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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2021 9:00:33 GMT -5
i wonder if you folks have any helpful ideas here:
Our place is bordered by government land ( Corps of Engineers lake) on two sides. I have just about trapped out the 'coons, foxes and lesser varmints, a bear comes through once every four or five years I'm told but I've not seen any evidence of one. At one time we were overrun by big snakes, but the neighbors now have no chickens and between us we have done away with the worse of them. I've seen two this Spring, one foolish four footer attempting to swallow a goose egg---about like the flea crawling up the elephant's leg.
Now; In my yard and garden I have two or three resident bunnies---they do no harm, eat clover and grass in preference to my crops. Despite the presence of adults I have seen no juveniles---with three adults in the yard there should be turkey-egg-sized buns around. This tells me that I have some resident snakes.
The only snake traps I have ever had success with were those made of poly mesh netting for fruit trees---a snake attempting to go thru that is soon caught.
Do any of you know of a better way to trap snakes? (I know about golf balls in chicken nests, but out in the open?)
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Post by paulf on Jul 8, 2021 9:34:11 GMT -5
I for one, welcome the few garter snakes and the Black Snakes that roam around the garden. Mostly the garters eat crickets and other insects and the blacks eat mice and voles. Absolutely no menace to us or our garden. I have seen the occasional Milk Snake that has the same diet as the Black. Both will climb trees for baby birds, but not many. Baby bunnies are also on the menu but the foxes, coyotes and bobcats are the competition for them. I welcome snakes but do not tell my wife they are there...she has a phobia (learned from her mother) about snakes. She is getting less scared by snakes as the years go by but it is better just to keep them out in the garden.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2021 10:00:54 GMT -5
Paulf; Different strokes for different folks. When snakes do no damage no one objects---However, I live in blacksnake, cotton mouth and copperhead country. Found a snake shed on my front porch a few days ago. I'd welcome a gopher snake, but when snake compete with me I intend for them to lose.
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Post by paulf on Jul 8, 2021 10:15:48 GMT -5
I am sure I would feel differently about biters. I grew up in the high mountains of southern Oregon where we had to be careful around rattlesnakes. For "fun" as a kid we used to sneak up on rattlers sunning themselves and give them a good kick and then run out of range and watch them coil and rattle. Oh man, how stupid we were. Lucky for us "up north" most all our snakes are benign.
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 8, 2021 11:49:41 GMT -5
Snakes are part of the natural environment and I would never, ever trap or kill one.
How much competition could they actually be? They kill and eat many more mice and rats than they do eggs.
You are trying to live in an unnatural situation where you kill all animals that you don't like.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jul 8, 2021 11:58:47 GMT -5
I'm fortunate enough to have large non-venomous snakes in my yard, which deter other snakes from moving in. If I had aggressive, venomous snakes around I might feel differently.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2021 15:19:07 GMT -5
MY, I seem to have roused some people who have not had to deal with troublesome snakes. I have found a snake in my cage of little guineas so full of guinea chicks he could not get back out. Same with pigeons. I have found snakes as long as I was tall coiled in my hens nests. I have found snakes coiled around guinea nests so full of eggs that they just lay there, I have found half-grown chickens dead in the pen, wet up to the wings because the snake that killed them decided he could not get his jaws around the wings---And those are the non-poisonous ones. I have not killed a rattler in some years, but as a kid I killed many, every one I found because they bit dogs and livestock. Only a few years back my brother lost a fine young bull calf to snake bite. It was not uncommon to find them in the yard or the garden. Don't even want to talk about moccasins---I have managed to avoid most of them, but those I met did not prosper. Copperheads are here, but they keep to themselves---I've seen only one in four years, and he was leaving the country fast.
If one has to depend on snakes to control mice and the like it is time to change tactics---there are better ways.
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Post by paulf on Jul 8, 2021 15:42:18 GMT -5
Yikes! We see a snake a couple time a month. No wonder you need to get rid of them. That is an infestation.
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 8, 2021 17:08:22 GMT -5
It does seem upsetting and horrible to find dead chicks but if a snake as long as you are tall got to them then I would guess that they were not too securely caged. How could such a large snake get into a proper cage?
We will never agree on this type of issue. I have foxes, skunks, racoons and a few snakes in my area and all animals love chicken. I do not kill the predators. They are native wildlife and do not deserve to die because I choose to have chickens. I make sure that my pens have wire with small openings to keep predators out and there is wire buried to prevent digging under the edges.
