I know this is a pointless endeavor, but is there anyway I can encourage snakes to look for food somewhere other than my nest boxes? I have had six rat snakes in the last two month and three of them in the last three days. The grass has gotten tall around the pen but it's been too wet to mow for quite some time. Thankfully it's dried out enough and I have an appointment to get it done Wednesday. I seriously can't wait.
But is there anything else I can do to dissuade them from returning to the coop? The first three I released miles down the road. The fourth one I killed to get the ceramic eggs back it had eaten. The fifth I killed because frankly I was annoyed and upset that three days in a row I haven't gotten any eggs to put in the incubator. And I would have killed the one last night but it's a bit difficult to hold a light and kill something eight feet long in a house filled with chickens without causing mass chaos so it ended up escaping.
I've removed the nest boxes from the house until the grass is cut down on Wednesday. Also do they remember food sources and come back for repeat visits or is there just an army of snakes preying on the unborn children of my lovely ladies?
But is there anything else I can do to dissuade them from returning to the coop? The first three I released miles down the road. The fourth one I killed to get the ceramic eggs back it had eaten. The fifth I killed because frankly I was annoyed and upset that three days in a row I haven't gotten any eggs to put in the incubator. And I would have killed the one last night but it's a bit difficult to hold a light and kill something eight feet long in a house filled with chickens without causing mass chaos so it ended up escaping.
I've removed the nest boxes from the house until the grass is cut down on Wednesday. Also do they remember food sources and come back for repeat visits or is there just an army of snakes preying on the unborn children of my lovely ladies?
And while I was practically humming with adrenaline and trying to levitate two feet above the grass as I watched the dogs go to the bathroom I watched another 4-4.5 ft Texas Rat climbing up onto the windowsill of one of the bedrooms. *full body shudder* 
Five snakes over the last part of the week and the weekend. Two in one night! It rained all day yesterday and was cool. Do you think that stopped me from finding one in between the door and the side of the chicken house? No, no it did not. The whole yard and four acre pasture is mowed. I'm seriously thinking about control burning it when it's a little drier to see if that helps.
