Where to they come from???...The snakes??

[FlyingClayDisk]

No, seriously...REAL snakes, the slithery reptile kind!  Not the political kind, which is I'm sure what you were thinking!  LOL!

We've got lots of snakes around here, mostly Bullsnakes and Rattlers.  Fortunately, a lot more Bullsnakes than Rattlers.  But the thing I can't figure out is how the heck they get inside the house!  Seriously...yesterday I was working on a project in the basement and I was headed back upstairs and out of the corner of my eye I saw this 'thing' on the floor which wasn't there a minute ago.  I turned and looked, and it was a four and a half foot long Bullsnake sitting there looking right at me!  LOL!

Now, I personally love snakes because of all the good they do, and Bullsnakes in particular are welcome guests anywhere on our property.  However, when they get "inside" the house they need to get "outside" the house, else I'm thinkin' about them all night long creepin' around when I can't see them.  The only issue I have with the big Bullsnakes is, unless you can see either their head, or their tail, you can't tell them from a Rattler, and they act just like a Rattler too, right down to the tail shaking and the hissing.

So yesterday, I asked the wife to toss my welding gloves downstairs so I could grab Mr. Snake and put him outside.  (Bullsnakes might not be poisonous, but they can bite the shit out of you, and I've had several of them latch onto me and leave some pretty good welts, so now I grab 'em with some sturdy gloves.  This fella yesterday was NOT a happy camper when he saw me, and he was huffin' and puffin' up a storm.  Plus, he struck at me about 5 times.  Again, I'll never kill a Bullsnake unless on total accident because they are the best rodent control you could ever hope for, but still...inside the house is a "no-no".

I kind of felt bad because it's been so cold here lately most of the snakes are still hibernating.  It was warm a few days ago and this guy must have woke up from his winter nap and was looking for some chow.  Yesterday it was cold again, and I had to put him outside.  I hope he lives, but there's no-vacancy inside.  Anyway, I'll be danged if I can figure out how they get inside.  Our house is sealed up like a drum, and they still get in.  Rattlers sometimes too, and unfortunately, Rattlers inside the house generally don't live to make it outside.  Them's just the rules.  Outside is fine, but Rattlers are not allowed inside...ever!  Plus, both the dogs have been bit by Rattlers (luckily both were vaccinated, which really does work, so if you live in Rattler country definitely DO get your dogs vaccinated.  It makes a bad bite much more bearable for them.)  So, needless to say, I'm not so nice about the Rattlers inside, but fortunately that's only happened twice.  Bullsnakes, on the other hand, is a regular thing, especially now, during spring for some reason.

Y'all probably think I'm crazy now, and we don't live in a tin shack or anything, so I have no idea how they get inside, but they do.  And one did within the past couple days.  That, or he wintered over inside the house and I just never saw him.  He was a big fella though, a lot bigger than something which could just get through a tiny crack (and we don't even have any of those that I'm aware of).

Any ideas?

P.S. Last year I grabbed a Bullsnake which according to a couple people I talked to should have been a record.  Grabbed him right in the kitchen.  I've got photos of that guy; I'm 6'-4" and I was holding his head at eye level with me and 4" of his tail was on the ground so he was at least 72" long!  No kiddin' either!  Had the wife snap a photo of him with me holding him, before I took him outside.

[GeauxHomeLittleD]

Not saying your little buddy got in like that but snakes can get in through plumbing, drains, ductwork, etc. 

Mom's house is sealed up tight and she still got a moccasin inside. There was no other way it could have gotten in but through the toilet or through either the tub or sink drain.

Do you have any drains in your basement? Like a floor drain or a washing machine drain, or maybe a dryer duct?

One of those could be your answer.

[FlyingClayDisk]

Not saying your little buddy got in like that but snakes can get in through plumbing, drains, ductwork, etc. 

Mom's house is sealed up tight and she still got a moccasin inside. There was no other way it could have gotten in but through the toilet or through either the tub or sink drain.

Do you have any drains in your basement? Like a floor drain or a washing machine drain, or maybe a dryer duct?

One of those could be your answer.

Hmmmm....floor drains in basement are all taped off, BUT dryer vent may well be an issue!

