Devastated by Rat Snake

[sawhisker]

This is my second year to have a Martin colony and they have been doing very well. I have eight pairs who have taken to my house. I have conducted weekly nest checks and kept detailed records of nesting, eggs, hatchlings, etc. Yesterday afternoon I conducted a next check and was thrilled to see a variety of nestlings and eggs. I had a total of 25 babies ranging in age and another 10 eggs spread over three nests. I woke up early this morning to find a huge rat snake on the top balcony of my bird house. This snake had already raided one of my neighbor's Martin houses AND I had a snake guard on my pole. Well the 5 1/2 foot rat snake took a total of 12 babies, 5 eggs and killed a male Martin and may have eaten the female. I took appropriate action to prevent this from happening again and eliminated the snake.

My question is, will the Martin pairs who lost their babies and eggs return next year? I figure that it is too late for them to rebuild nests and mate again for this year, but I want to have them back again next year. I will be researching and building a better snake guard later today. I have a triangular, telescoping Martin house if anyone has suggestions for a snake guard. I just hope this tragedy does not have a long term effect on my Martin colony.

[Conrad Baker]

I have a 4 foot long piece of PVC pipe (6" diameter) around my pole, and bird netting at the top of that that sticks out at least 18 or 20 inches on pieces of stiff wire. I haven't had any snakes yet.

[C.C.Martins]

The ones who survived the attack and lost eggs may not return.

[brent]

Sorry to hear that. Scares the heck out of me. I,like Conrad, have a pole guard and bird netting on top of it. Never saw a snake but I know that it takes just one.
Brent

[C.C.Martins]

I'll add a PS: you never know when a snake may show. I was checking the poles just before work last month, still dark but why not. There was a foot long rat snake wrapped around one of the poles! He or she was in the grease I put around the base (for ants-very wet this year) and didn't get very far. He didnt get up to the guard or netting thank goodness. And I live in a neighborhood.

You never know, I'm so wary the snake netting at our satellite site is ridiculous takes a while to take it all off.

[sawhisker]

Thank you all for the feedback and personal stories. I can't help but take the loss so personal. I am totally obsessed with my Martins and am doing my best to take good care of them. I have added a ton of bird netting around my original "homemade" snake guard so hopefully we will be safe until the end of this season. Then I can build a more sturdy and permanent one for the future. I will continue to check to see if there is other valuable advice.

[Conrad Baker]

Make sure the netting is held away from the pole far enough that the snake can't go around it. My support wire wraps around the pole and sticks out at least 18 or 20 inches. The end of the wire is shaped into a small loop to secure the netting. The netting is then secured to the pole with wire ties to make sure the snake can't get between the netting and the pole. The idea is to have them try to go THROUGH the netting, and they end up getting caught when they expand and contract their bodies to get through the webbing. I seem to remember my netting was two different sizes, maybe 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch ?? I just layered several pieces and fluffed it up like a ball, secured with cable ties, and supported with the stiff wire.

[C.C.Martins]

I hope your martins get through it fine, doesn't sound like they all took off which is fantastic. I can completely understand your feelings, its a hard thing to go through. But you'll get through it, so will your birds and they will be all the more safe for it. Your experience has lots of LLs looking at their setups with a different outlook Id imagine.

That was a big big snake, they are specialists, not too many predator guards would have deterred it. Friend of ours found a small rat snake climbing a vertical brick wall...it was using the cracks between the bricks, was about 4 feet up.

[Birdiegirl]

Oh gosh- I'm so sorry, that has to be tough. Sounds like you are doing everything you can- and thank you for posting your story for others to comment and learn. CC Martins is right- it's fantastic that you still have birds and that you a dedicated landlord intent on protecting them! How frustrating that not all predator guards are created equal.

I have birds for the very first time this year- and we have been debating different kinds of predator guards... we're struggling on which design to use. We have two houses and gourd arrays, on the triangular tri-tel poles. Our challenge has been how high to put them and still be able to properly lower the pole for nest checks. I am very interested in the design that Conrad mentions- any chance you could post a picture? We already have the bird netting and PVC pipe. We're a new site of 12 SY birds and nesting has been late- I expect that the first eggs were laid this week (my second nest check is this weekend). I don't want to waste another minute.

