Jump to content

Menu
Giving You and Your Child a Road Map to the Best Possible Education
The Well-Trained Mind Community

What to do with snake?!

Sneezyone

By Sneezyone,
in The Chat Board

 Share

Recommended Posts

Pawz4me

Pawz4me

Posted
Posted

I don't know about your area, but our community FB page has a few people who volunteer to relocate unwanted snakes. But I think there's a really good chance if you leave it alone it'll move on soon.

We have a black snake or three around here, and I tell myself they're helping to keep the skinks from taking over.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sneezyone

Sneezyone

Posted
  • Author
Posted
7 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

He might take care of the skinks.  I know he'll love mice.  We had a garter snake living in our yard last year and I came to see him as a pet and even named him.    I was so sad when he left this winter.   

I've never seen a mouse but we do have squirrels and skinks. Close enough, I suppose. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
WildflowerMom

WildflowerMom

Posted
Posted
Just now, Sneezyone said:

I've never seen a mouse but we do have squirrels and skinks. Close enough, I suppose. 

Dmettler, can tell you more about skinks.  Idk if the snake will eat them.   I know skinks bite and jump around and scare me, lol.   More so than a snake.  I've had both in my house.  The skink scared me worse.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MEmama

MEmama

Posted
Posted
Just now, Lady Marmalade said:

Not related at all, but this thread titled "What to do with snake" came directly after "WTM Cook Along Poll #2" and my brain put the two together.

😳

My brother once fried up a rattlesnake he'd killed in the backyard. It really actually did taste like chicken (with an extra side of ick factor)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sneezyone

Sneezyone

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
9 minutes ago, MEmama said:

The south is horrifying

This skink just walked right up next to the snake (that was completely unperturbed). Apparently it’s not as tasty as balout. Also, this snake is looking me dead in my eyes and daring me to say something!

IMG_0292.jpeg

IMG_0290.jpeg

Edited by Sneezyone
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
stephanier.1765

stephanier.1765

Posted
Posted (edited)
29 minutes ago, MEmama said:

The south is horrifying

Right now a glass lizard is my favorite living thing in my yard. Once we had a cat that would go up and sniff it. The glass lizard would jump straight up in the air and then the cat would jump straight up into the air. LOL

A black snake I'd leave in my yard too. Those critters are so darn helpful.

Dexter.jpg

Edited by stephanier.1765
  • Like 9
  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Innisfree

Innisfree

Posted
Posted

I dunno, daughter of biology teacher here, but I’ve always found skinks inoffensive and quite attractive. The five-lined variety have beautiful blue tails when they’re young, and the larger ones get impressive red throats. We’ve had both get into the house, have caught both to remove them, and the biggest worry is not scaring them so much that they drop their tails off, which is a defensive and distracting device against predators. I don’t think they could hurt us if they managed to bite. Not sure they even have teeth.

But I’m the person who was delighted when a black snake moved into the walls and attic of our old frame house. Took care of the mouse problem, and we only saw the snake once.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plestiodon_fasciatus

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites
MEmama

MEmama

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, stephanier.1765 said:

Right now a glass lizard is my favorite living thing in my yard. Once we had a cat that would go up and sniff it. The glass lizard would jump straight up in the air and then the cat would jump straight up into the air. LOL

A black snake I'd leave in my yard too. Those critters are so darn helpful.

Ok, I had to look up your glass "lizard" and I'm afraid to tell you, it's a snake. If it has feet, they are just a disguise

(or as @chocolate-chip chooky's daughter would clarify--it's doing cosplay lol)

  • Haha 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites
livetoread

livetoread

Posted
Posted

Black rat snakes tend to be pretty docile, though I'm sure their personalities vary. Awhile ago I went on a bike ride and moved both a very large black rat snake and very small garter snake off the path to keep them from getting run over. The garter snake was incensed and kept striking at my shoe which was pretty funny considering how small it was. The rat snake just ignored my prodding and finally I had to use a large stick to scoot it. It shrugged it all off but finally climbed the fence next to the trail and tolerated me hanging around staring at it for awhile.

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Terabith

Terabith

Posted
Posted

Rat snakes are lovely; I have no issues sharing my property with them.  Skinks are adorable and provide excellent entertainment for felines.  

What is truly horrifying about the south are the flying roaches.  And crawling roaches.  Just....roaches in general.  I'm not too fond of the biting red ants, either.  

