Snake had duckling about halfway down (Now w/pics)

[Steergirl]

My poor little baby

I put my 14 pullets and 2 ducks out today for the second time. The neighbors wanted to go out to dinner at a local burger place and I said ok I'll bring them in when we get back since they are almost 5 wks old and its 82 degrees here. Well we came back about 1 hr ago and first thing I did was check on my little ones, well all I see from the back door is a long black thing that the chicks would peck at then jump back. I ran outside and it had my Black Swedish duckling! I was sure it was dead as it had a pretty good part down. Then the duck jumped backwards dragging the snake with it (no small feat!) I ran around front and yelled at my dad who was talking to the neighbors and grabbed a shovel. They ran to the back and I came up behind them with the shovel, I made it spit out the duck by hitting it in the middle of its body (didn't want to hit the ducks head) and it spit it out and started slithering away, I wanted to kill it but my dad wouldn't let me. But next time any snake gets near my chicks and ducks that head is comin off.

 

[Steergirl]

By the way: Their run is a chain link dog run (or rather two put together) that is roofed with 1 inch fencing wire (not quite sure that's the name) all I know is it's the strong kind that you fence in cattle with. The bottom 3 ft is wrapped in chicken wire that is ziptied and wired to the fence. I wanted to put chicken wire to the top (6 ft but my dad said it was overkill-well the type of snake it was can supposedly climb 40 ft trees) I used over 200 zipties securing every little thing but I still wish I would have done that chicken wire.
And as for the duck: Loud as ever! Still a little soggy- I have been working to get it dry but it's always been really nervous and this obviously didn't help! The snake actually left a tooth on the duck (no cut on the duck, must of been since it spit it out so quick) it is holding it's left eye a lil shut and I already had my vet call in prescription eye drops (she doesn't treat birds but she said she could give a general prescription). And it got a buzz cut- the down from it's neck it's cut off close to it's neck. If it survives I have to give it a cool name like - Rocky (since it's a fighter) or Lucky or something like that (we think it's a drake so it can have a tough name without offending it's femininity)

 

[ginger c.]

Glad your duck is okay.

 

[Caliphe]

That's super crazy! Glad you got home on time to notice what was happening! Keep us updated on your ducky's health! I wish her the best of luck recovering from such a traumatizing event.

 

[ducks_rcool329]

I would have quartered the darn thing.....

That jsut shows how energetic ducklings are
Glade she.he is okay

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

How horrifying!! Fingers crossed for the spunky duckling! I hope there's a happy ending!

 

[Balbinka]

Oh my! What a scary experience!

My fingers are crossed for your little duckling. I hope she recovers quickly!

 

[Steergirl]

Quote:
I sure wanted to. I raise snakes and love reptiles but not when they try to eat my duck!

 

[Steergirl]

This is the lil fighter!

It is really black and yellow but since it started growing feathers the yellow has started to fade so I guess my laptops light bleached it out.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

What puzzles me is how the snake managed to begin swallowing the duckling while it was still alive and able to move so vigorously.

Here in South Fla there are rat snakes that go after baby chicks, always at night. They'll grab a chick, coil themselves around it and squeeze them until they're dead, and then begin to swallow them. What makes me mad is these snakes never seem to be able to completely swallow the chicks, they get up to the shoulders and can't swallow any more, so they spit them out.

That's how we know the chick was killed by a snake, when we find them in the morning, dead & limp, and slimed from the beak to the shoulders, but without any other marks on them.

I've seen my pet snakes eat pinky mice while they were still alive, but they can't move themselves much to get away. What kind of snake can subdue a hefty 5-week-old duckling and begin swallowing it while it is still so very much alive? I thought we had some big bad snakes here in the Fla swamps, they must be even worse where you live!