much as I want him to eat the rats, Mr. Snake might have to go. I am open to discussion on that, however. How often do snakes take fowl (of any size) when there is an overabundant supply of rats? Am I safe leaving him at least until the rats are under control? After the rats are gone I assume I would have more to worry about, but I do not know how likely snakes are to bother chickens. I know the chickens will eat a snake, but how big of a snake can they handle?
I am having a devil of a time trying to identify this guy. The back is solid black with an almost flourescent yellow-green belly, tending more toward yellow. The yellow extends about halfway up his sides in numerous, narrow bands. Head is more spade shaped than the average snake with a slightly pointy snout ... kind of like a vipers head, but not nearly as dramatic. I am thinking maybe an oddly marked king or rat snake, but I cannot find any photos of any snake that look quite right with the head shape or the coloring/pattern. I wish I had gotten a picture of him but did not have my camera. The best I could do was draw him in paint to demonstrate the incomplete barring pattern.
I know it is cheesy and pathetic but it was the best I could do. Feel free to laugh ... I am
I am almost 100% sure that this is NOT a venomous snake. But, like I said, it was quite aggressive and quite possibly large enough to eat our bantam EEs ... I am quite certain it would have little to know problem with the seramas and the chicks would barely be a snack. As much as I want him to eat the rats, Mr. Snake might have to go. I am open to discussion on that, however. How often do snakes take fowl (of any size) when there is an overabundant supply of rats? Am I safe leaving him at least until the rats are under control? After the rats are gone I assume I would have more to worry about, but I do not know how likely snakes are to bother chickens. I know the chickens will eat a snake, but how big of a snake can they handle?
I am having a devil of a time trying to identify this guy. The back is solid black with an almost flourescent yellow-green belly, tending more toward yellow. The yellow extends about halfway up his sides in numerous, narrow bands. Head is more spade shaped than the average snake with a slightly pointy snout ... kind of like a vipers head, but not nearly as dramatic. I am thinking maybe an oddly marked king or rat snake, but I cannot find any photos of any snake that look quite right with the head shape or the coloring/pattern. I wish I had gotten a picture of him but did not have my camera. The best I could do was draw him in paint to demonstrate the incomplete barring pattern.
I know it is cheesy and pathetic but it was the best I could do. Feel free to laugh ... I am
