My new skill: Snake relocation

[JessicaR]

Black snake picture.

OK - thats out of the way lets see him!

 

[leebee]

There is a REASON I live up here in the frozen north! That 5 month deep freeze we have really cuts down on the populations with either too many legs or too few!

 

[lucas]

JESSICAR!!!!

I'm scrolling along and when I saw that pic I actually jumped!!!

 

[CathrynRose]

Black snake picture.

OK - thats out of the way lets see him!

LOL! You made me actually LOL!

Yeah - that's out of the way. The people scared will have closed this thread by now. Let's see the rehomed snake!

 

[Jennasis]

Black snake picture.

OK - thats out of the way lets see him!

Looks just like him...but admittedly that's better than mine.

 

[CathrynRose]

Looks just like him...but admittedly that's better than mine.

Wooo! Cool!

I;m a relocator, myself.

 

[Jennasis]

He'll be back.

That's what DH said too. We're pretty sure "Sir Hiss" is probably already comfortably back in that cozy little corner of the yard.

 

[JessicaR]

Looks just like him...but admittedly that's better than mine.

That is a big guy! You are very brave. I hope he stays gone.

 

[ilovepcot]

..........

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

Hey Jennasis, if he comes back, can I have him???? I think I'm not too far away!

A few summers ago, DH killed the black snake that lived in our yard after said snake decided to sleep in the carport, hanging over my car.

Ever since, we've had a field mouse problem. Not a crazy problem but our cat has caught 2 in the house this winter.

One snake beats lots of mice any day, in my book!!!!!!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Hey Jennasis, if he comes back, can I have him???? I think I'm not too far away!

A few summers ago, DH killed the black snake that lived in our yard after said snake decided to sleep in the carport, hanging over my car.

Ever since, we've had a field mouse problem. Not a crazy problem but our cat has caught 2 in the house this winter.

One snake beats lots of mice any day, in my book!!!!!!

While snakes do play a part in nature, if you had any idea how many snakes it would take to actually keep the mouse population in check, it'd give even a herpetologist the heebee geebees. Your entire yard would practically have to be covered in 'em. A snake will eat one mouse & might not eat again for 6 weeks. Meanwhile the mouse that got away has had an entire litter & is pregnant again. OTOH, one hawk or owl might eat several mice per day. And if the mice are scarce, they'll eat the snakes, too I've had 2 black snakes at my warehouse this Spring - one on the loading dock outside, and one on the loading dock INSIDE. First one I estimated at 5' long, the second was 66" nose to tail, but not all the way straight. So probably right at 6' stretched out straight. I "relocated" both of them permanently

 

[Jingle]

Thank goodness it was only a black kitty we found on our balcony a couple days ago! Fortunately, we found the owner. But, a black snake in my yard would make it very difficult to stay there.

 

[lucas]

Looks just like him...but admittedly that's better than mine.

Oh my! That is huge! We've had a black snake hanging around our yard lately, too.

 

[Jennasis]

While snakes do play a part in nature, if you had any idea how many snakes it would take to actually keep the mouse population in check, it'd give even a herpetologist the heebee geebees. Your entire yard would practically have to be covered in 'em. A snake will eat one mouse & might not eat again for 6 weeks. Meanwhile the mouse that got away has had an entire litter & is pregnant again. OTOH, one hawk or owl might eat several mice per day. And if the mice are scarce, they'll eat the snakes, too I've had 2 black snakes at my warehouse this Spring - one on the loading dock outside, and one on the loading dock INSIDE. First one I estimated at 5' long, the second was 66" nose to tail, but not all the way straight. So probably right at 6' stretched out straight. I "relocated" both of them permanently

We have hawks and owls too. It's like Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom around here. Blacks Snakes, copperheads, possums, foxes, deer, skunks, raccoons, massive turtles, vultures, coyotes....and don't get me started on the insects! I'm hoping the snakes are eating more bugs than mice.

 

[clutter]

We have hawks and owls too. It's like Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom around here. Blacks Snakes, copperheads, possums, foxes, deer, skunks, raccoons, massive turtles, vultures, coyotes....and don't get me started on the insects! I'm hoping the snakes are eating more bugs than mice.

At mother's day dinner at a friend's, her sister (who also owns a horse farm) informed us that black snakes keep copperheads away. (She is one of those people that doesn't discuss, she informs. )

 

[Jennasis]

At mother's day dinner at a friend's, her sister (who also owns a horse farm) informed us that black snakes keep copperheads away. (She is one of those people that doesn't discuss, she informs. )

Another reason to let Hiss live eh? My barn cats are also quite good at killing copperheads. They bring me the occasional young/small one as a gift.

 

[lucas]

Do black snakes eat big lizards? We live in South Florida and our yard is overrun with curly tailed lizards. Those lizards are huge. Dh says snakes eat them, but I think they are too fast to be caught by a snake.

Here's a pic:

 

[Sabrefan]

You are brave!! We had a snake once in our yard and I ran for my life leaving my children back there with it to fend for themselves. Not my best mommy moment.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

At mother's day dinner at a friend's, her sister (who also owns a horse farm) informed us that black snakes keep copperheads away. (She is one of those people that doesn't discuss, she informs. )

My brother-in-law swears the same thing. I think while there have been SOME instances of black rat snakes eating copperheads, it's KING snakes that really clean out the copperheads. Thankfully, we have very few venomous snakes around here. I've only ever seen one copperhead (live) and one rattlesnake (dead) in the 44 years I've lived in this county.

 

[stm61]

My brother-in-law swears the same thing. I think while there have been SOME instances of black rat snakes eating copperheads, it's KING snakes that really clean out the copperheads. Thankfully, we have very few venomous snakes around here. I've only ever seen one copperhead (live) and one rattlesnake (dead) in the 44 years I've lived in this county.

We're in SC and I've heard the same thing for years. If it's true, we've had a population explosion of copperheads and the black snakes have moved north or something We've never had a problem with copperheads before, we always found skins but rarely saw the snake, this year I swear that's all we've seen.

On the other hand, I work at a school an hour south and we've been on recess lock-down all week because of black snakes! In about a week, they found 3 of them, and 2 were at least 4 ft long. They tried to tell the our male custodian to "relocate" the first one, he informed them his job was cleaning, not exterminating Nobody was allowed outside the building for 2 days, then they realized it wasn't possible to have preschool graduation practice at the same time as gym class So now the gym classes are allowed out while the gym is in use, but the coaches have to inspect the playground before the kids set foot out the door. Funny thing is, none of the snakes were anywhere near the playground, they were all up close to the building.