Snake In The Coop!!!!

[ranchhand]

Good for you, cat! I have a lot of respect for rat snakes. And we have never had a mouse or rat here, because of their diligence. I don't mind losing some eggs to them and only relocate when they get greedy and take a lot. I caught one one day that was more like "slither, bump, bump, bump, bump..." He'd eaten 4 eggs!

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Quote:
X2. I don't really like killing the venomous ones, either. Rat snakes definitely get relocated, and I'm no proponent of relocation, generally speaking.

They can sure make you jump out of your shoes, though. When I lived in town with chickens we'd get them all the time, often huge.

My dogs probably do a better job on rodents here than snakes do.

That's a fact!

I agree with the policy. We have relocated 10+ this year to a nature preserve. It's so bad here that we keep 2 homemade snake sticks by the front door, with a 5 gallon, lidded and ventilated bucket. We have killed 2 copperheads and a rattler so far this year. I've only had to shoot one possum this year *knocks wood*

My avatar? Here's what it was before I cropped it! As you can see, Goldie was not concerned at all.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/14937_goldie_hen_the_rat_snake.jpg

OMG..I JUST FAINTED!!!

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Quote:
wHERE DO YOU LIVE TO SEE SNAKES THIS TIME OF YEAR..AND PLEASE DON'T SAY VA....

 

[Miss Lydia]

Back snakes will kill copper heads, we let them alone I will even put a duck egg out for them once in a while as a reward.

 

[boykin2010]

i wish i could not kill so many snakes i wish i could relocate them. my mother as soon as she sees a snake its break out the 12-guage.

o well. we dont seem to have any problems with rats or other critters so....

 

[joebryant]

A job well done.

 

[BunnyMomma]

Early this summer we started getting our chicken coop ready for our new chicks. While we were "snake proofing" the eaves, we found two 5 ft. + black racers sitting in the corner of the rafters!

We caught them and took them several miles away. They looked like they were ready for some chicken nuggets!

 

[AuroraSprings]

I've found several good sized rat snakes eating my duck eggs. I tried to relocate the first big one to our feed room, so it would eat our ENORMOUS rat. But the next morning, sure enough, he was right back in the nest box eating an egg. I let him finish that one and was going to try again with relocation when he went for a second one. I had to tear it away from him! He was a greedy, lazy bugger. I thought about keeping him to eat the extra eggs we don't need (especially since we breed snakes and he was a gorgeous specimen), but I decided to take him to the wildlife refuge and let him go there. I did force him to do a photo shoot before relocation though, lol. See:

Interestingly, he was calmer than some of my captive born and bred corn snakes. They ought to know better, but they get feisty. If they ever got into the duck pen, it would be chaos.

 

[txcarl1258]

Shudder

.....I am not a fan of snakes. I understand that they are important, but they need to be important away from my house! I will take a mouse over a 6 ft rat snake any day! Glad a lot of you are braver than me, I just could not bring myself to catch one of them.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Quote:
OMG..I AM WITH YOU THERE...They are here for a reason...I understand that.but so is my heart and I don't want it give out each time I see one.