Saturday, June 8, 2013

Part-time weekend job: Snake Wrangler

Every year about this time, we have a 5-6 foot long bull snake show up at Wyvern Oaks. We'll see him a handful of times, and then he disappears for the rest of the year. I've blogged about him before, here.

This year, we've found him in the chicken shed half-a-dozen times, when we put the chickens to bed. He's after the eggs, although I don't think he's managed to get many. See, one of our chickens is broody, and she is NOT happy about a snake in her shed. I've seen her attack him, and the poor snake has all he can do to escape.

Unfortunately, in one of his bids to escape, he got stuck in the storage part of the shed. It gets pretty hot in there during the day, and I think he may have been in there for a few days. For whatever reason, I decided to clean a few things out of the shed this morning, and I found him curled up limply in the corner.

Poor guy. 

I put a pan of water next to him to see if he would drink. He wasn't moving much, so I got a spray bottle of water and misted him a bit to try to help him hydrate. MC got this pic while I was doing that.

Eventually I figured that he wasn't going to find his way out of the shed unless I picked him up and took him out. So I put on my gloves, took a deep breath, and nabbed him.

Yes, that's me, holding a 5 foot long bull snake.

Isn't he gorgeous?

DISCLAIMER: Don't EVER EVER EVER pick up a snake unless you know FOR CERTAIN that it's non-venomous. Also, don't pick up a wild snake unless know what you're doing. I used to volunteer at the herpetology department at the Louisiana Wildlife center, so while I'm not an expert, I can identify and handle snakes fairly confidently. Any snake can bite, and a snake this big can do some serious damage (I've been bitten by a pet King snake before that was about this size, so take my word for this). I knew I had one chance to grab him properly, and I managed to do it. I likely would not have been able to handle him if he hadn't been suffering from heat and dehydration, because a snake this size is incredibly strong. Basically, I got really lucky.

After MC snapped these pics, I set him down in the saucer of water, right next to the shed. He paused for a moment and then slithered off under the shed.  I left the saucer out today and refilled it tonight, in hopes that he's got the strength to drink something and will recover. I also left out two eggs just under the shed, in case he can eat those.

Bye-bye.

You're probably thinking that I'm a really weird bleeding heart type, all worried about a snake, and you're probably right. But this guy has been around for a while, helping to keep the rodent population at bay, and I'd hate to be responsible for his death. 

I sure do hope he makes it!

24 comments:

  1. I love that you helped him out instead of killing him :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dom, instantaneous death is reserved for fire ants and scorpions. And frankly, if he'd been a rattlesnake instead, I would have called animal control to come kill him/remove him. Some things you just don't mess with.

      Delete
  2. I had a snake at my house the other day too! He was "just" a black snake, though, and not nearly as big as your guy. All my coworkers said I should have chopped off his head with a shovel but there's no way I could have done that. I'm happy you were able to help your snake and hopefully he wasn't too dehydrated and is doing fine.

    You're a bigger man (woman) than I am for picking him up with your hands, though!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, must've been the day for snakes! I'm glad you rescued yours too.

      Notice I was wearing gloves to pick him up. I actually almost went inside to put on a long-sleeved shirt for further protection, but he was in a perfect position to grab so I did.

      Delete
  3. Eeeeek I am not a snake person at all!!! Those pictures gave me a shiver!!!

    Hope he's ok and glad you helped him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, Karley, I probably should have warned people at the beginning of the post! Lots of people don't like snakes - there's probably a really good evolutionary reason for that, lol!!!

      Delete
  4. And bull snakes keep the rattlers away. Nice work saving him. Hopefully the eggs will nurse him back to health.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Karen, I didn't know that about bull snakes! Now I hope even more that he'll recover.

      Delete
  5. Are we related? I can't bear to harm the critters either, unless someone is in danger. ;D

    During tropical storm Andrea a huge lovely black racer found his way onto my deck. To avoid potential snake vs cat conflict I wrangled him to a safer part of the property. I did not tempt fate by trying to get a selfie during the procedure, but he'll show up on the blog soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CFS, I'm glad I'm not the only one! MC was there and took these pics - no way would I have tried if I'd been by myself!

      Glad to hear that at least one snake was safe at your place during the storm. Black racers are really beautiful - can't wait for pics!

      Delete
  6. Holy moly, that's quite the snake. I'm a little sheltered as the only snakes we have are little garter snakes. Kudos to you for keeping him happy and healthy. I'm sure he's helpful in pest control.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Megs, yeah, I think you're too far north for anything this size. Little garter snakes sure are cute though! They do a good job on cricket patrol.

      Delete
  7. My husband has set up boards all around the property... why, you may ask... so the snakes have warm places to bask and so he can see them/catch them... we also have a few pet snakes that live in our house in cages, lol... good on you for not offing the beneficial snake!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, I can just picture him "snakewatching!" Too funny!

      Delete
  8. Hurrah for someone who understands and respects snakes that doesn't squeal and scream "Kill it". Very awesome snake!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I admit, it's a little shocking to see a snake that big when you're not expecting it, even if he's harmless! But, no reason to kill it if it's not dangerous.

      Delete
  9. He is handsome! Hubby thought he was being heroic this weekend by killing a rattlesnake outside the shed. Since the chances of a rattlesnake in northeastern PA are slim to nonexistent, I went to look. A poor little milk snake got the axe. Hubby got a crash course in snake identification. Don't kill the cute stripey ones, and don't kill the pink spotty ones.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Poor milk snake. Be careful of the cute stripey ones though - as I'm sure you know, milk snakes and coral snakes are very similar. Fortunately I don't think coral snakes live in PA, and they're not aggressive anyway. Hopefully hubby will be less heroic next time!

      Delete
  10. Hurray for you! Rather brave ... but then, you don't seem like the fearful squealing type LOL. It was sweet of you to give him some eggs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nan, I got over the fearful squealing thing a long time ago. No point in it if you're flying solo - nobody else is gonna squish the scorpion/move the snake unless you do it, so might as well put on your big girl panties and get 'er done!

      Ah, the joys of farm life! ;)

      Delete
  11. I love the fact that you helped this guy! You are right about needing to be sure about what you are handling but major kudos to you for recognizing his contribution to your area :).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. WIHAH, I grew up near you and damn near everything was venomous, so I learned to ID snakes early on. I would not have picked him up if it hadn't been a necessity, that's for sure!

      Delete
  12. I'm admittedly a little bit of a bleeding heart, but at the same time snakes are dead useful- especially the bigger ones! If they're not poisonous, & don't pose a threat to the horses (or any other farm animals) I'd do all I could to keep the snake(s) around. That said, the biggest (wild) snake I've ever had to handle was probably 3.5 feet long, max.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 3.5 feet is a pretty good-sized wild snake for you to wrangle! And yeah, aside from being a bleeding heart, I want him to hang out and eat rodents. Too many of those around here for my taste!

      Delete