Evening With The Serpents?On Rat Snake Patrol
?Beware of the belly crawler, the one with cold eyes that never close. He slithers in the darkness, licks the air with a forked tongue and drinks in the delicious smells of warm-blooded prey. He needs no light, no sound, no visible victim, almost nothing, just a few molecules of the scent of purple martins sleeping safely in their nests is enough. Behold the rat snake. He eagerly offers his coils in a deadly embrace to those foolish enough to accept...
On May 10, 2003 at my previous home in Tallahassee, Florida, I experienced an evening with the serpents. My yard was INFESTED with gray and red (corn) rat snakes and these serpents destroyed numerous birds? nests, including both cavity and non-cavity nesters. A more appropriate name for these predators would be rat and snake bird. To this day I have never seen a rat snake eating a rat, only birds!
These snakes would have devoured every bluebird, Carolina chickadee, Carolina wren, great crested flycatcher, red-bellied woodpecker and, of course, purple martin nesting in my housing if they got the chance. But I managed to keep the belly crawlers at bay with my snake guards and bird netting traps. Without these guards, there would have probably been few cavity nesting birds raising young in my yard.
Have you ever wondered how rat snakes find those birds? nests in the dead of night? Snakes don?t need sight nor do they need sound. They don?t need great speed. They don?t need a hunter?s moon in the dead of night and they can find their way in total darkness. The rat snake has a secret biological weapon that would rival the most sophisticated radar tracking system known to mankind. It is called the Jacobsen?s organ and is located in the roof of the snake?s mouth. It is basically an olfactory global positioning system and is highly sensitive to molecules of warm-blooded scent. Rat snakes are scaly blood hounds as they sniff the air with their flickering tongues. The molecule-laden tongue is transferred to the Jacobsen?s organ in the roof of their mouths. Once these snakes detect the scent of a possible meal, the hunt begins and their sensors guide them to their victim(s). They are relentless in their silent pursuit and follow the scent like a wolf on the trail of a deer. Their prey can be as little as five feet off the ground in a bluebird house to 30 or more feet high up a tree in a open bird?s nest. And nothing is more inviting and tempting than a purple martin house or gourd cluster filled with adult and baby purple martins. Such a large concentration of available prey fills the air with its scent that disburses widely into nearby thickets, overgrown lawns, trees?places where a rat snake may be crawling or hiding and sniffing the air.
At my old home site in Tallahassee, my purple martin colony was located in my front yard in an open area that was closely mowed. Any snake would have to crawl around 50 or more feet across a lawn to reach the housing poles. Rat snakes primarily hunt in the late evenings and through the early mornings and I have learned to watch for these slithering belly crawlers at these times. Each evening I would station myself near my martin colony and enjoy the martins. I also watched for those sneaky Cooper?s hawks. And then I went on rat snake patrol.
This is what I discovered on May 10, 2003?
At about 7:30 pm, I scouted the south side of my martin colony and found a three-foot long corn snake slowly heading toward one of PMCA gourd rack poles. At around 8:00 pm, I found another four-foot long corn snake not more than 10 feet from my Lonestar house pole on the north end of the colony. But the evening was still slithering with scaly death. At around 8:45 pm, I found a three-foot long gray rat snake at the east side of my colony, about 20 feet from a natural gourd rack pole. However, the excitement would continue. At around 9:30 pm, I found a two-foot long gray rat snake that was weaving through the ? inch mesh of the bird netting barrier! This snake was trying to climb another PMCA gourd rack pole. Small, thin rat snakes may be able to weave themselves through the larger mesh sizes of bird netting. This rat snake may have eventually been caught in his mid-section, but when I grabbed him by the head and pulled, he slid out easily. So he may have been able to get through it. If the snakes are caught, you have to carefully cut the netting from their bodies before removing them. At that time, I was unable to locate the ? inch mesh size which will catch many snakes, including smaller ones. I now use BOTH ? and ? inch mesh netting for all my traps. This combination has never failed so far.
I placed all four rat snakes in a large bucket, took them about a mile down the road and released them in some woods. Rat snakes are important for the ecosystem and actually catch some rats though I have never seen one do it! Many years ago, I did send these belly crawlers to their ?Happy Hunting Grounds?, but no more. Usually after I caught a number of rat snakes and then removed them from my yard, this tended to eliminate the serpent problem for a short while. However, it would not be long before another plague of rat snakes started again.
At my new home in northwest Louisiana, both Bob (my neighbor) and I did not catch a single rat snake in our net traps this year! This is amazing as last season Bob caught a number of them in net traps. In fact, I did not see a single rat snake in my yard or Bob?s and few were found dead on the nearby roads. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2006.
I would encourage all landlords to ensure their purple martin housing is protected with appropriate snake guards to keep these formidable predators from climbing the poles. In the Deep South rat snakes are particularly common. You never know when your purple martin colony will experience an evening with the serpents.
Steve Kroenke
Evening With The Serpents...On Rat Snake Patrol
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Steve Kroenke
- Posts: 4342
- Joined: Fri Nov 28, 2003 6:49 pm
- Location: Louisiana/Logansport
I updated this posting with a photo of a large gray rat snake caught in one of my net traps. This snake was heavy and pulled down the 3/4 inch netting. I caught this snake later in 2003. I removed him/her unharmed by carefully cutting the netting loose. Then the snake was taken down the road and released.
Steve
Steve
OMG Steve, that is one big snake!!!! I would absolutely freak out if I saw four snakes in one day in our yard! We caught one in some netting I had placed on the ground around our poles. I am so glad you gave instructions on how to position it there! I still can't figure out how to attach it to the poles, but I think I will have to do that next year, as the grass grows up so bad around it on the ground. I'm glad you're not having problems with them at your new place. I hope it stays that way. Thanks for all the articles your write. They are very helpful... 
....... Pat
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Steve Kroenke
- Posts: 4342
- Joined: Fri Nov 28, 2003 6:49 pm
- Location: Louisiana/Logansport
Hey Pat,
Yes, that was a BIG rat snake, but not the biggest I have caught in the net traps. I caught a monster back in 2004 and this gray rat snake was around 5 feet in length.
I have used the netting at the bottom of the poles, but just like you had experienced, the grass does grow up around it. Sometimes I would remove the netting temporarily while mowing and then place it again afterwards. If you only have one or two poles to deal with, then that is not too bad. But with multiple poles, it can be aggravating! However, the netting on the ground will catch most rat snakes before they can even get a "hold" to the pole.
One easy method I have used is to attach the netting in a wreath like manner on wire prongs that have been tighten around the pole. You can also just let the netting hang down all around the pole like a messy skirt. Or, just wad up a bunch, fasten it with wire to the pole and fluff it out some. You want to create a barrier of many mesh squares that forces the snake to crawl through and become entangled.
Good luck.
Steve
Yes, that was a BIG rat snake, but not the biggest I have caught in the net traps. I caught a monster back in 2004 and this gray rat snake was around 5 feet in length.
I have used the netting at the bottom of the poles, but just like you had experienced, the grass does grow up around it. Sometimes I would remove the netting temporarily while mowing and then place it again afterwards. If you only have one or two poles to deal with, then that is not too bad. But with multiple poles, it can be aggravating! However, the netting on the ground will catch most rat snakes before they can even get a "hold" to the pole.
One easy method I have used is to attach the netting in a wreath like manner on wire prongs that have been tighten around the pole. You can also just let the netting hang down all around the pole like a messy skirt. Or, just wad up a bunch, fasten it with wire to the pole and fluff it out some. You want to create a barrier of many mesh squares that forces the snake to crawl through and become entangled.
Good luck.
Steve
