What is going on in our yard!

[Jingle]

I live in a town of about 10,000. I live in the middle of town in a neighborhood that has been here for 40 years. I don't live near the edge of town or where there has been new development.

In our back yard, we have a row of bushes between us and our neighbor. The neighbor directly behind us has some kind of a garden that borders our back yard. I don't know what he's growing, but it's about 4 ft tall bushy plants. We also have a couple large trees.

Near the end of July, I was taking my dog, a chihuahua, out in the back yard. I was quite startled to see one large turkey and three smaller turkeys roaming around in our back yard. They've been around ever since, wandering between our yard and the neighbors yard on each side of us. We've also seen them fly up into our tree. They even hang out in the front yard from time to time.

A couple days ago, we saw a mouse in the house--again! We've usually only seen them in colder weather, but we put traps out and got two already. We've got to figure out how they are getting in here!

Now, this morning I was out mowing. As I was mowing around our bushes in the far back yard, I found a snake skin. OMG Now, when we were recently in Florida, I was hoping to see a snake--at a safe distance--that was non venimous (sp?)--and lived in Florida. That's the key right there. Lived in Florida. Not here. We have NEVER seen snakes around here. I wasn't very happy to see that. When I was on my second swip in the back yard, back by my neighbors garden, I distinctly heard some rustling noises not too far into their garden. I looked, and could see something moving along the ground. It kind of belnded in. I am quite certain it was a snake, although I didn't stick around to get a closer look. I ran straight through the back yard with the lawn mower running, let go of it (fortunately it stops running when you let go of the handle), grabbed my dog who was laying in the sun on the patio and ran in the patio door. I'm not going back out there. I might mow the yard closer to the house, but I'm not going in the back half of my back yard. The scary thing is that I have a lot of plants around the house. I think they have to go. Not only that, but if the mice found a way in, that means........

 

[cinmell]

Um, is moving an option?

 

[Jingle]

Um, is moving an option?

Not unless we can sell our house today. Anybody interested?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

You are probably seeing snakes because you have mice.

Here is something from your state which describes the habitat of the 2 poisonous snakes that live in WI. Not sure where you are but encounters with them are very rare, unless hiking and rock climbing.

Good info to read & it contains pics, for the snake phobic.

http://www.wildlifemanagement.info/files/snakes_14.pdf

Heck....I have rocks in my landscaping and we also have mice under the front porch. I am waiting to see snakes myself.

 

[Jingle]

OK, now that I've sat inside for awhile, and realize that it's probably not poisonous, I'm going to try and be brave and go out and finish mowing the lawn. We've been very busy and gone a lot, so it really needs to be done today. I'm definitely going to be watching closely!

 

[HM]

Sounds like your neighbor might be growing something the turkeys like to eat. They got booted out of their prior habitat, land being used for a new development somewhere in town perhaps, and have found your yards a suitable substitute.

Sorry about the mice and snakes though. Not fun. Good luck with the rest of the mowing!

BTW (mouse story), I came into work today to find our semi-new refrigerator had stopped working over the weekend and stunk to high heaven. Turns out a mouse had chewed through the plug wire...and electrocuted itself.

 

[Poohgirl]

How about a cat? This is our first year without our great kitty that loved to catch fun things. We have seen more turkey, squirrels, chipmunks, birds galore, snakes, and even have a resident groundhog...this year then ever before. She would have never allowed any of them in her yard!

 

[Jingle]

Sounds like your neighbor might be growing something the turkeys like to eat. They got booted out of their prior habitat, land being used for a new development somewhere in town perhaps, and have found your yards a suitable substitute.

Sorry about the mice and snakes though. Not fun. Good luck with the rest of the mowing!

BTW (mouse story), I came into work today to find our semi-new refrigerator had stopped working over the weekend and stunk to high heaven. Turns out a mouse had chewed through the plug wire...and electrocuted itself.

How about a cat? This is our first year without our great kitty that loved to catch fun things. We have seen more turkey, squirrels, chipmunks, birds galore, snakes, and even have a resident groundhog...this year then ever before. She would have never allowed any of them in her yard!

Hmmm, interesting about the refrigerator! Of course, that's right where we caught our mice--by the refrigerator.

A cat? I can't keep a cat permanently because I'm too allergic to them, but maybe my son needs somone to keep his kitty for awhile. Wait, my neighbor has a couple cats! Maybe she'd let me borrow them for awhile.

 

[diznygirl]

Could be that kind of stuff has been there all along but you just haven't seen it. We lived here for 4 years before we saw our first snake in the yard (and we have a teeny yard!)

Mice are getting in from somewhere, so have pest control out to find the hole and fix it. The snakes should go (hopefully ) go away.

 

[dis-happy]

The snake eats the mouse, the turkey eats the snake, and you (if you don't mind pluck a few feathers) get a free Thanksgiving Dinner out of the deal!

 

[SNylund]

Keep in mind, snakes can be a good thing. Granted most of us get freaked out by them, me included, but King snakes are really good and kill other poisonous snakes. Chances are it was not poisonous. We only have about 6 poisonous snakes in the US, and the rest are non-venomous, harmless.

The problem in Florida is the ferel boas and pythons that are getting huge in the wild, due to people releasing them from having them as pets, but they are still non-venomous.

But I would suggest not killing the snake, unless you know its poisonous and have children around. Obviously don't want them getting bit.

 

[SaraJayne]

You know that we have snakes in WI, right??

I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'm guessing the turkey's like finding a free meal in your neighbors garden, so they stick around.

 

[Glenn]

A number of years ago WI introduced turkeys to a number of areas in the state & they have taken off in numbers. My aunt in 90 miles north of Green Bay and you see them all over. I dont know if theyve been in town but Ive seen them out the the cabins by the various lakes and farm roads. Sort of interesting to see 10 or 20 pecking along the road. Of course that is just 1 more road hazzard to watch for. lol

 

[disykat]

My parents and inlaws live in the same town in Oregon. Both have had the same flock of turkeys visit, usually between 18 - 24 of them! A few years ago they at my parents often - all over their back yard and on their roof - right in the middle of town. Now they spend a lot of time at my inlaws - more on the outskirts of town - and their numbers seem to be dwindling.