Texas Rat Snake

[Their gram]

Lowered the door and reached in - barely stopped my hand from grabbing this! Must remember to pay attention!

It is forcing it's mouth around an egg. The light gray curved parts - that's it's throat going over the egg. It's snout is against the darker brown egg farther on in.

We won't be killing it. I generally gather the eggs by 10:30 or 11:00 a.m., and haven't been seeing signs of snakes. We do have a barn rat (saw it the other night), so hopefully if we keep the eggs collected early enough, this snake and it's compadres will forget about them and focus on the barn. Today we ran some errands in the morning in town and just didn't get the eggs as usual.

 

[jennyf]

That's neat! Glad you aren't killing it... I also much prefer snakes to rats and mice.

 

[Their gram]

I'll be doing my Mad-Eye Moody imitation for a few weeks until I calm down and forget to be nervous.

 

[GGBEAR]

omg would that not kill your chickens?

 

[Their gram]

Hmmm. I doubt it - my hens are full grown and assertive. Rat snakes are not venomous. I don't raise chicks so no threat there. Well I do, every couple of years - i buy a dozen pullets at the feed store. But they're kept up by the house...dogs and people around, and the chicks are brought in at night. Yes, that's a terrible thing to do, I know.

 

[GGBEAR]

lol Na not terrible I would.be.stroking them constantly

 

[Sublight]

I know it sounds terrible, but considering that snake wont eat many eggs, I would probably be ok with letting him have his fill. If he eats a egg every 2-3 days, it would barely put a dent in it. And it would be super cool to watch him grow.
Its awesome that you are not just going to automatically kill it.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

The rule of thumb goes that if you have rat snakes, you have rodents near by. They have excellent senses and don't go around looking for eggs but stumble upon them. Wise decision sparing it's life. When the rats are all gone, the snake will move on. Nature's pest control. We caught a fat 6 foot yellow rat snake lately. Scared it off and haven't seen it since. They avoid humans as much as possible. Non poisioness and harmless if you are bit. Snakes have a bad rap with most people.

 

[GGBEAR]

wish I had one here in UK if they don't harm ur chickens and ducks

 

[BigBirdRick]

I am glad to read that I am not the only one that has had a surprise or 2 when collecting eggs. Our perps are harmless black snakes.

Not to high jack thread, read my adventures here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/aahhhhhh-40-black-snake-in-nesting-box.1150392/