I stepped out my front door to go onto my porch to have my coffee and the door didn't close. There was about a 4 foot snake half way into my house. I pulled the door to on it, but it wouldn't latch. Certainly didn't want to release the pressure, so I held it until my neighbor arrived. I went into my workshop and cobbled up a device to catch the snake. I had a piece of pvc about 4 foot long and ran parachute cord through it and used duct tape to tape the end so that it would form a noose.(You know this was serious and heavy duty, probably tactical as I had used duct tape). I could tighten the noose by pulling on the other end. I went in through the back door and noosed the snake and took it outside. It was a non poisonous variety, but I don't want it in my house or even my yard for that matter. I know they eat mice--one every two-three weeks. So I decided what made that snake want in my house was a deficiency of lead on its brain. I applied such in the form of a pellet and my diagnosis was wrong. Of all things it killed the snake. I had done my good deed as I had created some snake mignon for other critters.

I have a catcher rig that I made by using a PC. of 1/2" elec. conduit with a center string made of weed eater line secured to the pipe + then looped through. I have had rattlers in my shop before + I'm not shooting them indoors on the slab. My grandson almost got nailed the other day working on his car at the back of my property. Called me on his cel phone as he was stranded on top of his car with 2 buzz tails on the ground.

have thought about the crude catcher I quickly fabricated and have some ideas for improving it. If I take a pvc coupling and cut it to where it has spikes on the end it would penetrate when pressure is applied. I could drill through the coupling and the pvc when it was in place and run my parachute cord into the inside of the pipe through that hole and then tie a knot. The knot would keep it from pulling through and the parachute cord would keep the coupling pinned on. I could rig up a cleat at the other end so that I could wrap the end around the cleat and it would hold whatever pressure I had applied.

A pellet rifle is all that is needed and should not be a problem on a slab. The snake in the story was dispatched with my old Blue Streak Sheridan I've had for 35 years and was well used when I got it.

Bad News!----It came back to life as JOE BIDEN!

Hip

Well, if you have snakes you have a rodent problem. I'd rather let the snakes do their job. They move on when they clear the vermin out. Works every time on my place.

They just don't want to be stepped on. Yes, I look at the ground when I walk. Always have so I notice these things. Rural living.

I do my best to stay aware as well but lets face it, those rattlers are wearing natures best camo. Ann, you're right, they are after food + lets face it, most buildings do have some rats + mice, I know my shop does/did. I have used some poisons in the attic + it helped (never low where my dog could get it).
carpetman, use a section of 1/2" conduit as your tube + weed eater line as your cinch. It's much easier to use than paracord.

By the way, I knew a guy here years ago that he put a section of stove pipe on his legs that went from ankle to knee whenever he went out in the pasture. Poor man's snake boots, worked though.

Fellow I used to know caught bobcats in a cage trap and had built a big A frame cage to hold several in.

When I gave it a try and caught two in mine. I took them to him for his cat collection.

He had a choker he'd made with a full 10 ft piece of 1/2" conduit. I don't know what he used for line.

That cat on the loop was all over the place, even almost straight up in the air. It was a 6 foot dia ball of flying razor blades and one hit his hand. No way he could turn it loose until he got it inside the big cage. It really did a JOB on his hand. That pole wasn't long enough.

Much depends on the size of those rattlers in your shop. A shovel is the best I've found for them up here. Our prairie rattlers are usually 2-4ft long. about the biggest might make 5' or a bit over. Nothing like the monsters Texas an OKLA have.

As for killing a non poisonous snake of just about any kind I just can't abide that. We have such people up here that hate all snakes equally and kill the bull snakes that will keep rattlers away and even kill them I've heard.

George

A snake eats every 2-3 weeks so that would only be about 20 mice a year. Mice start reproducing litters of 6-8 when just a few weeks old. A snake isn't going to make a dent in that. That snake was almost in my house once and I don't want to chance that it might try it again and possibly make it.

Georgeld I'm sure there are cat lovers that feel the same way about bobcats as you do non poisonous snakes--to each his own.

They will eat much more often than that.

I just checked with my wife. She said she really didn't want either, but if she had to would much prefer to deal with mice in the house than with snakes in the house. Just one woman's opinion, so perhaps you might want to check with others. However, I have a pretty good idea of how that poll is going to turn out.

Ann---Not to flame how often are you suggesting a snake might eat? Their mouth hinges so that they swallow their food whole and it takes several days to digest. Not nearly going to make a dent in the mouse population as prolific as they are.