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dmmetler

Dmmetler

Posted
Posted (edited)
49 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

Dmettler, can tell you more about skinks.  Idk if the snake will eat them.   I know skinks bite and jump around and scare me, lol.   More so than a snake.  I've had both in my house.  The skink scared me worse.  

I don't think there's a single skink in the USA big enough to break skin. I don't think they even have teeth. They're small, fast, agile little lizards tbat eat insects, have tiny (or sometimes no legs) and will drop their tails when threatened.  I relocate quite a few outside each Spring/ fall because otherwise the cats will eat them. 

 

 

If you see a snake and wonder "how the heck did it get there??" It's probably a rat snake. At the state Herp meeting auction, birdhouses are referred to as "rat snake feeding stations. Young snakes will sometimes eat lizards. 

 

Both are useful in keeping down pests. 

Edited by Dmmetler
  • Like 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Terabith

Terabith

Posted
Posted

I think tarantulas are kinda cute if I'm expecting them, but I will admit to being disconcerted when I lived in Texas and it was tarantula migration season, and there'd be swarms of them everywhere.  I also really, really don't like bumping into giant spiders when I don't expect them to be there.  Philosophically, I'm fine with them, but there's a definite surprise factor that is disturbing.  

Scorpions horrify me.  

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
MEmama

MEmama

Posted
Posted
19 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I think tarantulas are kinda cute if I'm expecting them, but I will admit to being disconcerted when I lived in Texas and it was tarantula migration season, and there'd be swarms of them everywhere.  I also really, really don't like bumping into giant spiders when I don't expect them to be there.  Philosophically, I'm fine with them, but there's a definite surprise factor that is disturbing.  

 

Everything about tarantulas is a big nope. But TARANTULA MIGRATION?! 
It really is like a different country down there 

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ScoutTN

ScoutTN

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Terabith said:

Rat snakes are lovely; I have no issues sharing my property with them.  Skinks are adorable and provide excellent entertainment for felines.  

What is truly horrifying about the south are the flying roaches.  And crawling roaches.  Just....roaches in general.  I'm not too fond of the biting red ants, either.  

This! Palmetto bugs and fire ants are so, so icky! Not as bad as ticks, but still icky. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
chocolate-chip chooky

chocolate-chip chooky

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, MEmama said:

Ok, I had to look up your glass "lizard" and I'm afraid to tell you, it's a snake. If it has feet, they are just a disguise

(or as @chocolate-chip chooky's daughter would clarify--it's doing cosplay lol)

It's playing dress-ups! 😁

When I saw I had a notification for a thread about snakes, I didn't think it would be related to a cosplay comment. I thought it would be reference to our plentiful snakes here in Australia. I had to stop to let a huge carpet python cross the road last week. It would have been the thickness of my forearm. Very cool. 

  • Like 4
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
MEmama

MEmama

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

It's playing dress-ups! 😁

When I saw I had a notification for a thread about snakes, I didn't think it would be related to a cosplay comment. I thought it would be reference to our plentiful snakes here in Australia. I had to stop to let a huge carpet python cross the road last week. It would have been the thickness of my forearm. Very cool. 

Oops, I shouldn't have tried to rely on my memory. 🤦‍♀️ I loved her comment at any rate 🙂 

The American south is alien enough to me what with their flying cockroaches and dripping snakes, but Australia is a whole 'nother source of unknown fears, lol. I'll stick with our moose and rabid foxes, thankyouverymuch. 🤣

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites
chocolate-chip chooky

chocolate-chip chooky

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

Another snake anecdote just for funsies - my parents found a carpet python coiled up in their car boot recently. 

Really, it was no big deal, just a fun story. Carpet snakes are non-venomous. 

My parents have a local guy who relocates all their snakes for them. He's there often enough that he stays for a chat and cup of tea with them 😄 The only reason they bother to relocate them is that they have a family of possums that live in the ceiling of their garage, and they don't want the snakes to dine on them.

  • Like 4
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
MEmama

MEmama

Posted
Posted
Just now, chocolate-chip chooky said:

Really, it was no big deal, just a fun story. Carpet snakes are non-venomous. 

My parents have a local guy who relocates all their snakes for them. He's there often enough that he stays for a chat and cup of tea with them 😄 The only reason they bother to relocate them is that they have a family of possums that live in the ceiling of their garage, and they don't want the snakes to dine on them.

