How to deal with a rattle snake

[Mrs Howey]

Ok. Saturday morning the mail man delivered a package and ran away real fast. I didnt understand why until I went out side and there was a rattle snake by my front door (my house is ground level so that was really too close for comfort). I've taken to cleaning up my front patio so there no place for a snake to hide and will have my huusband start turning over his piles of stuff so as to chase any snakes out. I was already building a new coop and run for my chickens so that won't be an issue since I already knew I had bull snakes on my property and built to keep them out. My dad told me to get a shot gun to use on any other rattle snake I may see (Satuday was the first rattle snake I have seen. Moved onto the property in may 2018). I do have repellant coming. . .not too sure about those doing anything to keep snakes away but it doesnt hurt to try. Other than keeping the grass cut and moving all possible hides is there anything else I can do to be more diligent in keeping the snakes away from house and chickens?

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

Sounds like you got a brave mailman.

I would just try and keep mice away, as that is what rattlesnakes really want. Make sure there is no food available in a mouse’s reach and they will lead the snakes to where there is food.

 

[Mrs Howey]

Thank you. Unfortunately, I do have a bad mouse problem that I've been working on since we moved in. My cats catch all the mice that come inside and the mice is why I desided to retire the preexisting coop and build a new one up off the ground. I do kill mice as I see them. the mice were so bad that at one point they would run up to me to bite my shoes. We moved the old coop away from our house and discovered just how bad the colony was under it. I'm seeing fewer mice now that we moved it. i do like the idea of bucket traps. I do have bull snakes that hang out. They help with the mice so I havnt done nothing but chase them away when they get too close to my chickens. I guess I need to ramp up mouse removal.

 

[azygous]

Rattlesnakes are opportunists. They park themselves anywhere they think they can get an easy meal which happens to be mice for the most part.

I've had my share of rattlesnakes getting into my run. Since I've become extremely diligent in controlling the mice population, rattlesnakes have ceased to be a problem.

I use the roller style bucket traps. Very effective. Hardly a day goes by that I haven't had mice in the buckets.

 

[neo71665]

Best thing is a garden hoe right behind the head. Skin it and bread it with corn meal, and fry it like fish. You really want to put it to use the skin is easy to tan with just salt.

How I get rid of them.


With rattlers there is an old saying where you have one the other one is near. I've often gone back where I got the first one about an hour later and got a second one.

 

[2Old2Crow]

We've had 2 rattlesnake nests adjacent to our property. One, the Rattler company came out and cleared the nest with small shot. The other came close to hitting my wife. This isn't rocket science. Rattlers will make nests in the ground and make a lot of little Rattlers. And the beat goes on. I'm fully aware a lot of folks are against killing nature, but nature is killing your birds. Fact of life. Shotgun with maybe #8 shot, or handgun with snakeshot. Control them now, or the infestation will start. FYI, you'll never eradicate them, but control is good.

 

[cmom]

I resorted to poison too. My problem was rats. I had a coop that was infested. When I renovated the coop dozens of rats of all sizes poured out and there were rat nests. I put the rat bait stations in pet carriers and put the pet carriers on shelves in our barn which is right behind the coops so nothing but the rats could get to the bait. The rats didn't eat on the Tom Cat rat bait but sure like the Just One Bite bait. I didn't find any dead rats laying around but there were also tunnels around the coops and barn that I believe the rats made and they went into their tunnels and died, so they buried themselves.

 

[Big Doggie]

Thank you. Unfortunately, I do have a bad mouse problem that I've been working on since we moved in. My cats catch all the mice that come inside and the mice is why I desided to retire the preexisting coop and build a new one up off the ground. I do kill mice as I see them. the mice were so bad that at one point they would run up to me to bite my shoes. We moved the old coop away from our house and discovered just how bad the colony was under it. I'm seeing fewer mice now that we moved it. i do like the idea of bucket traps. I do have bull snakes that hang out. They help with the mice so I havnt done nothing but chase them away when they get too close to my chickens. I guess I need to ramp up mouse removal.

Sometimes you can benefit from an exterminator at least to get the problem at a manageable level.

 

[getaclue]

A hoe, or shovel work just fine to chop off their heads. I don't eat them, just bury them.

 

[BrandoMan]

If a rattlesnake is out while hiking I leave it alone. If on my property and can get it to leave I try to get it to go away. If it's near the house I get a thin stick and a swift smack breaks the neck quick. Harmless snakes I just pick up and relocate. Harmless but aggressive snakes get picked up and thrown to the chickens. I dont get rattle snakes often since I do t get mice or rats so they usually dont bother unless they crossing the property. I get baby snakes who come out I the spring but the last two years havent had any snakes at all. I usually have alot of grasshoppers too at this time of year but none. A crap load of ants this year.