Will One Snake Keep The Others Away?

[PigTheChicken]

Hello!
Last night while we went to put the chickens and ducks away we noticed that the ducks were standing outside the doorway of the coop and looking a bit stressed. So when we looked inside we noticed a big diamond python slithering on the ground off the coop underneath where the chickens are perched. We quickly went in and grabbed the chickens and ducks and put them in our horse float for the night. Luckily it didn’t eat anyone. We also managed to catch the snake the next morning and we are stuck on deciding whether we should just let it back out or let it out somewhere else up the road. We have seen this snake before because it lives around our house and this is only the second time we have seen it near the coop. We believe that it might of caused the death of one of our ducks a while ago, but knowing the duck it would have tried to have a go at the snake. So I am just wondering if this python is keeping the other nastier snakes away because it is living around here and will it just cause more problems if we move it.
Thanks for reading.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

A python? How big? Are you in Florida? So many questions.... You say you believe it caused the death of one duck, did it just kill the duck, or eat it too? Do pythons eat other snakes? We have black snakes here that do, but they also eat eggs and may get large enough to eat chickens too, I think. They are not constrictors. Some people tolerate them because they eat rats. What other snakes might this one be keeping away? If you leave it, it will surely grow bigger. How big do they get? Could it be a threat to a small dog? Do you have animal control that would come get it? I've heard in the Everglades they will pay a bounty for these things as they are a threat to the native wildlife.

 

[Coops Dad]

Black snakes are constrictors, too. Snakes won't "keep" other snakes away- but some snakes will kill and eat other snakes and lessen the total number of snakes in the area. The trouble is that those same snakes will just as readily eat your small birds and kill and try to eat your larger ones as well. I had a large gopher snake kill three young pullets in one night, swallowing them headfirst until it couldn't get any farther. Then it would spit it out and kill and try to eat another. I caught it with the head and neck of pullet #3 in its mouth. I killed it and threw it into the pasture.

Later that night, I found another gopher snake trying to mate with the dead one. I killed it, too; that shouldn't happen even to a dead snake.

Since then, all snakes are killed.

 

[Callender Girl]

I don't know anything about pythons, but in northern Iowa, bull snakes have no problem hanging out with other bull snakes. I once had to remove two 4- to 5-footers from adjacent arborvitaes as they were attacking a nest of baby robins.

I relocated both snakes to a safer (for me and mine) place.

 

[svh]

If I'm not mistaken, pythons are an invasive species, and should be killed on sight, NOT "let it out somewhere else up the road".

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Black snakes are constrictors, too.

Thank you for the correction. I guess they must be, if they are not venomous?

 

[3KillerBs]

we are stuck on deciding whether we should just let it back out or let it out somewhere else up the road.

In addition to the invasive species issue,

If you do not own the property you are proposing to release the pest animal on and do not have specific permission from the owner to release the pest animal there, it is deeply immoral and possibly illegal to release it.

Don't shove your pest animals off onto others.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

In addition to the invasive species issue,

If you do not own the property you are proposing to release the pest animal on and do not have specific permission from the owner to release the pest animal there, it is deeply immoral and possibly illegal to release it.

Don't shove your pest animals off onto others.

Kill it and feed it to the chickens?

 

[Mrs. K]

In South Dakota - both bull snakes and rattle snakes make up balls of snakes in the late fall. No, I think the snake will be back, and will eat your poultry.

Mrs K

 

[U_Stormcrow]

While there are some "snake eating snakes" which can be beneficial, and a snake generally won't attempt to eat something it can't swallow (thus, many smaller species "snake eating snakes" can eat another snake of roughly their own length, mice, and rats, but won't take on even a 4-6 week old standard chicken), the best use for a python found on your property is as food for your chickens.

FWIW, I have a small rat snake - maybe 16", which I permit to sometimes take residence in my barn to help with mouse control - but he's being replaced by a cat. I've never lost even a 3 week old chick to him, but the chicks are behind 1/2" hardware cloth for their sdafety, and the snake can't fit his way thru. The rat snake, I hope, will move under my shed.