Rat snake stole eggs

[j egger]

You will never believe this! So I had just finnished dinner and went out to put our laidies up and as I went to the cage I heard a sound like a machine gun. I knew that it was not in the cage so I checked a fallen tree where one of the hens liked to lay her eggs and boy was I surprised to see a rat snake in there in stead. As I looked closer I could tell that he had eaten the eggs and his tail was vibrating bettween both branches. I checked the coop to make sure that he didn't eat the hen and he didn't and later found out that it was a Texas Rat Snake.

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
Grandma had a sure-fire way of dealing with egg eating snakes. She would blow out an egg and fill it with salt, then place it back in the nest. Any snake that swallowed that egg died.

 

[Sjisty]

We've had problems with rat snakes in the past, too.

 

[j egger]

Darkmatter wrote.

Grandma had a sure-fire way of dealing with egg eating snakes. She would blow out an egg and fill it with salt, then place it back in the nest. Any snake that swallowed that egg died

I would never do that to a rat snake, even though they heve a bad temper and love to eat eggs, they keep the Rattle Snakes out of here because they both eat the same food and besides, they are really cool.

 

[Nodaksnakelover]

not to mention all the rats and mice these guys eat! But when your afraid of something...it's so hard to justify. I do understand this fear. Not that I fear snakes. Just I understand it's hard to get past a fear of something and treat it with toleration.

 

[j egger]

I'm not afraid of it and like I said I think they are cool.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

So long as they don't eat but a relative few eggs I tolerate the non-venomous snakes for their rodent suppression qualities. Getting rid of the rats is worth the occasional egg!

 

[dacasodivine]

They truly do keep rattle snakes and other kinds of snakes away. I will admit to trying once or twice to kill my rat snake when I caught it eating chicks but otherwise leave it alone. We are on 2 acres with woods on 2 sides. One acre of that is pasture that does get a bit overgrown. I haven't seen a venomous snake since the rat snake moved in. I'm going to take that back. I found a baby rattler once. Oddly, it never tries to eat the eggs. I have those nest boxes you buy that are metal. Maybe it doesn't like going over that or just can't.

Before the snake came, I was losing chicks as old as 8 weeks to a rat. We don't have rats now and very few mice. I just have learned to keep the babies locked up until they are too big for the snake.

My neighbor has one acre of well-groomed yard and has constant problems with rattle snakes. They have chickens and a rat snake was eating their eggs so they killed the rat snake. I do wonder if another comes along if they'll leave it alone.

 

[j egger]

hey dacasodevine, I am so happy that you didn't kill your snake, and here's the reason why, not only do they keep rat's and rattle snake's away, but once you kill it, most of the time the rattle snake's come before the rat snakes have time. I garrentee that your neighbor will have that problem.

And A.T.Hagan, this is the first time this has happened to me.

 

[terrilhb]

We had a snake kill 1 of our babies when they were a week old. I did some research. After that I used mothballs everywhere and cut up garlic. (saw about garlic oil to keep snakes away on a educational show) But the garlic oil is so expensive. So I just cut up pieces and spread it everywhere. Even when they were moved out of the shed. Had no problems after that. (don't put them where chickens can get the mothballs). Don't know if everyone will agree but it has worked for me keeping them away in many circumstances. Good luck