We had disconnected, and rerouted, the dryer vent when we built a deck on the front of the house.  I'm not 100% sure we dogged-off that vent opening well enough to completely critter-proof it...now that you mention it!  Got so caught up in building the deck when we constructed it, I never went back and checked!

Great observation!!  Thanks!!

(I would have never thought of that unless you'd mentioned it!  That's been 3-4 years now...and I'll bet that's EXACTLY how they're getting in!)

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

No, seriously...REAL snakes, the slithery reptile kind!  Not the political kind, which is I'm sure what you were thinking!  LOL!

We've got lots of snakes around here, mostly Bullsnakes and Rattlers.  Fortunately, a lot more Bullsnakes than Rattlers.  But the thing I can't figure out is how the heck they get inside the house!  Seriously...yesterday I was working on a project in the basement and I was headed back upstairs and out of the corner of my eye I saw this 'thing' on the floor which wasn't there a minute ago.  I turned and looked, and it was a four and a half foot long Bullsnake sitting there looking right at me!  LOL!

Now, I personally love snakes because of all the good they do, and Bullsnakes in particular are welcome guests anywhere on our property.  However, when they get "inside" the house they need to get "outside" the house, else I'm thinkin' about them all night long creepin' around when I can't see them.  The only issue I have with the big Bullsnakes is, unless you can see either their head, or their tail, you can't tell them from a Rattler, and they act just like a Rattler too, right down to the tail shaking and the hissing.

So yesterday, I asked the wife to toss my welding gloves downstairs so I could grab Mr. Snake and put him outside.  (Bullsnakes might not be poisonous, but they can bite the shit out of you, and I've had several of them latch onto me and leave some pretty good welts, so now I grab 'em with some sturdy gloves.  This fella yesterday was NOT a happy camper when he saw me, and he was huffin' and puffin' up a storm.  Plus, he struck at me about 5 times.  Again, I'll never kill a Bullsnake unless on total accident because they are the best rodent control you could ever hope for, but still...inside the house is a "no-no".

I kind of felt bad because it's been so cold here lately most of the snakes are still hibernating.  It was warm a few days ago and this guy must have woke up from his winter nap and was looking for some chow.  Yesterday it was cold again, and I had to put him outside.  I hope he lives, but there's no-vacancy inside.  Anyway, I'll be danged if I can figure out how they get inside.  Our house is sealed up like a drum, and they still get in.  Rattlers sometimes too, and unfortunately, Rattlers inside the house generally don't live to make it outside.  Them's just the rules.  Outside is fine, but Rattlers are not allowed inside...ever!  Plus, both the dogs have been bit by Rattlers (luckily both were vaccinated, which really does work, so if you live in Rattler country definitely DO get your dogs vaccinated.  It makes a bad bite much more bearable for them.)  So, needless to say, I'm not so nice about the Rattlers inside, but fortunately that's only happened twice.  Bullsnakes, on the other hand, is a regular thing, especially now, during spring for some reason.

Y'all probably think I'm crazy now, and we don't live in a tin shack or anything, so I have no idea how they get inside, but they do.  And one did within the past couple days.  That, or he wintered over inside the house and I just never saw him.  He was a big fella though, a lot bigger than something which could just get through a tiny crack (and we don't even have any of those that I'm aware of).

Any ideas?

P.S. Last year I grabbed a Bullsnake which according to a couple people I talked to should have been a record.  Grabbed him right in the kitchen.  I've got photos of that guy; I'm 6'-4" and I was holding his head at eye level with me and 4" of his tail was on the ground so he was at least 72" long!  No kiddin' either!  Had the wife snap a photo of him with me holding him, before I took him outside.

This guy may be able to help.

After highs winds near Abilene a homeowner crawled under his house to see if he could repair a problem with the cable television. That's when things got creepy.

[FlyingClayDisk]

This guy may be able to help.

After highs winds near Abilene a homeowner crawled under his house to see if he could repair a problem with the cable television. That's when things got creepy.

That's some pretty cool video.  Wow!  Those guys had a way worse problem than we do!

That was a whole mess of Rattlers, that's for sure. 

