Black rat snake, oh what a biggun

[raisedin99]

Just this past Saturday I had finished mowing the lawn and filled up my mower and returned it to the machinery shed and while there went over to the chicken coop to check their water and feed as well as for eggs.

Not paying much attention I reached into the first nest box where Irene is brooding and pulled out 3 nice eggs, put them aside and reopened the nest box lid for nest number 2 at a glance something wasn't right looked over at #3 and it didn't pass inspection either. Snake was occupying both 2 and 3.Like others I can deal with snakes if I see it ahead of time and I had that occasion. So I grabbed a feed sack and finally was able to extract the snake and sack it and take it to my neighbors place for a picture and measurement. I would guess the snake to weigh 5-7 pounds the measurement was difficult but Jerry my neighbor who handles a tape measure every day called out 6'2", of course we couldn't get an accurate length as the snake refused to have its pictures taken without curls, I'm guessing 7 feet. And yes there was at least 2 eggs in it.
And yes I did release it unharmed about 5 miles down the road, hoping it forgets the great eggs we have here.

terry

 

[lihpster]

Catch and release?

 

[raisedin99]

Catch and release?

Yes I did release it down the road. Edited to answer that question.

terry

 

[Skeet 028]

Really nice sized snake. I had a few bigun's(not quite that big) back east in Md. They'd get an egg or two every now and again...but they got more mice and rats than eggs...so I just left 'em alone. We had a pair that lived in the barn... Every year one day after all the birds had nested in the barn...we would have Silent Spring day when they came out of winter doldrums. Hated starlings. Swallows were verboten to the snakes

 

[chief38]

I've seen more snakes in the last 18 months than I have over my entire life. I don't mind the Black Racers, but the Rattlers and Coral Snakes are not my favorite visitors. Had a Coral Snake take a dip in my pool a few weeks back - just before i was about to jump in. I'm learning, ya gotta look first!!

 

[dockmurgw]

They are a threatened species here, found only in one small portion of the state that I happen to be in. See them once or twice a year, and I consider it a treat. This one was making its way across my driveway a month or so ago, I stopped and escorted it across the road to the woods it was heading to. My good deed for the day.

 

[pharmer]

If'n there were no pictures I wouldn't believe it. I mean NOBODY wears Crocs and black sox. Joe

 

[john17427]

When we were teenagers running around the swamp we would eat rat snakes on sight. Now I'm just happy to see them around along with the black racers. Still trying to acculturate my wife to good and less good snakes as she doesn't want to see ANY snakes.

 

[jeffrefrig]

I don't know how tall you are but it looks like that ones longer than your height. Pretty snake.

 

[goatsnguns]

My son, who gets the eggs from the chickens in the morning came in the house and said there was a snake in the nest box. I went out and sure enough a large black snake was curled up the one of the nest boxes. I reached in and grabbed it by the head and pulled it out, it was about 3 feet long. There was a large egg about a foot down inside the snake, I gently "pushed" the egg towards its mouth thinking the egg would break. Was able to extract the whole egg. What was interesting is that the snake did not make much of a fuss, just relaxed and let me remove the egg. We took him to the creek across the road and released him. I had the egg for breakfast that morning....not snaky at all.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Back in my Puppy Dog days I worked on a Pipeline construction job in S Ohio.
Snakes tended to fall into the deep ditch and some crew members caught them and threw them on one guy in particular who hated snakes.
One day they caught a huge Black Snake and passed it around.
It was pretty much too big to throw!
I took my turn, grabbed it gloves on just below behind the head.
Holding it as high as I could, the tail dragged the ground.
That thing was 8 + Feet long!
We also turned it loose in the huge cornfield we were in.

 

[mdf9183]

Back when I had chickens I had a constant battle with rat snakes eating the eggs. They get in through the chicken wire and after an egg or two they can't get back out through the wire until they digest the eggs.

 

[MRB1]

Here in North Texas we have a sub-species of the Black Rat Snake - the Texas Rat Snake. The adult sizes are usually around 5' but to the people that don't like snake they look like Pythons. I pick up our eggs before dark, so the snakes don't have a chance for a meal. They control the rat and mouse populations and very few barn cat kittens live to maturity.

 

[kozmic]

If'n there were no pictures I wouldn't believe it. I mean NOBODY wears Crocs and black sox. Joe

Said the fashionista pharmer!

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I raised chickens when I was a kid.
Also had snake problems.
That's when I took out the most snakes, usually with a Hoe.

 

[raisedin99]

If'n there were no pictures I wouldn't believe it. I mean NOBODY wears Crocs and black sox. Joe

To me mowing is all about comfort, you should have seen me before I went to the neighbors. lol.

terry

 

[walkin jack]

If'n there were no pictures I wouldn't believe it. I mean NOBODY wears Crocs and black sox. Joe

Yeah, but the hat sets off the entire ensemble, don'tcha think?

 

[fiasconva]

I have one about 5 1/2' long that I see once or twice a year. But Wednesday, as I was getting into the car in my garage there was one about 2' long in there. It slid down into the cinder blocks so I couldn't get to it. I put a few moth balls down in the blocks to get it to leave but it took a couple of hours before it decided the moth balls weren't worth staying in the garage for. It was either that or move since the wife hates any form of reptile.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Crocs & socks are my formal winter wear.

 

[1sailor]

We don't get rat snakes or Racers here. Every spring though (we call it snake season) our cats bring in tons of young Garter snakes. They just bring them in, meow really loud so we know, then drop it and run out to get another. For about a month it seems like every time we move something in the house there's a snake under it.

 

[raisedin99]

Yeah, but the hat sets off the entire ensemble, don'tcha think?

Can't argue with that.

terry

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Give the snakes a few golf balls. Impossible to digest, impossible to pass. The chickens don't seem to mind having a golf ball in the nest.

 

[Donna K]

When I was in the 1st grade, in the 60's, we lived on a 30 acre farm at the foot of the Horse Heaven Hills of eastern Washington. I remember arriving home on the school bus one day to find my normally very stoic mom visibly shaken. She'd found 3 very large rat snakes in our pasture, and not knowing what they were, massacred them all with a shovel. I remember my dad not being real happy about it, and giving her a lesson about good snakes and bad snakes. We didn't have chickens, so no danger of losing eggs, but the farm did have a large population of gophers that probably increased with the demise of the snakes

 

[SMSgt]

At one time my wife would have driven her Explorer across a dozen lawns to run down some poor rat snake that had the misfortune to cross the road in front of her. I think I've finally managed to get her down to one lawn.

 

[goatsnguns]

I finally found the photo I was looking for. This is my son holding the actual egg sucking snake just before we released it across the road. The snake looks a little sad, don't you think, maybe just still hungry.

 

[swsig]

We don't get too many snakes in our living room, but here's one, a small rat snake seeking the protection of our terra-cotta statue of Saint Francis.
Smart snake. It was released unharmed.