I just love how nonchalant you are. 🙂 Oh, you know, sure there's a humungous snake dripping from the rafters, isn't it cute. Yeah, gotta save the family of possums that lives in the attic. No biggie, the snake in the road was just as big as my arm, how adorbs. You do proud the stereotypes North Americans have about how tough and brave Australians are! (I mean this with sincerity and in the best way, to be clear). 

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites
chocolate-chip chooky

chocolate-chip chooky

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I just love how nonchalant you are. 🙂 Oh, you know, sure there's a humungous snake dripping from the rafters, isn't it cute. Yeah, gotta save the family of possums that lives in the attic. No biggie, the snake in the road was just as big as my arm, how adorbs. You do proud the stereotypes North Americans have about how tough and brave Australians are! (I mean this with sincerity and in the best way, to be clear). 

I wish I'd taken a photo of the huge huntsman I caught and put outside the other night 😁

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sneezyone

Sneezyone

Posted
  • Author
Posted
26 minutes ago, Miss Tick said:

Who left the eggs? Do you have ducks? Or chickens? Was it the Easter Bunny?

It was a duck. Last year we had two nests but one was attacked by an unknown predator and the duck fled. This year, the duck also fled (we only had one nest) and the predator may or may not have been identified. 

  • Like 1
  • Sad 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Vintage81

Vintage81

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Terabith said:

I think tarantulas are kinda cute if I'm expecting them, but I will admit to being disconcerted when I lived in Texas and it was tarantula migration season, and there'd be swarms of them everywhere.  I also really, really don't like bumping into giant spiders when I don't expect them to be there.  Philosophically, I'm fine with them, but there's a definite surprise factor that is disturbing.  

Scorpions horrify me.  

We have tarantulas at our house (I'm in the Texas Hill Country). When we moved from the big city out to a more rural type area it was a bit of an adjustment to get used to them. However, after I learned that they eat the scorpions, I now love them! Scorpions are evil...they have crawled in my bed! My dog does not have the same love for the tarantulas as me, and I've had to rescue a few of them, which was scary, but necessary. 😂

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Clarita

Clarita

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, MEmama said:

Everything about tarantulas is a big nope. But TARANTULA MIGRATION?! 

At a nearby park they have a whole event when it's tarantula mating season. You will not catch me there. I backed away when the naturalist pointed out the ladybugs coming out of hibernation. 

  • Haha 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Corraleno

Corraleno

Posted
Posted

My previous house had French doors in the primary bedroom that led into a little side garden, and I would often leave the doors cracked open in nice weather. One afternoon when I closed the doors I thought I heard a rustling sound in the bedroom, but didn't see anything, so just shrugged and went about my business. When I got up the next morning, I found a 4' bull snake in the kitchen, desperately trying to figure out how to get through the sliding doors leading to the back yard. I yelled for DS and we managed to scoot the snake into a zippered cooler bag and took it down to the river and released it in the woods. A few days later it showed up back in the feed room in the barn, which I assume is where it was living before it decided to check out the house. So from then on it lived in the barn and kept the feed bins free of mice, and never tried to come back in the house.

Another time, I had just gotten into bed when I heard rustling under my night table and turned on the light, expecting to see a little lizard since we would get those all the time. Instead it was the most enormous toad I've ever seen in my life — like bigger than a softball — just sitting there looking at me. I'm not usually squeamish about frogs and toads (we had some as pets), but I'd never dealt with one that big so I dragged a very sleepy and confused 10 yr old DS out of bed to come get him and put him outside, lol.

  • Like 5
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
YaelAldrich

YaelAldrich

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

You're in Adelaide right now? I hope you're enjoying it. 

Are you planning on coming to Brisbane?

It's  very nice here.  Been to Sydney last week.  Was supposed to go to Melbourne in a week and then Canberra but my mom just started hospice care so I'm heading back to the  US without the rest of the family next Sunday.  I have to ask my husband;  I think he is going to Brisbane after we go back to the US.

  • Sad 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
fairfarmhand

fairfarmhand

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Terabith said:

Rat snakes are lovely; I have no issues sharing my property with them.  Skinks are adorable and provide excellent entertainment for felines.  

What is truly horrifying about the south are the flying roaches.  And crawling roaches.  Just....roaches in general.  I'm not too fond of the biting red ants, either.  

The flying roaches that click in the night. :shudders: I grew up in Florida but currently live in upper middle tn that does have normal roaches but not the clicking kind. 
 

i explained flying clicking roaches to my kids once and they were horrified!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...