Snake info - Bull snake

[Wildsky]

I've got two cats, but they stay inside, I don't want THEM eaten by coyote's...

The snake can go on and do his thang - I'm not worried about him and don't have to care for him either - so it suits me just fine

 

[msrma7670]

Hello everyone.

I love snakes so much so they live in my bedroom and the chickens stay outside with the dog and cats.
A bull snake can get very large however it will only eat one big meal about every two weeks or so. yes it could eat the eggs however if you have a rooster it proably would get killed by the rooster before it could swallow one. On average a snake will only eat somthing about twice the size of its belly and at times that is pushing it. snakes are timid creatures and if they feel they will get caught and hurt they wont even try to eat it.

If one has found a good source of food it will return. Yes you can put out sulfar and stuff like that it is pretty expensive and does not last long. if you fell brave enough catch him and drive somwhere and release him.

What happens to all that feed you spill outside? Mice or rats come and eat it and those animals can carry very deadly bugs to humans, so mice and rats are really more of a pest than a snake. THE key is to eliminate the food source no spilled scraps of food no mice rate which means no snakes or at least a very small population you will never see.

My snake story

I often take my python to the store with me WALMART LOWES HOME DEPOT. One day I was checking out and yes the snake was around my neck. me and my wife were just talking when this lady needed our help in front of us. So we helped her she never noticed the snake and it was right in front of her. Her friend noticed and got got a bit concerned. The lady we helped finally noticed and backed off a bit. We talked some and she even held my snake. The point is people often dont see what is right in front of them and hate that which they do not understand or want to understand. Before you kill that snake try asking yourself why is it in my yard and has it hurt me before you kill it. Snakes can be a great benfit to everyone.

I am sorry about those silkies that were eaten very upseting for all animals involved.

 

[gila_dog]

I agree that the bull snake is much more of an ally than an enemy. Mice and rats are nasty things that spread disease, mess up things, etc. The diseases mice carry (and the fleas they host), can be deadly. There's hanta virus. There's bubonic plague. A bull snake will eat them nasty little critters. I have always heard that he will also keep rattlesnakes away. How they do this I don't know. Maybe they fight them. Or maybe they out hunt them.

 

[SpottedCrow]

YOU DO SO Pat!!!
You and all of the Great White North get Garters!!!I sold some last year at work.
http://www.kidzone.ws/lw/snakes/facts-garter.htm

 

[dacjohns]

This is what was after my eggs. Pulled it out from under the banty.

 

[Cara]

Bull snakes are not venomous, but they are also not docile and can give you a nasty bite. Their teeth can cause a fair bit of tissue damage, and their mouths are full of bacteria, making it important to seek medical attention swiftly if you are bitten. They often imitate rattlesnakes by making a buzzing sound.

I like them because they take food away from rattlesnakes, but they are not to be messed with.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Oh yeah, sure, theoretically they are around here. There are others that are infrequently encountered in Ontario too (some of the water snakes come to mind), or are rare and very local in their distribution (such as Massassauga rattlers).

But good luck actually finding a snake 'round here, especially on any given day.

As opposed to being able to go out and poke a pile o' junk, or roll a log, or drive down a deserted blacktop road in the evening in summer, and being guaranteed to find nice snakes. I spent 6 years in NC in a herp ecology type lab, and am used to being able to go out and find Nice Things like green snakes, copperheads (ok so they're real common but pretty, and awfully laid-back for a venomous snake), hognose snakes, pygmy rattles (quite pretty), worm snakes, some of the more handsome corn snakes and so forth.

So I stand by my "no snakes to speak of"

Pat, who has been chased by many a cottonmouth and bitten by many a, well, pretty much all of them

(e.t.a. - not the venomous ones, I'm not that dumb) even though my own research actually had nothing whatsoever at all to do with snakes

 

[shaky]

Quote:
Thats a nice, big Elaphe obsoleta - A rat or chicken snake, in common lingo

 

[Flycropper]

A Texas Rat Snake. What a beaut!

If my wife found something like that in our coop, she'd never and I mean never go back out there.