What do ppl do for rattlesnakes on farms?

[nao57]

What do people do for rattlesnakes on farms? I was curious to ask this? The area I'm at we're actually fairly protected because many decades ago they put a canal at the foot of the mountains running the full length. But before that the valley used to get a lot of rattlesnakes. And many southwest states get them. They are a natural occurrence and eat mice, rats etc...which are plentiful. This is why they and coyotes thrive so much. There's no end of rodents.

So I wondered if there's a way to get rid of them without having to buy a gun? Or do people trap them somehow or something also?

To be fair I don't have rattlesnakes now. But if societal collapse continues, in theory they should re-emerge in the valley again. All the valleys surrounding ours have them. And as long as ... certain people are in office and the country is running amok it doesn't take a genius to follow the line of the curve going downward.

 

[texsuze]

I've caught and relocated two small rattlers in the last few years, only because I believe a human or hen encounter with one would be problematic at my barn. I don't feel compelled to kill them. As you mentioned, snakes occur naturally, something most folks seem to forget. Mice and rat populations can wax and wane in a given location but humans are often the crux of the population increases with their trash, crops in the field, animal feeds, etc. Hence the snakes, similar to apex predators, take advantage of problems created by people.

 

[nao57]

I've caught and relocated two small rattlers in the last few years, only because I believe a human or hen encounter with one would be problematic at my barn. I don't feel compelled to kill them. As you mentioned, snakes occur naturally, something most folks seem to forget. Mice and rat populations can wax and wane in a given location but humans are often the crux of the population increases with their trash, crops in the field, animal feeds, etc. Hence the snakes, similar to apex predators, take advantage of problems created by people.

OK. But how did you catch them without getting bit? Do traps work, and what kind of traps?

 

[TexasTurkeyMama]

OK. But how did you catch them without getting bit? Do traps work, and what kind of traps?

The poultry yard snake count is now three: Two rats, swallowing my guinea eggs out of the ground nest, and one rattlesnake found between the small coops where the meat turkeys are kept.
In catching any snake, control of the head is key. In the rattlesnake's case, trap the head right behind the jaw joint and hang on.

This is the interesting part: the rattlesnake was very quietly coiled between the coops, down in the leaves and green, with half dozen pullets ringed around it, looking the snake over. It never felt a threat from the little chickens or from the turkeys who joined the group and it didn't pull off any rattling when its head was trapped with an edging blade attached to a long wooden handle.

We think it was planning to stake out the area for rodents coming to the inevitable spilled feed and water. And all the snakes who share the neighborhood are welcome to the rodents. But not my eggs. Or my chicks.