Cats vs Snakes

[windjammer]

I live in a small town in Tennessee. Each morning, on local radio, there is a segment called "Trading Post". You can list things, free of charge, to sell, buy, or trade.

This morning there was a guy wanting to give away a barn cat. It was said the cat would catch mice, moles, snakes, etc.

I personally don't like cats. My neighbors have cats. They kill every bird, rabbit, and squirrel they can find.

My only reason for posting this is to ask if cats killing snakes is common. I haven't seen that, but I don't doubt it.

We have rattlers and a few copperheads here, but most of the snakes are harmless. Have any of you seen cats go after snakes..?

 

[Bassamatic]

Well, if you hate cats, get it. Maybe it will try to catch a rattler.

Me, I like cats.

 

[gunlovingirl]

It's true. Cat's will tangle with a snake. When I was little my Grandma used to have a big old cat. Every once in awhile it would bring a blue racer up to the porch that it had killed. Personally, I'll root for the snake!

 

[fiasconva]

My old tomcat used to catch snakes all the time. He cornered a 4ft blacksnake in my neighbor's yard a few years ago and was playing with it like a mouse. When my neighbor came out to see what was going on, he distracted the cat and the snake took off. He went one way and my neighbor went the other and I can't tell you which one was moving faster.

 

[duckloads]

The last time I sqweeled like a little girl was when I entering my house to find a curled-up snake about 3' inside the door. It was dead, but at first sight, well, un-natural noises came out of my mouth.

The cat drug it in through the kitty door.

 

[Crazy K38]

you want to be rid of mice get a snake and some mice live traps, dinner and a movie!

 

[Airpark]

The cat would lose with almost any venomous snake.

Very sad story recently in the Great Falls Tribune from a local bird hunter who had lost his dog to a Western Diamondback.

One of our neighbors moved from the ranch to the city because of them. One got her little lap doggie and had another one on the front porch.

I'd definitely vote for the snake...'casue I ain't a cat lover either.

 

[Dan Cash]

You all ain't seen nothin' until you watch a cat square off on a good tarantula. Awesome.

 

[Leonard]

I have no use for cats or their owners that let them run loose. In Africa people will keep cats as they feel the cat will see and possibly corner a snake in some areas snakes in your house is very common. I have seen dogs do the same thing and have had to call them off of a cornered spitting cobra.

Len

 

[Crazy K38]

where did you see a spitting cobra, I want one! but having kids my wife won't let me....

 

[Frank237]

We lost one of the best Malamutes we ever had to a rattler maybe a dozen years back. So I'm rooting for the CAT.

Our two cats do occasionally bring in small blue racers but have never brought in anything bigger than a large worm.

FN in MT

 

[Texas Star]

Leonard-

Ringhals? Red Spitting Cobra? Some other spitter?

Cats will kill snakes, but I'm sure that some of the venomous ones get them, too.

I saw a Natl. Geographic video that had a cobra, I think the Egyptian one (Naja haje) hit a lioness and her cubs.

All the cubs died, and Mama was very sick for several days. And a cobra is not the fastest striking snake.

Of course, mongooses kill cobras. I don't know how fast they are compared to cats. But I know that a leaping caracal (rooikat, bay lynx) can knock down flying birds. Sometimes, more than one in a rising flock.

Some raptors kill snakes. The secretary bird is famous for that, and some hawks and eagles will do it. (A secretary bird is sort of a long-legged eagle that hunts mainly on the ground.)

And I've heard that the Road Runner of the US SW wil kill rattlers. They're very fast strikers I once saw film of a rattler hitting a balloon. It moved in a blur. That thing was faster than a lie out of Slick Willie's lips!

T-Star

 

[Leonard]

I have spent a lot of time hunting in various countries in Africa and as a result I have seen more than my fair share of snakes from having them in hunting chalets to stepping out of a hunting car to see the grass at my feet moving as the snake leaves. The spitting cobra is very common in a lot of Africa.

People that live out in the bush or on farms and ranches pay attention to their pets behavior a cat starring at something could mean a snake.

There have been many incidents that I have heard of and most of the people that live there accept it as a way of life.