Pretty amazing how calm some of those first snakes were.  Then in the middle of the video most of them were pretty agitated (that's when it gets spooky), but some of the bigger ones were amazingly calm, especially after they got in there and started pulling a bunch out.  I would have expected them to be a lot more timid and trying to get away.

Snakes are some interesting critters for sure.  I gotta' get me one of those snake grabber tools!  That looks pretty handy, especially in some of the tight spots they get into.  Having something like that would be great.  I just grab 'em with a short pole with a kinked piece of metal on the end, but it's hard to balance them sometimes with that.  Those grabber jaw things would be a lot easier...and probably a lot less stress on the snake too!

I think this video is a great teaching tool, about how snakes are actually really calm critters not bent on killing every one and every thing in their vicinity.  So many people just kill snakes without realizing what good citizens they are to all of us!

[FlyingClayDisk]

You know, the end of that video reminded me of another thing about snakes...they can't get out of a smooth sided container.

At the end of the video where they show all the snakes they pulled out, you'll notice they have them all stuck inside buckets and tubs.  It looks like they could easily get out, but for some reason they can't.

I first discovered this when one of the neighbors from down the road called me in a panic one day.  She said she had a snake in her house, and was like screaming at the phone from across the room, pleading with me to come get it!  LOL!  I asked her what kind of a snake it was and she just hollered back that it was..."A SNAKE...DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHAT KIND???  IT'S A DAMN SNAKE!  AAAIIIEEEGGGHHH!"  I get over there and she's standing on her kitchen table.  LOLOL!!  The snake was in her bathroom off the side of the kitchen. 

I went in the bathroom, and the snake was behind the toilet.  I went to grab it with my gloves on and he took off and bolted in the direction of the tub.  He crawled up over the edge of the tub and slid down inside.  That was it, he couldn't get out, no matter what he tried.  I learned something that day!

I was heading down the road on the ATV with the snake in hand and I passed one of the other neighbors driving by.  They asked what I was doing and I showed him this snake.  Told him I was bringing it over to our place to let it go.  His wife, who was also in the car, freaked out!  She was all worried that the direction I was going was closer, not further, from their house.  From her perspective, I guess a mile away was WAY too close for her comfort!  I tried to explain there were probably 50 snakes within ten feet of her house that she couldn't see.  They moved shortly after that (well, she did anyway).  LOLOLOLOL!!!

[FlyingClayDisk]

Just ordered me a set of those snake tongs.

Surprisingly, they weren't that expensive!  Used to be a lot more than what I just paid.

They'll come in handy around here.  Like I noted, Bullsnakes aren't poisonous, but some of them can bite the snot out of you, and it hurts like the dickens too!  I grabbed a biggin' in the chicken coop one day.  He was livin' the Good Life in there eating the chicken eggs!  I went to grab him and he moved so I caught him back about a foot.  It was enough where he had enough room to spin around and tag me on the forearm.  I was really surprised at how hard those guys can chomp down on ya.  He didn't break the skin, but did leave a hell of a welt on my forearm that took a while to go away.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

I think you jinxed me. I had a black snake on my back porch once in the twenty years that I have been out here. At least the first one that I saw.

A couple of days ago, I walked onto my back porch to find a dead Red Rat Snake, or Corn Snake, as some call them. It was dead on my back porch, and Enoch and Sylvester sitting with their chest poked out, as if to say, "Look what we did!"

Here is the kicker. I heard them out on the porch, that night, it sounded like they were tearing the place down. When I went to look, they where trying to get at something above the window. I knew it was just an ordinary lizard they were after, or a basilisk. Common activity in these parts, so I went back to bed.

Imagine my surprise when I found out how well these snakes can climb.

[FlyingClayDisk]

I think you jinxed me. I had a black snake on my back porch once in the twenty years that I have been out here. At least the first one that I saw.

A couple of days ago, I walked onto my back porch to find a dead Red Rat Snake, or Corn Snake, as some call them. It was dead on my back porch, and Enoch and Sylvester sitting with their chest poked out, as if to say, "Look what we did!"