We had a small Western diamondback in the office at the shooting range last fall, curled up under the bench. If someone had plopped down on it they would have likely been hit in the back of the calf. We have a no-relocate policy on buzzers (and yes, we have been working hard to eliminate the food supply) so this guy got the shovel treatment. I agree they do a great deal of good keeping rodent pops down. The bigger ones also kill and eat our tiny brush cottontails.

I know that they have their place in the great circle but I don't want to deal with ANY of the Crotalus genus on any form of personal basis. I don't go looking for them and I require the same. If I find them anywhere close to my living or working areas, I will kill them as dead as free credit.

Mentioning a snakes eating habits got me thinking about something. We kill an animal and there is a gut pile. We remove the hide. We don't eat the bones. So we only eat about 1/4 of the animal. A snake is more efficient, they eat the whole thing.

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
I have a catcher rig that I made by using a PC. of 1/2" elec. conduit with a center string made of weed eater line secured to the pipe + then looped through. I have had rattlers in my shop before + I'm not shooting them indoors on the slab. My grandson almost got nailed the other day working on his car at the back of my property. Called me on his cel phone as he was stranded on top of his car with 2 buzz tails on the ground.

.22 CCI ratshot…except for the dead snake…you never know it happened.

Damn, Lane, I know that, I even load CCI snake shot caps for my 44spl. I think rattlers + my 1st reaction is 12 G. The answer was so simple it plumb evaded me. Thanks.

Snakes can !make you hurt yourself!!!!

None are welcome in my proximity!

.

So, what kind of snake was it?

wasn't a copperhead but looked similar

My ex-mother in law told me back when they lived on the farm north of Dallas in the 40s there was a snake crawled up the porch pole into the eaves + as there were some guys hoeing cotton in the field she grabbed one to get the snake out. He just poked at it with his hoe + said, "I don't hear him rattlin'" She said, it wasn't a rattlesnake + he said, "Lady, ALL snakes rattle!" She just told him to go away.

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman1:
Ann---Not to flame how often are you suggesting a snake might eat? Their mouth hinges so that they swallow their food whole and it takes several days to digest. Not nearly going to make a dent in the mouse population as prolific as they are.

In warm weather they do eat quite frequently. A larger snake obviously is going to eat more. You'd be surprised how much they can eat in one session. For instance a full grown rat snake and clean out one of my hen's nest boxes without a burp in one setting.

'Hots' like copperheads are very good mousers. As far as copperheads go they are very non aggressive, you'd have to step on one for it to bite. Most of the time they do not even move if you come near them and thus do undetected for the most part. In warm weather they hunt mostly at night when the rodents are scurrying and spend the day quietly curled up.

In any system there are multiple players. The snakes are just a part of it. Bats are great around the farm for insect control, etc. I have red-shoulder hawks that nest in my barnyard every year. They never bother my free ranging fowl (even chicks) and keep the bigger hawks that do off of them. I have actually seen that happen.

It's often more about the knowledge of how all things work together and making a plan to deal with them. I have always watched where I put my feet and see things long before they can become an issue. As far as things like rat snakes, I have learned to just gather up a nest raider and take it for a ride on the tractor to a far corner of the property and let it go. I leave the copperheads so they can do their job. They do not bother the livestock. Stupid dogs who get bit are sore a couple days but learn their lesson and learn to leave them alone. Copperhead bites hurt and will swell a dog's face up but they are not deadly by any means and do not require veterinary attention.

I've never seen a rattlesnake about my place but it would not bother me once I knew where it was. They do move on unless you happen to have a hibernaculum/denning site on your property.

Ann, that is a good point that a snake will eat a few eggs. How long before it eats again? Never swallowed an egg whole nor a whole mouse. Don't know if an egg and it's shell would digest faster than an entire mouse? Would think the egg. Knowing a rattlesnakes location would be useless unless you attached a tracking device.

You obviously have more tolerance for them than I do. No way I'm going to let a poisonous snake have free reign. I'll relocate it---to a hungry critters stomach.

One of the beautiful copperheads around here. This one was inside my vegetable garden area last summer. It stayed around a week. I had pack rat and chipmunk issues. Had is a key word.

Those are cell phone photos and yes, you can get right up to a copperhead. They rely on camouflage and really will not bite unless grabbed or stepped on.





These snakes blend in very well in oak leaf litter. Something else about snakes is in such a situation the rodents also move on once they know a predator is about. Snakes can get into the same places as the rodents where my cats would be ineffective.

How much they can eat and how frequent depends on several factors, such as ambient temp, size of the snake, its activity level, if it is gravid.

Talk about snakes ---we have one for a President and even more so, his son!

Hip

Dude, I'll take a real snake over any politician on any day. Trust me, the real snake is far more predictable.