The only predators that have killed any of my chickens are hawks when the chickens were outside free ranging. I keep the chickens in their coop during the annual hawk migration and I have not lost any chickens in about 5 years.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2021 18:40:44 GMT -5
Rex=-=-The snakes that were as long as I was tall were the ones that killed my half-grown chickens. As a matter of fact, when I killed the last one I had to raise my arm above my head to get his head off the ground---but he was dead by then. A fellow in my neighborhood swore that there was one by the gate in his pasture that was eight feet long--- Most were much smaller---My guinea pen was one inch by two inch rabbit wire, and a pretty good snake can get in, but not out with a belly full of chicks or pigeon.
I learned also that I could put up a net fence around a chicken tractor and catch snakes right and left. Just drape the netting very loosely with the bottom out six inches or so from the tractor wall. Any snake attempting to get through that will come to a bad end. Of course I put golf balls in my laying hens' nests. Gives a thieving snake a terminal belly ache.
As for the varmints' right to live---I don't go looking for trouble, so it they will stay away from my place they can do as they please. I do play a pretty good defense. Wolves and bear once killed people in Europe--I think they are smarter in Europe than some of our people here,
Anyone have any other snake-trap ideas?
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Post by octave1 on Jul 8, 2021 18:59:29 GMT -5
I wish there were snakes here for it would be them and not me contending with those darndest voles.
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tallpines
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Post by tallpines on Jul 8, 2021 19:08:40 GMT -5
At our house ….. I don’t tell the husband! He’s the one that gets freaked!
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Post by ladymarmalade on Jul 8, 2021 19:27:59 GMT -5
Yikes! I don't know anything about snake traps, but I would not be a fan of coming across one on my property.
That being said, there was one time our neighbors had a garter snake show up in their kitchen sink, so they came to ask DH to remove it. My DH completely freaked out! I had no idea! Fortunately, my time in the woods as a kid gave me plenty of opportunities to handle simple garter and grass snakes, so I was able to pick it up and take it outside to release it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2021 20:46:43 GMT -5
Little garter snakes and the gentle green tree snakes cannot exist where the big boys live. I've seen NONE around here.
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Post by september on Jul 8, 2021 23:11:32 GMT -5
Sounds like snakes are like hot weather and rain -- the ones that have them don't want them, and the ones that don't have them would like more! All I have here are garter snakes and the tiny red bellied snakes, and not that many of either. I am thankful for no poisonous snakes, I'm not sure I could leave them be, as I go barefoot or flip flops all summer. Right now, I am wishing for more of the bigger garters to show up to help with the vole control.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jul 9, 2021 3:30:16 GMT -5
Snakes are part of the natural environment and I would never, ever trap or kill one. How much competition could they actually be? They kill and eat many more mice and rats than they do eggs. You are trying to live in an unnatural situation where you kill all animals that you don't like. I can see his side. In Texas, everything here either bites, stings or pokes you. It’s not about killing animals we don’t like. We have Cottonmouths and Copperheads (which blend in with the environment) and are hard to see. Luckily, I have not seen a rattler in 30 years, but I know they are here as I saw them as a child. Cottonmouth snakes are pretty aggressive and will bite without provocation. I have a couple of 90+ year old family members that like to walk outside. Plus, I’m almost blind. None of us are spring chickens around here and a bite could be lethal to us. They have to be disposed of. We also have garter, king, hog nose and a few others. We don’t kill those because they are non venomous. It’s not about killing anything that crosses our path. I’m not looking for an argument, just trying to give you a picture of what we contend with. Luckily, we don’t have to kill many, mostly I guess because we don’t see many of them. I think the population of wild hogs has done away with some of them, but in the 70’s through the early 2000’s, they were really bad.
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stone
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Post by stone on Jul 9, 2021 7:39:15 GMT -5
I'm always happy to see these.... This is heartbreaking, I had to quit attempting to use bird netting to protect my berries... saved the kingsnake from the net...
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 9, 2021 8:18:13 GMT -5
hairymooseknuckles, I guess that I can see killing venomous snakes around the home but I will never, never, never agree with killing snakes that are non venomous and killing chickens or other caged animals. If a person makes the decision to keep caged animals and they know there are snakes or other predators in the area then it is the owner's responsibility to cage the animals in a way that excludes snakes. If a snake can go through wire with a 1" x 2" opening then buy wire with smaller openings and feeding golf balls to snakes so that they can die a miserable death by not being able to pass the golf ball is appalling to me. If I can exclude something as small as a moth from my cabbage plants, then certainly an animal owner can figure out how to exclude snakes without killing them. In Florida Burmese Pythons are killed by snake hunters and I have no problem with that because they are a non native snake and are wreaking havoc on native animal bird and animal populations. Animals, including snakes, are welcome in my yard anytime and I will find ways to protect my gardens and chickens so that we can co-exist with them.
