We have our fair share of squirrels, the little buggers like eating at my bird feeders But, yesterday
I sighted a ' New" chipmonk..Told him DONT eat my plants and you can stay ...touch one plant and your going to meet " Carbon" My cat

Wish I had some snakes. I dont think I can get my sisters corn snake to hunt then come back LOL that
would be great

I had to learn which snakes were good and bad. When we first bought out place, it was the remnants of an old burned out home. It had sit in the middle of 645 acres of trees and vines for about 5 years abandond by humans but occupied by all sorts of snakes, birds and animals. The first 4 months we cleaned our 1 acre of so much trash, the local misfits used it for their beer drinking hideout. We kept a count, over 100 snakes the first year met their end on this Earth. DH was terrified of them and I do mean terrifed. He's not afraid of anything else, but he was of snakes. When I started working in the yard, I'd nearly kill myself running backwards when I'd walk up on one and this happened many times a day. After pulling vines out of soon to be beds and then pulling my 4th or 5th snake out at the same time. I swear, you could have heard me miles away. Have you ever seen a woman RUN backwards while sitting flat on her behind???? We were told that alot of bad snakes had been killed in this area when the house was orginally built and then burned. so, not knowing, we treated all of them like bad ones.

I decided that I had to learn the good from the bad. I knew enough about snakes to know there were many many good ones in our area and very few bad. I took it upon myself to buy a book showing all our snakes. This was before the internet in our area in about 1994 or 95. I studied that book and took it out with me when I'd clean bad areas. I soon learned we had more Gartor snakes, rat snakes, king snakes than anything else. These are very good snakes to have. So, my next step was educate DH. He resisted for years. I'd even got to the point of handling to good ones, so the kids would know the difference and hopefully DH would too. He finally got to the point of calling me when he found one and still does to this day. I had one that got hung in some bird netting I had over some veggies one year and had to have help getting him out. He was in a real pickle with the stuff all over him, cutting into his hide and I couldn't hold him and help him at the same time. DH had to hold him for me. Have you ever seen a 6'2" 195# turn pale and sweat and just plum look pitiful??? He finally got curious and started really feeling of the poor baby. We both learned alot that day.

I don't use bird netting on anything. Babies can get hurt really bad. Dh doesn't kill snakes unless they are bad. My whole family still calls me everytime they find a snake. It's kinda funny really.

I'll add that the first year we lived here, we found about 5 snakes in the house. It declined after that with each passing year. Our biggest problem, we leave the doors open and just anything can come in. I guess we'll never learn

If we lived close to water like many of you do, I guess I'd still be very careful when cleaning out bad areas. I'm still careful when moving piles of wood and stuff but not like I used to be.

Have a great day. It's going to be really hot today.

Mona your husband sound like my BF..He is terrified of snakes. I Love them. He calls out whenever he see's one and I just pick it up & re-locate it. What he does not know I put them in the gardens He never goes
there anyway

Since my son's 9 foot boa is currently living in an upstairs bedroom, I am certainly not afraid of snakes! (I just fed it the other day - one dead frozen bunny, suitably thawed - and enjoyed by Milton the snake!

Mona - WELL DONE for figuring out the good and the bad snakes! Snakes truly do a lot of good - even the poisonous ones - although I try to stay FAR away from anything that rattles or looks poisonous. Bad snakes are not a problem around here, but at our Cottage in western PA - we have rattles and copperheads. The problem is teaching all the neighbors and my family not to kill the good snakes. ~Jan

Yes, Jan that's why everyone yells for me. I've tried with my neighbors, but they just think I'm crazier than ever I really try to be good to all God's creations, but sometimes it's out of my hands.

Had a big fat toad in my garden today. I hope he is filling up in earwigs - I truly dislike those bugs.

I rescued a Black racer today at work. Darlene @ work came running Yelling SNAKE kill it....Oh No so I went running for the snake.
We picked up a rack of cloth and out came a 3' Black racer So I caught him and let him outside All the time she was on a table

So he's free and she wants ALL the lights on in the mill when she goes for walks

Thanks everyone for helping "Snakes"

Shannon, Our Racers are grey and they are the ones that will bite when cornered. Don't know if your's will or not, but just be a little careful because they may do the same. It doesn't really hurt bad, just a mouth full of little saw type teeth, nothing like fangs. They only do this if they are trapped and I don't really blame them. All they want is to run away really fast!!! When they can't run, they will strike as a self defense. These aren't ones that beginners in snake handling need to start with. A nice calm garter snake makes an excellant one to learn how to handle. I've never had them strike, no matter how much they are handled.

You should have seen me many years ago taking a frog away from a snake!!! Talking about a site to see, that was one. The snake had the frog about have swallowed and that was more than I could handle. I had never handled a snake at that time. It was during that first year we lived here and I was seeing so many snakes and when I decided to learn about them. Well, I loved frogs and there was this snake with supper about half swallowed and I couldn't stand it. Now, I knew better, but I grabbed that snake anyway, not knowing what kind he was, and promply pulled the frog out of it's mouth. One happy frog, one angry snake!! The frog and I ran backwards and thank God, the snake went the other way without frog for supper. I was still squealing when DH came on the scene laughing his like crazy. We've learned so much sense then, amazing, but that was funny.

