Just sharing why all snakes aren’t bad.

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KroyWen

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All non venomous snakes are good to go here, even if get in the hen house ( not good ), & just get caught and repurposed in a new geographic location. They keep the bad snake population down, as well as the rodents.
 

TerryMiller

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I'm good till they come up to the house- then they got to go- and I don't know what it is about shakes and red birds- first we had a red bird nest in the roses- you could see everything, and they had 4 chicks. A family member came by to take a photo of the nest and the chicks so I get up and take them over to it and there was a 2' bull snake that had his mouth on the head of one of the chicks. I ran in the garage and grabbed the limb cutters and cut his head off. Then I was setting on the deck having a cold one, one evening, and red bird flew onto a low limb and just froze- I watch for a minute, and it hits me something got that bird. I grab my 357 I had just inside the door on top of the china cabinet - walked over and there and it was a 3' bull snake wrapped around that one. Laid a couple of shots his way which missed but he is in a hurry to get the hell out of there. Another time when it was about 45 degrees outside, I was checking out an old well on my place and it had a metal cap over the 8" pvc casing. I pull that cap off and out falls a little 2' bull snake. Later on a warm day, I am working in the back yard there is a black snake about 10' long. I told him to get to work on all the riff raft.
 
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When we lived in AZ, I use to rescue rattlesnakes from neighbor’s yards. One time out of a bedroom closet. Most were not very big so I would take a pool skimmer basket and scoop them up and relocate them. If they were too big for the pool skimmer, I would use a large trash can and wrangle them in then take them out to the desert.

Once pulled a Green Mojave out of a neighbor’s pool. He was just going for a swim. I wasn’t able to take him out of the yard. We lived on a golf course so I checked to make sure no one was on the fairway and launched him. Key to launching a snake out of a pool skimmer basket and especially a very deadly one like the Green Mojave is to do it sidearm or a three quarters arm. You don’t want to use an overhead motion in case he flops out on your head. I sent him on his way … he stopped to say either “thank you” or “f*** you” before slithering quickly off the fairway.

Rescued quite a few in the years we lived there and only had to put one snake down. We had just finished up having a bunch of people over for a party. Cleaning up and by one of the doors leading out to our patio, a +4’ rattlesnake was curled around a large terra cotta planter trying to keep warm. Not sure how long that snake was there since people were just leaving and had been going in and out of that door all night. At first, I didn’t think it was a rattlesnake because it did not “rattle”. I promptly shut the door and told my wife to keep the kids, dog and cats in the house. Pointed to the snake out the window and she screams, “KILL IT!” Snake did not deserve to die. I tried to convince this snake into relocating but it started to rattle and strike at me. Spent 30 minutes trying to get it in the can … thought it would tire out but it didn’t. I had to put it down. I don’t like killing animals unless I eat them so I thought about grilling it. We had an outdoor kitchen set up with a huge grill. Wife quickly vetoed that.

I would say that even poisonous snakes don’t deserve to be put down but I have never come across a water moccasin or coral snake… which I am pretty sure I would shoot the s*** out of.
 
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That's me. I don't kill something unless it's a direct threat to me or mine. Rattlesnakes and copperheads around the house and/or outbuildings are gonna get shot. Mostly because I don't know how to safely handle them and relocating them, in my case, is probably asking for trouble. If I just see one out in the wild, though, I believe in live and let live.

My wife's gotten used to me doing stuff like carrying spiders out of the house or stopping on the highway (when safe, of course) to move a turtle off the road. When we ride the Harley it's her job to dismount and move them along.
 

rawhide

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If possible I keep my distance from snakes. However, with the number of rodents in my area I do like them.

My property has several areas that I would call "snakey", but in 23 years here I have not once seen a copperhead or rattlesnake. Although, I have seen and rescued many king snakes which I attribute to the lack of venomous snakes.
 

Dmc707

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King snakes get a pass around here.





I can't say that about other snakes though.

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Did your heelers dispatch that snake or are they the bystanders/alarm systems?

Darn things freak me out with their nervous system That continues to live on even after you cut their head off and relocate it. I once picked up a headless copperhead to throw over the fence and give the carrion birds something to munch on and the dang thing flipped over and try to curl around my arm like a constrictor

Great looking pups btw !
 

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