snakes

We do have big rat snakes in Texas. A friend about a mile away dispatches huge ones. He has all kinds of birds of all sizes and breeds chicks all summer so his farm is a great place for predators to chow down. He's shown me how to set a trap using wadded up deer netting with an egg inside. I've seen where minnow traps are used to catch snakes. Have been meaning to get some but always forget. I don't want anything to happen to my White Bobwhites. They are pets and a pure delight to have. They don't deserve to die just because a snake is hungry. Anyone have any advice? They are in a 8 by 28 foot pen with 9 foot height built with 1" by 2" welded wire and metal siding/roofing. I'm plugging openings larger then the 1 by 2 inches but would cost me a fortune to put small mesh over all the wire.
 
Gracie and Tucker got this rat snake, it was eating my peafowl eggs.
Gracie weighs 75 pounds so this gives you an idea how big this snake was he was almost 7 foot but still could not eat a full grown chicken..




 
YIKES Zazouse, that's a big one. That thing would swallow my 9 White Bobwhite quail and not even have to burp! I'm going to do all I can to protect them. They are now roosting on a cedar post about 5 1/2 feet off the ground with the 2 Red Golden pheasant. I notice they stand up all night so am going to attach a box to the roost that I can fill with mixture of dirt, sand, leaves, hay, etc: Hopefully they'll lay down in it and rest their legs. I thought quail slept on the ground so surprised to even see them up on a roost. This is the first night all 9 are up there. 2 usually were on the ground over night.
 
Yea she was big, the dogs got 5 of them last year and Gracie got a copper head , which bit her on her side when she was shaking it, you can see the remnants of the bite on her side in the photos.
 
We do have big rat snakes in Texas. A friend about a mile away dispatches huge ones. He has all kinds of birds of all sizes and breeds chicks all summer so his farm is a great place for predators to chow down. He's shown me how to set a trap using wadded up deer netting with an egg inside. I've seen where minnow traps are used to catch snakes. Have been meaning to get some but always forget. I don't want anything to happen to my White Bobwhites. They are pets and a pure delight to have. They don't deserve to die just because a snake is hungry. Anyone have any advice? They are in a 8 by 28 foot pen with 9 foot height built with 1" by 2" welded wire and metal siding/roofing. I'm plugging openings larger then the 1 by 2 inches but would cost me a fortune to put small mesh over all the wire.
Netting is great for catchen snakes, i was able to get this King snake out but but i sure did smell from him musking my arm
sickbyc.gif
there were some i could not get out
This was just some netting i used in my garden and had taken it down the day before , silly snake still got tangled in it I no longer use netting so this does not happen, i just let the dogs take care of the once that get to close.
 
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Netting is great for catchen snakes, i was able to get this King snake out but but i sure did smell from him musking my arm :sick there were some i could not get out This was just some netting i used in my garden and had taken it down the day before , silly snake still got tangled in it I no longer use netting so this does not happen, i just let the dogs take care of the once that get to close.
Wish I could trade you 20 black and/or gray rat snakes for 10 of your speckled kings. Now that's a good deal! lol Those speckled kings are said to be the best at eating other snakes, including venomous ones.
 
I'm the quintessential old Hippie peace freak in a small country neighborhood. You will see a older couple in tie-dye saving caterpillars and planting enough dill for us and the scissortail butterflies. We live by the mantra "do no harm" except for the things that do me and mine harm. So.... I have a Rattler in the garden, he's dead. I have a Texas Rat snake with one of my turkey poults heads down it's throat, dead. Black widows....you gatta be kidding me. I have a 3 year old granddaughter running around digging into everything. That spider and its offspring, dead. I will not relocate these critters to become someone else's problem. I catch anyone releasing said critters around my property we will have a problem. It may look like a great piece of land to release something like that...but it's not. I'm not demonizing your lifestyle, but please don't bring those critters to my home.
I'm good with the "live and let live" position, but if a venomous snake is too close to the house, and my family or dogs are at risk (both dogs have been bitten at least once, and it's pricey to get them treated!) then Mr. Slithers has got to go. My wife hates all snakes, but I'm trying to get her to accept the rat snakes and especially kings and indigos.
 
I'm good with the "live and let live" position, but if a venomous snake is too close to the house, and my family or dogs are at risk (both dogs have been bitten at least once, and it's pricey to get them treated!) then Mr. Slithers has got to go. My wife hates all snakes, but I'm trying to get her to accept the rat snakes and especially kings and indigos.

The problem is snakes don't go along with that "live and let live" mantra. Check out post #140 by "Farm Mommy" from another thread...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...to-deal-with-snake-problems/120#post_13260629
 

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