And I hope you learned not to take their suppers from them! Hahahaha. Love the snake stories! And Shannon, good of you for rescuing that snake.

Several years ago, the first time I "snake sat" for this boa Milton, while sons were in Iraq - I was handling the snake and it bit me. Boa's don't normally bite, but it was hungry or grumpy.

Now, realize, the BITE DID NOT HURT!. Surprisingly, but as Mona says, the teeth are so small and sharp, that it really did not hurt. But, I tossed that snake back in it's cage, then ran up to my bedroom and crawled under the covers! Really! After a bit I started laughing at myself - how silly was that? I mean, the snake (although in it's cage) was still in the house, if I was truly scared, one or the other of us would have gone outside!!!!

Meanwhile, I am much more careful handling it- actually, it is so big now I rarely do, and then I need help. I just toss it a frozen and thawed critter once in a while when it's hungry, and clean it's bedding and replace the water every 3 weeks or so. Son handles it all the time, likes to show it off. (and scare people) but even he leaves it alone when it is hungry or grumpy ~Jan

No worries Mona I had a bunch of pet snakes at one time. My ball python "Snickey" LOVED watching TV
LOL and I had bunch of them at the pet shop I managed. But that "First " time you get bit really makes you
JUMP Would have loved to see the great frog excape Mona

Never tried taking their dinner away LOL But did have a customer that learned you dont move your snake
after he eats a big meal. He wore rat that day
I fed my snakes frozen mice also, I'd defrost them then blow dry them Snickey would not even touch it if it moved. I took him out of a abusive home

You know, I can't imagine keeping a snake just to abuse it but then, I can't imagine abusing anything or anybody. the only time I ever want and mean WANT to abuse somebody is when they abuse one of God's creatures! They make me sick to my stomach

I'm certain of one thing, there will be no abusers in Heaven!!

Now, for a lighter moment:

Conrad loves to hide. This photo was made 4 years ago but he still hides in this same place. I can call him, but he will not come to me unless I go get him. He's always had the belief that he can hide and I can't see him and he certainly isn't going to move!!

He looks soo Cute

We had a little baby red bellied snake (not poisonous) caught up in a hay bale once when we were baling hay -- my DH, like yours, is terrified of snakes... now mind you this snake was not going anywhere and my DH ran backwards squeeling like a little girl jumped off the hay rack, all the while yelling my name to get it and ran about 50 yards out into the hay field....... so I got out of the tractor and walked up to it and gingerly removed it from the bale... as he is telling me to take a shovel and smash it... I couldnt do that - so I walked it up to my garden and let it go!! Poor little fella!!!!

Hahahaha Christine! I am actually surprised that little fella was still alive!

Great photo of Conrad - my old blue heeler would so that, and stay underneath the evergreen bushes in the front of the house- I couldn't even get her inside when I needed to leave for work. So I would take a broom handle and poke around until I found her, then entice her in with a treat. I think she had me well trained!

As for my sons snake, it HAS to see movement or it won't eat. Kinda hard sometimes when the stupid snake drops it's meal, and then doesn't re-bite it - and I have to figure out some way to make that dead thing move - without sticking my hand in the cage! ~Jan

I don't mind handling my wild snakes in the garden, buttttttttttt, I'm not real sure I could handle one in the house all the time. If I was you, I'd tie some kind of string, something that wouldn't hurt the snake, I don't know what, but I would not go for the snakes food with my hand. He just might decide he liked my nice warm body more than that chunk of cold food. I do have a question, why isn't your son feeding his baby, it is his?

Now, after that question, Conrad used to be my grown daughters dog. But, her ex-boyfriend was a overbearing, dog beater, and also lucky to still be alive and wouldn't be if my dear family had let me do what I wanted to do to him. So, Conrad came to live with us, then the daughter came later, and then about 8 years later and several boyfriends later, she brought our precious Emma and herself home to us. So, she's a wonderful Mom to Emma but I still take care of Conrad and he only goes to her for an ocassional treat.

My son is in the process of moving home from Grand Forks, ND. In fact, he and the rest of his stuff should be arriving Sunday - while I am out of town. He knows that Milton is hungry and needs his cage cleaned and will do it.

String would be fine, IF I could figure out a way to untie it before it is swallowed. For rats I use a pair of tongs, for the rabbit I used a pair of pliers and jiggled the carcass around until he bit it. The problem is not the initial bite, but after constricting and killing their prey, they find the head and rebite to begin the swallowing process. I think that is where Milton dropped it to the bottom of his cage last time.

Milton is not real smart (is my opinion, just don't tell my son that!) ~Jan

LOL Jan my Snickey was not the sharpest tool in the shed either. His mate "Snake" was . I used tongs also for dangling
My other's I just knocked once on the tank & they knew Food was on its way and grabbed it and ate

Amazing!!! I've never put much thought into feeding a snake. I'm glad that I do not have one. I like my snakes outside, fat and happy to be outside

I like snakes anywhere but here. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Squirrels work for me just fine.

Dot