Found this fugly thing near the house. Just sit there and watched me take pics of it. Looks like I'm gonna have a field day with snakes if they keep popping up like this. At least it doesn't require a really sharp ax....
Thats a nice black rat snake. If I lived closer I would be more then happy to take it. They are pretty rare up here in New England.
I love it. I love snakes. My DH would run for the hills if he was that, even if I would show him the picture here, he would be gone. I had a beautiful black snake last year in my yard. It was about 6 feet long. I just moved it along. Nice picture.
We don't have rat snakes, but lots of garter snakes and I have learned they are my friends - great first line of defense for slugs in my garden. I image that guy would find mice to be a tasty snack.
DON'T KILL IT!!! They'll help keep the mice/rat/vole population down, and if you seal your chicken house well, they won't be able to take your eggs or chicks. Just convince him to enter a pillowcase or bucket and relocate it.
I imagine a snake like that might go for an egg or a chick, but if it were me, I'd put it in a sack and take if for a long hike into the woods/desert. Snakes are great for rodent extermination.
I live with a professional Snake handler. We currently have 28 pet snakes. Most of ours are venomous though. For those of you that are afraid of snakes the rat snake and the king snake are definately good to keep around. Besides eating rats they will also eat other snakes like rattlesnakes or copperheads. If your rat snake does ever start eating eggs you will have to relocate it. It will be there forever. A snake will not hang around where there is nothing to eat. We have had to evict quite a few through the years.
beautiful black rat snake! Please don't kill it! They are harmless to you and a vital part of the ecosystem! They are great snakes.