Here is the kicker. I heard them out on the porch, that night, it sounded like they were tearing the place down. When I went to look, they where trying to get at something above the window. I knew it was just an ordinary lizard they were after, or a basilisk. Common activity in these parts, so I went back to bed.

Imagine my surprise when I found out how well these snakes can climb.

Too bad they killed it! 

Those snakes are the good guys!

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

I think you jinxed me. I had a black snake on my back porch once in the twenty years that I have been out here. At least the first one that I saw.

A couple of days ago, I walked onto my back porch to find a dead Red Rat Snake, or Corn Snake, as some call them. It was dead on my back porch, and Enoch and Sylvester sitting with their chest poked out, as if to say, "Look what we did!"

Here is the kicker. I heard them out on the porch, that night, it sounded like they were tearing the place down. When I went to look, they where trying to get at something above the window. I knew it was just an ordinary lizard they were after, or a basilisk. Common activity in these parts, so I went back to bed.

Imagine my surprise when I found out how well these snakes can climb.

Too bad they killed it! 

Those snakes are the good guys!

They weren't trying to kill it. Just like all the dead lizards lying around.

They play with them until the poor lizards have all the play removed from them.

Most of the rabbits have learned, just freeze until they lose interest and then run like hell.

Both my Huskies and my Huskicats, only want to play with stuff that moves.

As long as they don't move they are safe.

[FlyingClayDisk]

They weren't trying to kill it. Just like all the dead lizards lying around.

They play with them until the poor lizards have all the play removed from them.

Most of the rabbits have learned, just freeze until they lose interest and then run like hell.

Both my Huskies and my Huskicats, only want to play with stuff that moves.

As long as they don't move they are safe.

Oh, I understand completely.

I just don't like to see the good snakes get killed, regardless of how.  They're beneficial...very!

[Bally002]

Often enough, particularly during the warmer months, we get visited by snakes of several kinds.  Normally the birdlife lets us know.  Magpies, Kookaburras and Butcher Birds diving at the things.  

The lager ones aren't perturbed and make it to the lodging.  Brown snakes I dispatch immediately.  Don't muck around with them. They are killers.  I wouldn't make it to the town hospital if I get bit by one of them.  Red Belly Black snakes are tolerable until one took to my fav dog a couple of years back.  'Deefer' didn't make it to the veterinarian before he suffered brain hemorrhage and his gut disintegrated causing him to bleed internally with the blood pouring from every orifice.  After that when a Red Belly got into the house, Mr shovel made short work of him. 

All Aussie snakes are protected by law but I won't risk it when the venomous ones are onto the porch let alone getting angry striking at me on my kitchen floor.  

The larger Pythons are more common.  We pulled a 4 meter  (12 foot) one out of the coop one time.  Most we get around the house are 3 meter ( 9 feet).  I don't mind them but relocate them further in the bush.  Last one I caught was a week or so ago.  Only a baby 2 metres ( 6 feet)  which I caught around the neck wrong handed as it went to bite my little dog and perhaps, coil him up and strangle him.  I got bit.  Sore but healing.  So I put this python into the roof cavity.  Have a couple up there.  Keeps the mice, rats and possums away especially after the latest mouse plague.  

Other snakes that visit us from time to time are Green Tree snakes and the 'Bandy Bandy'.  Small but harmless.  Larger Bandy Bandy snakes can inflict a nasty bite.  Had never seen a Bandy until I moved here.

Snakes and the bush go hand in hand here.  We are aware of them.  The dogs and birds generally let us know their whereabouts although my wife ran into a large black snake the other day with the ride on mower.   So you just never know.

Kind regards,

Bally :)

[Bally002]

Steve Irwin Finds Australia's Deadliest Snakes - Full..-

Following up on FCD's thread I thought I'd post this documentary by the late Steve Irwin.  It's back in his younger days. 

I come across several of the snakes in this video particularly the blacks, common browns and tiger snakes.  I don't like the browns snooping around the house.  One bite where I'm living and I may as well down my last beer.  :)

I am not confident to catch a poisonous snake let alone handle them.  Pythons are fine.

Kind regards,

Bally

Hmmm, so very sorry.  Video is not paning out into this post.  Will see if I can rectify.