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stone
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Post by stone on Jul 9, 2021 8:28:32 GMT -5
Of course... some barn cats in the garden... kill anything that moves... And... eat eggs.... I've had snakes eat an occasional egg... but they were nothing like the raccoons... I think people are dumping their pests out at my house... Took like 6 or 8 months to trap one that was taking out adult chickens...
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Post by paquebot on Jul 9, 2021 14:53:47 GMT -5
My mother was absolutely terrified of snakes. It's a natural phobia. She and my stepfather were going to buy a better farm and she saw a snake on the property. Nixes that idea! My father was just the opposite and I turned out like him. He made a lot of money as a teen hunting rattlesnakes for the bounty. I may have been the last person to claim a bounty in Wyoming Township around 1969. That snake was shot under my uncle's front porch.
Rattlers were a protected species soon after and soon became a problem in that valley but few knew of it. It just became a normal thing. That was a cow suddenly with a big swelling on her face. Part of the woods was cleared for pasture and the den supposedly bulldozed over. That was just one den and I am one of few who know where the main one is!
There was a deer that a cousin shot for me and it had a swelling on a hind leg. Cousin wasn't sure what it was as there was no obvious wound. When skinned, there were two tiny holes. It was from a rattler bite.
And there;s the story of myself up close and personal with a rattler when I was about 8. My father and I were looking for a missing cow that was due to calve. I was walking ahead of him on a cattle trail and he was behind me. One more step and I would have stepped on a very angry rattler. My father had a .22 and he simply said: "Spread your legs!"
Good story is that every bull snake was protected as they not only ate mice but would kill rattlers. I had one all summer when I was 12. She got so many mice that she was actually fat. A cousin was still in diapers then and would play with the snake along with me. There actually are photos of her wearing just a diaper and with the snake coiled around her neck.
Another story of fear was the bulldozer operator at Taliesin in the late 1940s. We found a hog-nosed adder and he almost went into shock. He had been a SeaBee in WW2 and a boa constrictor fell on him when he was clearing a jungle. Every snake was safe from him as all he wanted to do was put a lot of distance between them.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by bestofour on Jul 10, 2021 13:48:02 GMT -5
Our black snakes can be between 6 - 8 feet long and they are FAT. I love watching them in the yard - from a distance of course. I used to have one that would follow me around the garden. We had a copperhead show up in our house and we did murder it. We also had a dog that was bitten in the mouth by a copperhead. It was horrible and took our dog a long time to recuperate. That one ended up dead too because it wouldn't go away. I think having cats outside and a big dog that's out sometimes might keep the snakes away.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2021 15:14:05 GMT -5
A general rule for me is that snakes and I should be at least 30 feet apart at the closest. Venous snakes I will kill if possible, it is true, as I would any snake in a barn or chicken coop. I appreciate most snakes are helpful, but for me, there are limits.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2021 12:13:42 GMT -5
Wildlife that interferes with my endeavors is unwelcome without regard to the feelings of environmentalists. I spoke this morning with a fellow whose livestock cannot use his pond because of snakes, foxes and snapping turtles. Unacceptable to me.
By the way---has then been any discussion of turtle traps? There are several easily made and effective ones. I had trouble with big turtles when I was lakes and ponds manager at a gun club I once belonged to. One of them stopped up a drain and we had to poke him out with several lengths of plastic pipe.
Martin---An uncle bought a farm infested with rattlesnakes---he had two big bulldog mixes who learned to kill them---they sometimes got bitten, but apparently after a bite or two they became less sensitive to the poison. In time they cleared most of them out.
One way, of course, to get rid of snakes is to get rid of their food. I trapped and poisoned rats and mice here until I quit finding them. Place was a jungle when I got it---had a belt of brush across the back that was a corridor for vermin. Pond had a nest of pack rats, I must have trapped a wheel barrow full of coon, fox, possum. feral cats and skunk. Doves now nesting low to the pond banks and cottontails in the yard, so there must be fewer varmints.
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Post by spike on Jul 12, 2021 13:01:25 GMT -5
If one has to depend on snakes to control mice and the like it is time to change tactics---there are better ways If you have such an issue with snakes why would you move to an area where there are so many? IMHO maybe it is time for you to change tactics.
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