Slithering Conundrum

[rpcrowe]

Just had a visitor on my patio - seeking some shade. It was a California King Snake about a meter long.



It looked fairly young since it was quite slim. The King Snake is not venomous and is, in fact, quite beneficial to a property since it preys on small vermin and can also eat small rattle snakes. However, I did not want it on my patio since I know that my terrier would make short work of it but, would probably get bitten in the ruckus.



I nudged it with a broom and it crawled off and hid behind some flower pots. I certainly did not want to hurt it but, I didn't want to pick it up by hand I don't own a snake handling stick (one with a loop at the end) so I placed a plastic wastepaper bin in front of it and my wife squirted it with a hose. The snake took cover in the bin and I carried it to the outskirts of my property and freed it. I am going to research buying a snake handling stick - it might be handy where I live,

BTW: generally in the USA, snakes with rounded snouts are not venomous (with the exception of coral snakes). However if a snake has a squared off snout it can be a poisonous variety.

[rpcrowe]

The King Snake's girlfriend came around. She is about 2/3 the size of the first snake. I picked her up with a can grabber that my wife uses to get cans off high shelves. I was able to carry her to approximately the sane place s I deposited her boyfriend.

She dropped off once. Glad that she was not venomous. I ordered a snake grabber from Amazon... https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[royent]

The only animals that I have an aversion to are snakes. Thank goodness we only have three in the UK and they are fairly rare.
Roy

[rpcrowe]

The snake grabber that I purchased worked like a charm. This time it was a juvenile diamondback rattlesnake. I grabbed the snake right behind the head and the Snake Grabber held it just fine. I would have had no trouble securing a full grown rattlesnake.

If it had been a King Snake or any non lethal snake. I would have relocated it to another part of my property. However, since I have many small (and one large) dogs wandering around my property, I dispatched the rattler with the blade of a pooper scooper.

I am generally against killing wildlife but, I make an exception for rattlesnakes.

BTW: I have snake proofed my big dog a year ago when she was still a puppy.


Serena in snake aversion training...

It still works; she wouldn't get near the dead rattler.