A few years back one of our pro hunters Hilton Nichols was home and heard his dogs yelping in another room ran in to see a mamba departing it killed both dogs. Another friend and PH William Finaughty after moving into his new home in the low veld of Zimbabwe kept a record of the snakes he killed immediately around his house I believe it was well over 200 and counting. He had one of those little dogs that looked like they had a spring in their ass that dog was a snake killer until it lost a fight.

Len

 

[Grayfox]

A working cat that'll earn its keep is fine with me.
Never had any use for them as pets.

My Grandfather had a German Shepard that had a real thing for snakes. Killed every one he could find. Every once in a while that dog would come home looking sick. Check him over and sure enough you'd find a snake bite. He'd curl up under the porch for a couple of days and come back out good as new.

 

[oldRoger]

We had a small Siamese Female, a great hunter, I watched her the first time she approached a snake. The snake was a small racer and cornered. Cats can strike so fast with their paws that your eye cannot follow, but the snake was just as fast, it would strike at her she would pull back in plenty of time then counterstrike, and the snake would pull back. I would say an even match in speed. The cat was frustrated that she could not hit the snake.
Our other Siamese would sometimes catch and kill small snakes, but I think it is due to superior stalking. They were not outside cats but went to the garden with my wife, and of course it was a great site for snake hunting.

 

[chessail 77]

Here in Florida we just had a baby killed by a snake, wasn't the snake's fault but that child is still DEAD...snakes DO NOT MAKE GOOD PETS... so all of you idiots that are rooting for the snake over the cat ...can kiss my asp !!!!

 

[Crazy K38]

well I'm puckered up, and I still like snakes, sorry if it bothers you

 

[310Pilot]

About 25 years ago a stray Siamese "adopted" my family. We lived high up on a mountain in the Arizona desert at the time, and that cat would hang out around the outside of the house (only liked us, apparently hated the few neighbors in the area), and was real good at avoiding my dogs (for quite a while, anyway). One day, I heard the cat growling in the vicinity of my back door. When I investigated (going out a different door), I found he had cornered a good-sized Diamondback rattler near the door, and wouldn't let it leave. The snake was curled and trying to strike, but the cat avoided each strike, whacking the snake each time. It held the snake at bay (and cornered) until I went inside and reloaded my 2.5" Model 66 with some snake loads and returned. I figured the cat would split, and we wouldn't see it again after I fired; however, I shot the snake from just behind the cat, and the cat didn't move, just kept focused on the now dead snake with no head. The cat hung out near our place for the rest of his life, which was, unfortunately, rather short (another month or two), as he didn't see my Great Dane coming from some cover until it was too late, and the cat was in a corner. I'm not a great cat lover, but like some on an individual basis, much preferring dogs, but that was a pretty cool cat, and he sure did face down that snake. The cat wasn't very large (actually pretty small for a Siamese), which may explain why he didn't kill that good-sized rattler, but he sure hung in there with it for quite some time.

BTW, the snake loads (factory Speer, as I recall), did a great job - absolutely blew that snakes head not only off, but pulverised it! I searched, and could not find any snake head remains or pieces, it was as though it had evaporated. I wanted to get rid of it, as the fangs often hold venom even after the snake is dead, and I didn't want anybody or any of my animals stepping on it and getting "bit" after the fact. No head, no bits of head, no nothing, except the snake's body aft of where the head was atomized.

 

[Amici]

One of our cats was, in her day, a very good hunter. She would often bring a garter snake, still alive and wriggling, back home so we would praise her. Trouble was, wife hates snakes.

So, distract the cat while praising her profusely, then rescue the snake and put it on the far side of the stone wall. Everyone was happy.

 

[sceva]

We have cats that stay in the house. There also several feral cats that live on their own outside ( they were trapped- spayed- and re-released ) that we will put out dry food for. We also have 3-5 rabbits at a time coming for the corn I put out for them ( as well as wild ducks that stop by daily) The cats don't seem to bother the rabbits or ducks, or the birds that come to our feeders. Cats won't kill every rabbit or bird they see as has been stated, they will hunt if needed to feed then selves.