Black Snakes

gunsbam69 said:

Black rat snakes no go. They also get in older septic systems and come in the house via the toilet. Never seen any other snake but a black rat snake do that around here at least. I kill every one I see but I'll leave the ones in NC alone

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I'm a pretty big feller, but I'll admit to being kind of scared of snakes. That would DEFINITELY qualify for a bad day in my world! :shock:

Outdoors, I just let them alone, "no screaming, or nothing." In my plumbing fixtures, I'd be plenty excited! I think I'm going to start turning on the light now, if I need to use the pot at night! :mrgreen:

Snakes, gators, scorpions, fire ants... the cold weather up here keeps most of that stuff at bay!

Luckily,, it's not too common to find black snakes inside an older septic system. BUT,, they can & will enter a home via the holes in floors etc AROUND plumbing fixtures. Mobile home & pre-fab homes are the worst for such holes.
They manufacture these holes,, cutting a 6" hole in the floor,, and then run a 1-1/4" drain line,, and (2) 1/2" supply lines through the 6" hole. It allows for easier tolerance fitting of the tubs, commodes, sinks etc. Then, from the underneath,, they put fiberglass roll insulation, followed by a fiber material to cover it all & call it good. Over time, the insulation sags,, or more often,, the hole,, which allows a small air flow point, attracts mice. Mice burrow in,, and the snakes follow the mice.
In my business,, I get calls about black snakes inside bathrooms,, and most often,, the only hole is the plumbing access.
While harmless,, the black snakes do cause excitement,, especially to folks NOT expecting one while going to "relax" in their bathroom.

We should of all had a favorite uncle like I had.
He owned a good size farm in acreage and had a few hundred head of feeder cattle. He let me live with them a month or so during the summer.

One very early hot and sunny summer morning on our trip to the feed lot I spotted a large black snake sunning himself much like this picture shows; hanging on the side of an old shed. I commented that I'd run down there to kill it. Now that I look back at my 10 or 12 year old self, not sure why killing it seemed the first option but ... it was.

Uncle Cy politely gave me a list of the reasons why he didn't mind a black snake around the farm and that was that. Good lesson learned from one of my childhood mentors.

But I still don't like snakes. :lol:

contender said:

"Black snakes have a nasty disposition and bite."

I politely beg to disagree sir. I am a State certified Animal Damage Control Agent,, and I deal with animals daily. And black snakes are not that way. In fact,, I OFTEN just walk up to them, pick them up WITHOUT restraint, supporting their weight, allowing them to move around in my hands, as I move them to a new home.

They can be a bit aggressive when shedding,,, or mating,, but not in general. Younger snakes seem more active & defensive,, but all of them prefer to avoid attacks by any predator. And often, a human is looked at as a predator. But calm actions are often accepted by them. I know folks who have them living in & around their hoses to where they are seen & enjoyed daily. Once they determine you are not a predator,, they are quite nice to have around. And they are excellent rodent control. They also keep poisonous snakes away.
Bull snakes are also a good snake to have around,, but not the only good snake.

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I once picked up a rosy boa and it turned around and bit me on the knuckle. For those who don't know: Rosies are about as vicious as an indigo snake, but a lot smaller! My one-year old daughter carried one around as a pet when I was in college. My Herpetology professor called me a "liar" (jokingly) when I told him!

FYI: she was hungry, shedding and had been roughly handled just before I picked her up. I don't know who was more surprised, her or me!

We once had a 16 ft "retic" (reticulated python) in a pet store I managed while in college. I would go sit with her in the front window to get away from the bratty kids!

Also, I have been bitten by more bull snakes (out west we call them gopher snakes, Pituophis)) than any other species.

So 32shooter,
What did they find when they tore the shed down?

32shooter said:

I was sitting on my Mother's deck this evening with her, my Brother and Aunt and I glanced over on the side of the old spring house that is standing(barely) between her house and garage and this is what I saw. The spring house has a sandstone in it dated 1858. It is falling down and is going to be torn down sometime this summer. The guys dismantling it might be in for a surprise.

