Snakes galore!!! UGH

[ivan3]

ddawn wrote: Sure would be nice to know where "here" is. BOCOMO tells me nothing.

We do not want street addresses, anymore than we want names. A state or country is helpful, though.

BOone COunty MO Missouri, somewhere on the dissected uplands along the crest of the Brown's Station Anticline.

Snakes are regional.

Yes, and the extensive range of the most common (posted about) six foot long coop crasher is the Black Rat snake (also ref. as a Racer), OP is in OK so I'm guessing this `model':

I had the ref., quoted from, below, saved owing to the 20% egg solution to discourage Voles (the snakes here do what they can to keep the population down, but they can't eat enough - chooks take one now and then).

There is also this (I think Calif.approved SNAKE-A-WAY for use against one species of Garter, but it could have been another species, though approval by state is no guarantee of efficacy).

Snake repellents
Dr. T's Snake-A-Way

(7% napthalene and 28% sulfur), a commercial snake repellent, has not been successful in repelling golpher snakes, rattlesnakes, and plains garter snakes. Several home remedies including gourd vines, moth balls, sulfur, cedar oil, a tacky bird repellent, lime, cayenne pepper spray, sisal rope, coal tar and creosote, liquid smoke, artificial skunk scent, and musk from a king snake (they eat other snakes) were not successful in repelling black rat snakes.

Good info. on just about all repellents: http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/wildlife/repellents.htm

Oh, egg solution for Voles on this property? If my grandmother was still alive I'd be skinning and curing, sending her more vole `fur' powder puffs than she'd be able to use in another 99yr.

ed:sp/clarity​

 

[clhbubba]

That snake is exactly what we're dealing with. The information you provided is great, thanks. I believe we have yet another we haven't caught yet. Last night as we were closing everyone up there were 3 more eggs in various spots on the shed. I've found they roll them around trying to eat them because the Muscovy eggs are too big for most of them to eat. We'll get moth balls tomorrow. I'm also going to get some steel wool to shove in the bottom cracks. We've been going out at various times of night trying to catch them in the act. It's only a matter of time before we catch the 4th slithering beast!

 

[Ehigh57]

What are some natural preditors of snakes? I ask because there might be a safe solution by using the urine of a snakes enemy. We had squirrels in our attic and I bought fox urine at a local sporting goods store. It was $3.99 for a 4 oz. bottle. I sprayed some on a cloth and set the cloth in the attic. Haven't heard the squirrels scampering since. It's been about 3 weels now.
If anyone knows an animal snakes will avoid you can probably get some of it's urine cause lordy.... I could not believe how many different types were available !!

 

[chickachickadoo]

Chickenfeet, Comet is a powder cleanser, like you would use in the kitchen or bathroom. Did he tell you how he used it, without it bothering the chickens?

I hope the mothballs work. Please post about it if it does. Hubby found a 5-6 foot rat snake aka chicken snake in our shed, where the snake was waiting for some "fast food" in the form of many mice. We are happy to let him/her take the mice, but hope the next selection won't be the bluebirds we have nesting nearby.

Then there is also the coop we are building for our chickens that could be the next target..... So if mothballs really aren't just an old wives' tale and will do the trick, I'll be heading to the nearest store likely to have them!

 

[barngem]

YIKES! After reading this I wont complain about another michigan winter. Snakes around here are not up for chicken dinner
Most are small, they dont climb trees.
Some would probably eat tiny peeps but they are few and far between like that.

Yeesh. If I lived where you all do I would be afraid to go out in the woods or the yard for that matter.
I am not afraid of snakes and even welcome the small Garden snake we have cause they only eat bugs and pretty much mind their own business.

 

[emvickrey]

Quote:
You could borrow some of our rain we had. It seemed to rain for a few months. WE are looking forward to the week of dry days that has been forcasted.

 

[emvickrey]

I wonder if snakes is the reason i'm not getting 6 eggs a day everyday. Sometimes I get 2 or 4. OUr hens don't like a nest box, they prefer to use the shelf and all 6 that are laying use 1 section of the shelf( we have it divided into 3 spaces). A couple times a week the pine shavings are all a mess like the chickens have been fighting up there. That is what I thought. The first time I seen that I found 1 egg in the litter. No more eggs that day. I guess I will be going out to get moth balls too. We have already killed 3 snakes ourselfes this season. My grandsons found 1 when they where looking for worms. They picked up a board and there it was. My dog found one and held it at bay until somebody came to kill it. We have cotton mouth and rattle snakes and water moccosins around. Any snake I see, I kill. I can't tell the difference. They all can kill me by giving me a heart attack. It's them or me and I choose me.

 

[Rotnguns]

Quote:
Bishop, sorry for your loss but I gotta ask.. how did the snake get into your kitchen, and how did it find your hamsters?

 

[emvickrey]

Quote:
We once many years ago had a 7 ft chicken snake in our house for about 3 days before we discovered it was there. WE lived in a house that had a loft bedroom and there was a window at the top of the wal on one side. It would take a very tall ladder to get to it. I had a picture hanging under it. ONe day we came home and the picture was almost knocked down and hanging by a corner. That snake had been in our bedroom. The way we discovered it is we where watching TV in our bedroom and we heard things being knocked down in the living room which we could see over the railing of our bedroom. WE told our daughter to see what it was. She told us it was a huge snake stuck n the airconditioner. DH didn't believe her and remembering the picture I had to look and sure enough. It was trying to get out and must have smelled the outdoors through the airconditioner. this thing was huge and got its head stuck in the vents. DH told me to pull it out. YEAH, RIGHT. I wasn't going to touch it. He used a pair of limb trimmers to pull it our and he carried it out of the house and clamped them down to decapitate it. I moved out of that house a week later. I left him there. I toldhim that we had to move and he said its gone now. If one could get in another could and I wasn't going to be there when it did. I moved and left him with the snakes. A opossum had gotten in years before when the owners lived there.

 

[emvickrey]

Quote:
Large birds like hawks and eagles eat snakes.