Look what we found under the duck house today...

[MysticalMom]

Quote:
That was a big black snake we caught. But we have some big king snakes too. They're my favorite snake because they eat copperheads, ( my 12 year was bitten by a copperhead on Mothers day a few weeks ago and we spent 2 days in PICU at Georgetown University. She got 6 bags of antivenin and she's fine now. And she didn't get bitten here on the farm, but in a neighborhood when she went to play with a friend) and because king snakes rarely bite I'll just scoop them right up and play with them for minute, show the kids etc, before I let them go. But black snakes bite. I let the DH catch them and hand them off to me or my girls to let them go away from the animals. We're not afraid of snakes around here ( well except copperheads) But I want them far away from my ducks and the breakfast they make for me.

Oh yeah.. thats a cool pic. Eat that cotton mouth girl!!

 

[Happycheese]

Quote:
Amazing pic! But cottonmouths are venomous, no such thing as a poisonous snake

venom = injected into the blood stream.
poison = ingested and/or absorbed through linings such as the skin or gut.

 

[chickboss]

Wow! That is a big snake! And that could be why you don't see any mice. LOL. Awsome pic!

 

[slackwater]

MysticalMom - where in SoMD are you? I remember seeing your post about the snake bit on somd.net - and what kind of ducks do you have?

 

[Goat_Walker]

Ive already killed a 5 1/2 nd a 7 footer in my duck houses. Im not as humane as you and find that a pair of branch cutters gets the job done. I have too many ducklings due to have big snakes running around.

 

[Becky89*]

I use the snake be gone stuff found at Tractor Supply.........The largest snake I've heard of in my neighborhood was a Giant Milk Snake. I've seen many garter snakes and if you go deep deep deep into a wooded area there maybe a few Timber rattlers

 

[pirtykitty]

rattle snakes scare the dikens out of me... I almost picked up a copper head years ago at dusk while picking up fire wood.. I saw its head move out of the corner of my eye.. I went the opposite direction.. Hubby killed it with shot gun..

 

[Dingleberry]

 

[pips&peeps]

How do you guys keep snakes away?

Well, if we had snakes up here like that; I would use a BIG MACHETE like this one....

But fortunately in this part of the state, in which I have lived most of my life, I have only seen little garter snakes.

ETA: This would only be used after I had come back in the house, stopped screaming and had thoroughly cleaned my soiled pants. Hey, where's the screaming smiley????​

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

MysticalMom,

Your snake will be back.

If you have snakes under your duck house you probably have mice and rats. Your Muscovy Drake will eat them, but there may be more than he can handle. I believe Muscovies will also kill and eat snakes, but I haven't seen mine do it. My drake got ahold of one rat my neighbor had set out poison for and he died from it. I thought he would make it but he didn't. The muscovy drakes will protect their babies, if you have a good drake.

We killed a lot of snakes last year. The chickens ate even more I guess, cause we haven't seen one yet this year, and neighbors have seen lots of them. The chickens eat the smaller snakes and chased the larger ones into bird netting I had at ground level around the garden.

Sorry to say now I have a problem with those dang rats. But my Schnouser don't mind going to ground and killing them. What fun. When the ducklings are older, he can go into the duck house and check things out. Now they are older and take care of things themselves, I guess cause he comes out disappointed more often than not. But when he gets all excited, Dad rakes around and the chase is on.

I put camera's in the houses when babies are hatching or whenever I want to watch at night for vermin or problems or just watch them. My very own Chicken/Duck TV.