Good pix, Ms. Foxy. I haven't taken any of the snakes around here as I don't normally have my phone with me when I'm in the yard. A couple days ago I saw a YOOGE what I think was a ribbon garter. It was colored much different than I've ever seen, had a lot of orange on it, but it slithered under my coal bin. At any rate, I'm Googling all this stuff for the zillionth time, and just read that any garter snake variety (including ribbons) DO NOT EAT WARM BLOODED PREY. Just reptiles, insects, etc. So there goes my theory that I have so many snakes cuz they're going after the mice -- I guess that is very good news. But something is different this year to attract them around the house. As I mentioned, the creek is only 20 or so feet away but they never used to be around the house this much. You mentioned packing heat: The other day I was thinking of getting birdshot for my Ruger Single Six .22 and leaving it next to me on the porch. We'll see.
Yeah, but who knows about Commie NYS. A family friend who has Parkinson's is in one, I could find out from her. I used to complain online about living here and having Cuomo's boot on my neck. It's worse now, with Kathy Hochul's stiletto heel on my neck. Politically she's at least as bad as Cuomo.
Many snakes will strike at you if you provoke them (intentionally or not.) It does not necessarily need to be venomous...it's a defensive move. I was considering having my crawlspace wrapped, and the company wanted to charge a hefty surcharge if they pulled the insulation because the blacksnakes that are likely lurking there will strike at the workers when they [the snakes] get disturbed. I got no idea if the workers get hazardous duty pay. Regarding getting bird shot or rat shot. I read Faye's accounts of snakes being shot with a .22 or a .45 and thought as you do...no way I can hit a slender slithering target with a single bullet.
I gotta say that with the way things are going nationally, I wonder if there's gonna be any sanctuaries left. This election and especially the next one will pretty much let us know if America is done for, and there is no place left to run. Virginia could have easily gone for McAuliffe last election, and might do so next time.
No not pressurized, just forcing the exchange of air. I have two crawl spaces that are connected with an opening. There are four vents to the outside and one big one in the basement. They should be fine by themselves, just exchanging free air, but they are not large enough (total square inches of vent) during humid summer weather, thus the build-up of stagnant damp air and the mildew odor. So I put the big fan in the big basement vent and blow fresh air into the crawl space, which exits through the other four vents to the outside, forcing it to exchange air at a much greater rate than it would do naturally. Just leaving the fan on low works well enough.
Yeah, I covered the aggressiveness with the non-poisonous Northern Water Snake in my previous post. I just don't recall ribbon snakes being aggressive before. But these are much bigger than I've ever seen, so maybe that's it. Nearly anything will try to defend itself. I've read that the reason you always see cats carrying a live mouse by the back, with its belly forward, is that the mouse cannot bite them in that position. And rodent bites are nasty, even to us big humans so I'm sure a cat doesn't want to be bitten by one either. This is just a net picture (I added the text) but I've seen this with my cats when they had a mouse out in the yard, with nowhere to hide. They are doomed, but they'll be defiant right to the end.
Wild turkeys can help with snake control. A rancher that lives in a heavily infested rattlesnake area south of me, uses a 22 revolver with Winchester #12 snake shot.
I had no idea. I wonder how many snakes I would have if I didn't have these guys around. This is n my kitchen, from the first few months of my living here: In or out...make up your mind!!
With anywhere from 3 to 9 wild turkeys running around the yard at any one time, we probably don't have a snake issue. It is the spilled bird seed from the feeders that keeps them around. Turkey poop or snakes in the yard - which would you prefer?
I have a fair amount of turkeys here, but not often in the yard. But I didn't know they killed snakes, interesting. Yes, that's the .22 birdshot I was thinking of. I remember using it as a kid with a rifle, and it was pretty lame stuff. Using it in my Single Six revolver it would be even lamer, unless the cartridges are more powerful than they were 50-60 years ago, which is certainly possible (I don't keep up with that stuff anymore). I'm sure it would be fine with a small snake within a couple of feet, but it doesn't seem like it would work too well on a rattler, especially from a safe distance. I have a .45 LC Ruger Vaquero, seems to me they make shot for .45s too. Now that would work great on a big dangerous snake, I would think.
FROM MY OP: The bees drill these gable areas of my porch/house every spring which are knotty pine, as is the ceiling of the porch. I spray or swat them as best I can, and they're usually gone by mid-June or so. This year it was overwhelming. There was just not sawdust falling down, but actual slivers of wood. I assumed the bees were in behind the knotty pine, so at Lowe's I asked "the guy" if they had a fogger or something similar for carpenter bees, among the YOOGE wall of endless insecticides, rodent and snake repellents, traps, etc. He said no, not really. So I looked anyway, and lo and behold they did have what I was looking for, although not a "fogger." It's a foam that you spray in the holes, which apparently isn't objectionable to them, and any bee coming or going will pick up the remnants of the foam and it will at some point kill them. You spray it in and wait 48 hours for the bees to come and go, then fill in the holes. So I filled the holes this afternoon and we will see. I'm not crazy about climbing ladders anymore, even that short distance. So I'm done for now, and recuperating on the porch with a gin with cranberry juice to calm me down.
I'll have to try that foam. I got them under the sills of a couple of windows. I've sprayed insecticide before but they always come back. There are carpenter bee traps that--from what I've read--only begin to work once you have a couple of bodies in them. Apparently they need the scent of another bee to venture in, so some folks use "other means" to prime the pump.
I didn't know about the traps, thanks for the tip. I will not bother asking anyone at Lowe's about them, I'll just have to find them myself, lol. Lowe's first came to the area (18 or so miles away) around '05-'06 as I recall. They didn't have nearly enough people on the floor to help customers then, and they still don't. And some of the ones who are, like my experience above, don't even know what they have. I always ALWAYS ALWAYS patronize my local (5 miles away) family-run hardware store first if possible. They are absolutely first-class in customer service.
There are plans online on how to make those traps. They're pretty easy (and basic) if you have a drill press, a spare piece of 4x4 and an empty water bottle or jar. You just gotta prime it.