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Since no one pointed it out, these snakes are copulating, therefore there may have been a lot of baby snakes when the shed was torn down?
gramps

contender said:

Yes,, snakes generally have a home territory as long as their needs are met. Just like most animals & such. When their needs are no longer available,, they do move. Last year,, I caught & relocated a female timber rattler & her 9 juvies from under a porch. They were there because a fire had ravaged the area all around this home about 1-1/2 years earlier,, and all the local homes had been saved. So,, that home had not been occupied,, until a few weeks prior to me getting the call. The snake had just found a nice place,, away from the burnt area,, and had her babies. They have a new home now.

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While I was in grad school, a fellow student in my "lab" did her thesis on home range of sidewinders. Seemed the range of movements was limited more by temperature (in desert species), food and terrain. Most of hers didn't move more than 1/2 to 1 mile.

My bears would "come back" at distances over 250 miles. Over 250 was a "relocation". Less than 250 miles was a "Putback". We moved two from Angeles Forest (San Gabriel River area) to the Sierras near Yosemite. Both were back in about 2 weeks. Bears use olfactory clues (smell) much like salmon do but in reverse, following streams downstream.

Joe S. said:

So 32shooter,
What did they find when they tore the shed down?

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Shed is still standing, buyer has not removed it yet.

I had a pet 6.5 ft. long black rat snake when I was a teenager. He (actually probably she) was not ill tempered. Fed her a mouse or two a week. Eventually released her.

I just read on the Alabama Game and Fish newsletter that they had captured a native-born Indigo snake in the Conecuh National Forest recently. Indigo snakes are the largest (longest) American snake species, attaining lengths of 9' at times. They were once native to the pine barrens of central/south Alabama, but essentially extinct (although still occurring in neighboring states). They've been working on reintroduction, and just recently caught a juvenile that was not tagged or marked, so they knew the adults they'd released were reproducing.

Excellent!

Don't be so quick to kill a black snake. Indigo snakes are a protected species in some areas. They kill and eat other venomous snakes like rattlers and copperheads. They are immune to their venom.

What would you rather see in your neighborhood, an Indigo snake or a rattler?

Same goes for King Snakes (that's why they're called "king"!).

A pair of beautiful black snakes. As my friend Ben "Bear Man" Kilham says, man has an instinctive FEAR of snakes, bears, and spiders. Reckon a few other species, such as sharks, should fit this specification for fear. I don't handle poisonous snakes, nor the gray water snakes. I've handled Speckled King and Texas Rat snakes rather often, never bitten once. Somewhere I have a photo of one or the other species threading itself through the trigger guard of my holstered Ruger 03. Rats are an animal I drop the hammer on. No threat to their population, let me add. The snakes are important controls on mice and rats, welcome around house and studio. When Speckled King snakes are around, an encounter with a moccasin----or the more rare copperhead----is about nil. Same may be true for the Texas Rat snake. I think pit vipers instinctively know which snakes are immune to their venom. I don't even kill a venomous snake, providing I can gather it up and release in the bayou.
David Bradshaw

Now I know why I like city life,I hate snakes all kinds.

A good blacksnake story: When I was a kid we had one raiding the henhouse often enough to keep the hens stirred up & not laying decently. My Mohawk grandfather saw where it was getting in & fixed up a egg for the snake by poking holes in the shell, blowing the insides out, filling it w/ tabasco & plugging the holes. He left it near the hole where the snake would find it. Apparently snakes swallow the egg & then break it. A few nights later there was total bedlam, chickens squawking, the dog barking (who usually ignored the chickens) - total uproar. My brother I figured a fox in the henhouse & grabbed our guns. & found a 6' blacksnake going berserk, biting itself, turning somersaults, tail dancing, etc.. Brother & I were laughed ourselves senseless! Finally the snake made a beeline for the woods & we never saw it again. Ever see a blacksnake whip? Grandpa had one made by cutting the sakes head off, peeling the skin & pulling it over braided leather strips. It had a wooden handle attached somehow. It looked & felt like a blacksnake... if you picked it up you'd swear it was alive. He kept it in the barn for training unruly critters (horses, oxen, dogs, mean kids). I hated it & was scared to death of it. Probably part of the reason I'm so sweet-natured now...