[Conrad Baker]

Sorry no pics, I can barely figure out how to take them with my phone, much less send them or post them. Basically, It's 4 pieces of 30 inch stiff wire, wrapped around the pole and extending from it about 18 to 20 inches. One end wrapped around the pole once or twice, and the other end with a small loop to secure the edge of the netting. As the Martins see it, the wires are at 12 oclock, 3 oclock, 6oclock and 9 oclock. It basically just supports the netting away from the pole, one edge attached to the loop at the end of the wire, then make a ball type of configuration with the netting, then secure the edge of the netting against the pole with cable ties. The appearance kind of reminds me of the legs of a poodle that has the pom-pom on his legs. The netting being the pom-poms.
It's not my invention, I saw it here on the Forum years ago (around 2006), but due to the format change, it's probably gone for good. If you just configure the netting so it is in a bundle or ball, and secure it so it extends from the pole about 20 inches, you are forcing the snake to crawl through it, which causes him to get tangled when his body expands and contracts to move up the pole.
Sorry- I'm unable to make it any more clear. GOOD LUCK !!

[Birdiegirl]

Thanks so much for the reply! I appreciate the additional description… we’re spending our Friday evening out in the wood shop taking a stab at it!

[brent]

Birdiegirl, search "lights for owl protection". I posted pictures of my houses. The poles have netting above the pole guard.
Brent

[sawhisker]

Thank you everyone for the encouragement! Also, thank you Conrad for the detailed description of your snake guard. I think I can make that.

[glfriend]

I use a tomato plant cage trimmed down to go under my crank and gourd stop (so not to interfere with their use) Fixed to the pole with zip ties then stuff the cage from top to bottom with 3/4 netting then drape some on outside from top to bottom. A day after i put it on I caught a black rat snake at the bottom so twisted up I had to cut him out ...after

[dsonyay]

An easy, but messy remedy is to keep a thick coat of grease on the lower 4 feet of the pole. Yeah it’s messy, but nothing will touch it.

My friend had a rat snake get past his snake netting, and into the gourds, but most of the birds stayed,, although none went back into the gourds that were attacked that year.

Keep your head up… and just look at it as something to learn from. snakes are very crafty, they are very specialized at getting prey.

[Thomabear]

I'm sorry to hear this happened. After suffering a loss from a Rat snake defeating a standard guard I finally installed an electric fence guard. Nothing has gotten past it to date. I think it has been 3 years.

[wjones]

After four years of effort we finally have Martins this year! 10 of 12 nest boxes had nests and eggs, I just experienced the same horror. I was two days late on my nest checks this week and found a rat snake in cavity 8 of 12. I pulled it out and all the eggs were gone. It clearly had a big bid in its belly too, I finished my nest checks and noted that two other nests were empty. I assume the snake had raided them as well. Total loss was 14 egss and at least one adult bird... Thankfully, I stlll have 7 other nests that were unaffected, I noticed the house really stinks too. I guess from all the snake poop.

I applied grease below my predator guard and ordered some bird netting to augment my defenses. If you have any other ideas or reccomendations, please let me know!
Bill Madison, VA

[Pdubya]

Bummer, I made a 30" guard like for a wood duck box and put a 4" ring of hardware cloth around the perimeter hoping that would do it for my pole. I figured a 5 foot snake might get around just the baffle. I like snakes too and hate to put up netting and have one die out in the sun.

[wjones]

Thank you. That is a great idea and it looks very doable. I am also looking into a snow plow paint that when dry produces a very slick surface. I intend to paint my baffle and Pole with this product. I will let you know how it works in a future post

[wjones]

I purchased some snow plow paint in hopes of creating such a slick surface that the snakes could not climb the pole. I deferred putting it on until the year is up so I can get all the poles together for prepping and painting. I also placed grease on the pole below the winch . Sadly today I caught my 2nd rat snake of the year. Upon dissection, the 4 footer had eaten three birds... Though I completed a nest check the day prior, I checked again today because the birds were flying around and not landing. I then noticed the grease had slither marks in it. I am now quickly building a guard based on Chuck's post: http://chuckspurplemartinpage.com/snakgard.htm
This devise will allow me to mow around the poles and can be removed for nest checks. Sadly, it will probably kill the snakes that try to get by it.

For my bluebird poles, I am going to use a wire cloth design posted by Lance Wood. http://www.purplemartinfieldday.org/blu ... le%203.pdf
These poles are in out of the way places that don't require regular grounds maintence.

Hopefully, I can stop these snakes...