I have to concur with the mindset that I just dont want them around. I would rather use a mouse trap.
We have a little piece of property alongside an irrigation canal and so when I go there in the spring the first task is to mow the tall grass and the water snakes. They are not so fond of the short grass and a lot easier to spot.

The "rodents" up there are typically rabbits. They are more welcome than the slithering critters.

My 1st ex-wife was a country girl + when she found a rat snake in our henhouse in a nesting box she got so mad she grabbed it by the tail + started whipping it like a bull whip + it started disgorging all those eggs it had swallowed.

That Texas wind never stops blowin'!

Is he FUNNIN' Ya Randy?

Hip

Some of the western rat snakes here on the farm.

The black one is every bit the longest snake I have ever found. I bet it was 7 feet or pushing so. Very impressive snake.



Westerns are in general solid black as adults but I have a brown female that I see every year looking for chicken eggs. She is very unique for this species. I don't normally name the critters around here but 'regulars' do get names. This one is called 'Mocha' because she is easily identified being the only brown western here and maybe in the entire state.

Yeah, regulars with names; I can relate. When my son who is in his mid 40s now was a little 2-3 year old out here in the country, he named 2 pet buzzards Deedee + Alleli. They never landed here but with them soaring above was good enough for him.

Hard pass on the nope ropes.

I'll take my brown bears and swamp donkeys over danger noodles any day.

For years my wife used a ringer washing machine.

One day she comes screaming up the basement stairs.

Kind of making out what she was saying about a snake.

I went down to where the washing machine was.

Their coiled around the ringers was a garter snake about 18 inches long.

Removed said snake and placed it back out side where it belonged.

Why it climbed there is only for the snake to known.

Ann, that rat snake is mighty handsome, and of course, the copperhead is just gorgeous. I've heard it is the cottonmouths in your neck of the woods and further east/south that come with serious attitude.
I'll be right on the edge of copperhead country in Nolan County, TX. Sweetwater is better known for its annual Rattlesnake Roundup in March.
In the world of self-bow makers there is a variant called a snake bow -- usually made from a particularly twisty piece of osage orange -- and the most spectacular ones I have seen have been backed with matching copperhead skins on both limbs.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Ann, that rat snake is mighty handsome, and of course, the copperhead is just gorgeous. I've heard it is the cottonmouths in your neck of the woods and further east/south that come with serious attitude.
I'll be right on the edge of copperhead country in Nolan County, TX. Sweetwater is better known for its annual Rattlesnake Roundup in March.
In the world of self-bow makers there is a variant called a snake bow -- usually made from a particularly twisty piece of osage orange -- and the most spectacular ones I have seen have been backed with matching copperhead skins on both limbs.

I'm more than likely out of cottonmouth range here in the Ozark uplands. Not enough water here for them and a bit on the cold side come winter. The swamps on the east side of the state are prime territory for them. I've also never found any rattlesnake species here. I have perfect habitat. The east side of my land is tall ledge with a decent creek in the bottom. Ancient Americans had a camp down there. I dig through it on occasion.

I ran across this picture of a huge diamondback out of Louisiana , 30 years ago I encountered one of similar size in Southern Georgia but unfortunately no camera was available, these big snakes are capable of striking you in the upper torso so give them wide berth and carry a long stick.

That big snake reminded me of when I was a senior in High School. I was working at a local diversified farm that bordered on the Cosumnes River. I was pruning Christmas Trees and heard some shots on the river. The owner's son was with me and took off to see if there were poachers on the property. About 15 or so minutes later I hear 3 rifle shots. Soon I see him driving on the levee. He stops two hundred yards from where I am working and honked the horn and waves me over to him. Get to the levee and asked him what he needed. He just says "look in the bed of the pickup". I climbed up the levee, grabbed the side of the pickup to help me up and was staring at a rattle snake going from corner to corner of the bed. Scared the crap out of me and the dog that thought we were going home. That dog jumped in and out faster than a blink of an eye. She stood there and barked at the truck and would not shut up. When I stopped cussing at Bruce, I grabbed a hoe and opened it's mouth. Those fangs had to be 1 1/2" long. Dog rode in the cab with us back to the house. She kept looking back through the rear window. Farm owner was pissed that Bruce blew the crap out of the snake with the .243 BAR.

The biggest one I ever dealt with was sunning itself on a red dirt road with its head + tail in the grass on either side of the road that was made by the blade of a D9 Caterpillar + that's pretty damned wide.

Ann makes snakes out to be cuddly and gentle. I say they only eat every 2-3 weeks and you would think that would make them mean. But that's not it. They only have sex once a year. Now, do you really believe they are not aggressive and mean?