i officially SUCK at trying to kill snakes....

[BellLisamo]

Well let me tell you what a night i had.........

My daughter and I were locking up and feeding the chickens as we do... and my daughter tends to wander around near all the coops. She comes back and tells me she sees a snake. I told her if she was lying she would get it (shes joked before)...

well... NO. She was right. I had NO SHARP TOOLS near me, so i ran up to the house (500 feet or so), and grabbed a shovel. I ran back, and it was gone.... I THINK it was a bull snake. So i come in and tell my husband who happens to be sleeping in our bed. I wake him up and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I SEE A SCORPION RUNNING ON OUR BED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO he FLYS off the bed and then kills the scorpion. WHAT IS GOING ON!!!

So that was my night. ICK! THEN this morning... i go down to the coops to let everyone out & feed. I see the SNAKE! He was eating my duck egg..... so i grabbed some stupid post hole digging shovel thing, and tried to wack it. NOPE. Not sharp enough. Didnt kill it. It got away again.

So ive read about bull snakes, and ill just leave him be. But im worried about my daughter who is 4. Will it strike her if she walks by and doesnt see it???

 

[Uppity Peon]

Bull snakes are not aggressive toward people and are good at keeping rattlers away. I would just take steps to keep it out of the coop with hardware cloth.

 

[LilbitChicken]

it's me. Bullsnake (better than a rattlesnake).

BUT still a snake.

A theif!!!!!! An unwanted predator.

So I guess "practice"

(so the next time you'll get him!)
He will keep returning....until you MAKE him stay away.

I don't see a reason for him to strike at her....BUT I wouldn't
want her to get too close any way.

 

[Brindlebtch]

I bet that bull snake is going to take off in a panic if it sees anything that looks even vaguely human after being whacked by a post hole digger!c

 

[Eggs4Sale]

I'm in Yuma, and we have bull snakes. I have a 2, 5, and 11 year old, and they've never been bit. However, we've never had the amount of snake activity that we have now. As a matter of fact, my oldest and I were 'treated' to the intertwining tango of two love-struck snakes. I'll probably never see that again in my life! (The photos seem sedate, the video is all screaming and yelling, and my sons comments that they are 'fighting"). But now we're getting them on the porch, and as I said a few days ago, my DH unknowingly stood right next to one that was aw waist level to him on a shelf. It hissed loudly. Not a hiss, sorry. A rasp. My dogs get rasped at all the time. I've been rasped at. I don't know why we haven't been bit. But I did tell my 5-year-old that she was off egg-collecting duty till the weather cools, because I don't want her to reach blindly into the bucket to feel around for eggs and get a surprise. I'm sure she would be bit under that circumstance. Don't have playhouses outside, or the plastic cars that kids ride in. Those things aren't practical in the desert anyways. As for the snake biting your daughter if she walks by and doesn't see it, they'll know she's coming long before she gets there, and if they are on the ground, they'll likely leave before she arrives. Teach her that if she hears the rasp noise, or a hiss, or anything weird, to run back the way she came and go to Mommy or Daddy. She probably would do that anyways, but maybe some kids might be "Hey, what was that noise? Let's see if we can find it." You have to get REAL close to get bit, where the snake has no other option. You've probably been close to them many times and didn't even know it.

As for the scorpion,

. Pack up and move. Now. (JK).

Ah, living in the desert, what a life! Wait, you're sorta desert.


Off the subject.... 20 years ago, when we were going to the UofA, we were driving around Tombstone, Sierra Vista, and other places there, and my sister pointed out the window at one of the 'other places there' and said "Little House on the Prairie" was filmed out here." Well, I looked all around and saw nothing that looked like the trees of LHOTP, but she insisted it was true. That sisiter is notorious for exaggerating, distorting, or outright lying, but that one has never been proven or disproved. Any input?

 

[Uppity Peon]

Scorpions and snakes are pretty much a fact of life in the Sonoran Desert. I used to live in Tucson. We also had black widows all over the place. Scorpions like moist places so it's good to dry off the shower and bathroom in general after showering, and run the exhaust fan. Snakes are also attracted to any source of water. If you have a pond or fountain (or chicken waterer), they will love your yard.

 

[BellLisamo]

well geez! i have a duck pond and large waterers for the chickens, so yippee for the snakes! I havent seen many this year. Only this one. Sooo we've been lucky i guess.

Thanks for all the tips!!!! our bedroom is right next to the bathroom so im sure thats where it came from. Can anyone tell me if a scorpion sting is worse than a bee? (how much worse?)


Eggs4sale, i believe little house on the prarie was filmed at Old Tucson Studios (and one of the buildings they used still stands). My brother in law manages the horses there....

 

[Eggs4Sale]

We went to Old Tucson and I remember reading that, gosh, was it the school there was used in little house? But I looked at that school and just couldn't figure how that tiny thing was used???? Which building do you think was used? And in the last episode, they blew up the buildings, supposedly because Michael Landon didn't want the film studio using them for any other show. But they did NOT blow up the Ingall's house, and some other lesser known hovels. Wait, they didn't blow up the school/church. It got damaged, but not blown up. I only know this cuz it was on last week! Twice.
So they had a river, pond/lake, honest-to-God trees and rolling hills... I think it's somewhere in California. I could probably google it and find out but that would be too easy.


I've never been stung by either, so I don't know. My niece was stung by a baby scorpion that was on her bed, she sat on it. The resulting sting seemed to be worse than a bee sting, but I haven't seen two stings in comparable locations, and some people react to mosquito bites with great drama. I'd prefer a bee sting, if i had to choose.

 

[Love my Critters!]

I've never been stung by a scorpion, but from what I hear from my friends and family that have, it is much worse than a bee sting.

 

[MudPie]

You could live-trap the snake and move it.

How to live trap a snake you say - Go buy a minnow trap; pick up a mouse or two at the local pet store; place mouse in trap; leave trap on group in are where snake is actively feeding . Snake goes in the trap to eat the mouse, snake can not find way out of trap.