When to put up snake traps.

[brent]

Hi everyone,
I just lifted my second house and opened a couple of more compartments. I decided to polish and put up the pole guards. The martins are just arriving. When do you put up your snake traps? Thanks, Brent

[C.C.Martins]

Hey Brent,
I'd look to the weather for that one, here late Feb they start emerging but warmer weather may give them the boost they need.
Soon as I hang the gourds net goes up, just one more thing not to sweat.
Really happy your birds arrived in good numbers!!!
Best,
Tom

[flyin-lowe]

There is no reason to not put them up now. Having them up early will not hurt anything. If it is not warm enough yet for the snakes to be on the move you could wait, but if you have martins spending the nights in cavities, they are prime targets for climbing snakes.

[brent]

Thanks for the replies. They’ll go up tomorrow or Tuesday. Brent

[Thomabear]

I will plug both in as soon as the martins arrive. The first thing a snake looks for when coming out of hibernation is a meal.

[Stingray]

Are pole guards enough protection against snakes and other predators?
We have big canal behind our home and lots of wildlife.
I've seen an occasional rat snake and a few black racers. We also have raccoons, hawks, and owls.
I have gourds with pole guards up and never had a problem with snakes.
Early in my time as a landlord I had a house up until one evening a hawk flew right up to the house and took a young Martin right off the porch.
Also had an entrance bent from a predator trying to get in. We have barred owls and I believe that was the culprit.
I got rid of the house, swtiched over to gourds and have not had any predator issues since.

[C.C.Martins]

In short, Nope. They can go right around them. We had a baffle up, some snake netting (not near enough) two years ago and a small 1 foot rat snake got by the baffle, through the netting and was only caught on the way down because it was full of 6 martin eggs and couldn't get through.

[Stingray]

Thanks C.C.
Not welcome news. I've been fortunate.
My colony consists of 18 excluder gourds with crescent entrances. (A 6 and a 12 gourd rack on square poles.)
Both have the predator guards.
Hoping my luck continues and wishing you a great season.

[C.C.Martins]

You as well. We have the same systems! 2 inch square, excluder gourds,, excluder and excluder II entrances. Snake went right to the top.
No snakes this year, using a Trio perch arm set up for the trio house, 37 inches out tip to tip which will hold the netting.
Have aluminum arms on the other 4 poles, 4 arms 28 inches out from the hub.
Can't take chances its pretty wild out at the oso preserve.
All the best this season!
Tom

[Thomabear]

Thanks C.C.
Not welcome news. I've been fortunate.
My colony consists of 18 excluder gourds with crescent entrances. (A 6 and a 12 gourd rack on square poles.)
Both have the predator guards.
Hoping my luck continues and wishing you a great season.

An electric fence charger is very cost effective and works to stop virtually 100% of all ground predators without harming them. A couple years ago I witnessed the neighbors feral cat touch his nose to it. He tore out of there so fast that he was actually a running blur on my camera. Needless to say, he has never returned to that pole. Occasionally, he will pass a hundred feet or so from it and give it a long stare as if to say WTH. I use the same design (electric) at both my home and now my camp. Here's a pic of the basic setup.

martin house.jpg

(161.74 KiB) Not downloaded yet

[C.C.Martins]

Electric is the way to go. I dislike working with the netting, a real pain in the butt. Tangles, catches everything (guess its supposed to), and end of season its got lots of bird poop.
Like the cat story, must still give you chuckles. Maybe it is short of its 9 lives now!

[flyin-lowe]

Depends on the size, shape, height, etc. of the guard. My poles are custom made and so I had to DIY my predator guards as well. Mine are both thick walled plastic 12 inch sewer pipe. They are both over 4 feet tall as well so I have over 48 inches between the latches that hold the sections together. Somewhere on this forum years ago someone posted a chart that showed how big a snake had to be in order to grip and go up a round pipe. I've been using these guards on my T 14 for over 15 years now.

[brent]

Thomabear, where did you get the electric charger? Is it solar? Very interested. Brent

[Thomabear]

Thomabear, where did you get the electric charger? Is it solar? Very interested. Brent

At home I used the 2 mile (Smallest Available) at Tractor Supply. I think it's around $35. I tied it in to the pole with the 14 gauge gray burial wire from Lowes and trenched it in with a hand trenching tool that folks use for electrical dog fencing.

At our Camp in MS I used a solar charger. It's a Gallagher S12. The solar ones are more expensive (About $150 on Amazon) but are very easy because it mounts right next to the pole and only needs a short piece of wiring. Of course, you can expand either type to more poles by either trenching or just lay out extensions and roll them up when cutting grass.

[Thomas Maddox]

In short, Nope. They can go right around them. We had a baffle up, some snake netting (not near enough) two years ago and a small 1 foot rat snake got by the baffle, through the netting and was only caught on the way down because it was full of 6 martin eggs and couldn't get through.

Makes me wonder what's the smallest mesh size available. Deer netting is .75 inches and bird netting is .5 inches. I use a mixture of both

[C.C.Martins]

Yeah I do too....now. darn things can bug the sparrows

[brent]

Hey Thomabear, I’m interested in that solar electric fencing wire. Do you wrap the wire around the post? I am not very good with electricity and wonder if it would shock the birds? Are there resources you can refer me to, like YouTube, that would show a DIY? A simple DIY. Anyone else that would like to share please do. Thanks, Brent

[Thomabear]

Hey Thomabear, I’m interested in that solar electric fencing wire. Do you wrap the wire around the post? I am not very good with electricity and wonder if it would shock the birds? Are there resources you can refer me to, like YouTube, that would show a DIY? A simple DIY. Anyone else that would like to share please do. Thanks, Brent

You would need to ground the pole and keep the hot wire separated from the pole. There are a few good ways to accomplish this. If you do decide to wrap the pole you could place a 1-2 foot piece of PVC pipe over the pole then wrap the outside of that keeping the wire from touching the pole. For my installation I made an aluminum box then used plastic set bolts to keep it from touching the pole. I can take a few pics if you like. Not sure about the availability of YouTube videos. Also, there is no chance of shocking the birds as the pole would be grounded. They won't even know it's there.

On Edit: Just noticed you can type "electric predator guard" in the forum search bar and there are a few conversations relating to this with some pics and videos.

[sle]

Last year I had the baffle predator guard on my pole that is recommended. It did not stop the corn snake. I then put a 24"plastic saucer on top of the baffle for extra protection, and it did not stop another corn snake (I relocated both snakes many miles away). Then I found "Snake Away" which I sprinkled on the ground around the pole, put up weed barrier on stakes to enclose the snake away (to keep the dogs from it), as well as the original protection. I will try this again this year. Not sure if it really worked last year or since I relocated the snakes, I didn't have any problems after that??Anyone have experience, pros/cons, with "snake away"??

[Thomas Maddox]

Most of what I've read researched says the "Snake Away" and similar products don't work. The snake netting does. I'll try to post some pictures later. Or, you could add some electricity.