What don't snakes like?

[Stuart]

Lets keep things on topic guys

 

[moosenoose]

My next door neighbor used to keep chickens and years later they decided to knock the chicken coup down. Underneath were two very large large adult red bellied blacks who were there quite clearly, just keeping the rats and mice in check. They never touched the chooks. Which (also) leads me to believe that you have a resident python, rather than anything in the elapid stakes hanging about.

 

[Gruni]

As for the repellor I openly admit to have no personal experience I simply know of someone who has and they claim to have had sucess with them. I think they were about $50 each and for the sake of one I figure there is nothing to lose in this case as I am not suggesting an investment of hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

 

[BIGBANG]

i am frequented by brown snakes in my chook pen chasing mice, how big is the mesh your pen is made out of, if its taking decent sized chooks it must be a decent sized snake, i'm not sure what nocturnal mammals you have in qld, could it be something else??smaller than a fox more cat sized?

 

[longqi]

Im not sure it is a snake
reason being 2 in 2 nights
unless of course you have a family moving in??
'snakes in the chookhouse??
possibly a monitor would clean up a couple in 2 days
but a decent sized chook is plenty for most pythons
with that in the gut they will just rest up for at least 3 or 4 days
so no reason for one python to return within 24hours

 

[thals]

Threads are no longer like conversation that can drift onto tangents and back again so much, aparently...

As for the repellor I openly admit to have no personal experience I simply know of someone who has and they claim to have had sucess with them. I think they were about $50 each and for the sake of one I figure there is nothing to lose in this case as I am not suggesting an investment of hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Many snake catchers who come into contact with these contraptions quite regularly at call outs will tell you otherwise. Check out goldcoastsnakeshows and ssssnakeman on youtube for example. Why use something widely acknowledged to be useless and lull you into a false sense of security, which is the real danger. Better to ensure that the chickens are safely secured and invest the money into doing that, at least you won't be wasting any and it will solve the problem!

 

[Dan40D]

How big is the mesh?? If it is a snake and it is large enough to take "teenage chickens" its going to be a fair size snake and reasonably easy to spot i would imagine. The snake might have been able to get through the mesh, but if it is eating chickens then i doubt it would get back through the mesh. If the mesh is big enough for the snake to get back through then there is a fair chance that the chooks would be able to get through it as well.

 

[RedFox]

OP you said there was a rainforest and foxtail palms everywhere, any chance you are in Cairns, Port Douglas, Mossman area?

 

[snakesalive123]

You can try add some flour on every floor edges and watch the every morning. Maybe you will distinguish the marks of chickens and snake and see where did it passed by.

Or maybe you can try provide a good warm shelter to the snake and watch it every day.


This are the methods that we use when the snakes are missing...


(Sorry for the english. )

I gotta say, flour is a brilliant idea and I'm a bit ashamed as a theoretically cunning human that I didn't think of doing something like that.

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OP you said there was a rainforest and foxtail palms everywhere, any chance you are in Cairns, Port Douglas, Mossman area?

West Brisbane by the river. The rainforest is only in a small patch in our backyard, and also has pecans and a large macadamia (thus the bush rats). It was planted by a garden enthusiast about 25 years ago and well before we moved in and has many north qld plants and the bunches of foxtails are giant and fruiting. We have MANY brown snakes here from the river, I have also seen a Coastal Taipan and of course carpets. No black snakes.

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How big is the mesh?? If it is a snake and it is large enough to take "teenage chickens" its going to be a fair size snake and reasonably easy to spot i would imagine. The snake might have been able to get through the mesh, but if it is eating chickens then i doubt it would get back through the mesh. If the mesh is big enough for the snake to get back through then there is a fair chance that the chooks would be able to get through it as well.

This is really something I need info on - I couldn't find the snake in a quick search this afternoon but I must admit I was scared too dig around in the hay. The pen has normal chicken wire, double layer around the bottom, and now also has aviary mesh we have dug in but only along one side so far (will get to the rest next week). I do not know how well snakes can squish through things but it has had trouble getting two out, I found them stuffed against a stretched out hole in one corner not a scratch on them but throttled and beat up. The others just gone. I was thinking perhaps they "crushed" the teenage chickens inside them or something and could squish out but I'm also worried it could be in the pen. My husband says twaddle, carpet snakes like living up trees and won't be under the gravel but I am not sure, what do you guys know about carpet snakes would it really live under a nesting box? I have two nesting boxes on the ground both with broody hens in them at the moment that I have not looked under yet!

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Im not sure it is a snake
reason being 2 in 2 nights
unless of course you have a family moving in??
'snakes in the chookhouse??
possibly a monitor would clean up a couple in 2 days
but a decent sized chook is plenty for most pythons
with that in the gut they will just rest up for at least 3 or 4 days
so no reason for one python to return within 24hours

Kind of what I thought! I think I need to get a night vision camera *sigh*. Are carpets territorial or could there be more than one? It is not a monitor, I am certain one could not get in and I would surely see a goanna at some point rustling up a tree if one were around. We have plenty of water dragons however they can't get in as I keep having to rescue the idiots who get stuck in the door running past when I leave it open.

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Fairly certain it's impregnable to cats, dogs, and hawks. I had trouble with crows getting in to start with so it's fairly secure, I think... definitely need to go check ebay for night cameras...

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Oh and our browns grow to very large size around here, most I see are around 2 metre mark... have seen them in the pen before but hoped they were just rat snakes and not chicken snakes... oh and my roo survived a tangle so thinking not poisonous because of that.... but would they be more likely to live IN a pen on the ground than a python?

 

[Tinky]

How would you go with Cayenne Pepper. I have heard of people using this to dicourage other animals from an area.

Cant imagine a snake would be happy if the chicken sent had a spicy bite to it. Then again the chooks might not be pleased either.

 

[Dan40D]

This is really something I need info on - I couldn't find the snake in a quick search this afternoon but I must admit I was scared too dig around in the hay. The pen has normal chicken wire, double layer around the bottom, and now also has aviary mesh we have dug in but only along one side so far (will get to the rest next week). I do not know how well snakes can squish through things but it has had trouble getting two out, I found them stuffed against a stretched out hole in one corner not a scratch on them but throttled and beat up. The others just gone. I was thinking perhaps they "crushed" the teenage chickens inside them or something and could squish out but I'm also worried it could be in the pen. My husband says twaddle, carpet snakes like living up trees and won't be under the gravel but I am not sure, what do you guys know about carpet snakes would it really live under a nesting box? I have two nesting boxes on the ground both with broody hens in them at the moment that I have not looked under yet!

Any chance that you have Quolls in the area?? If you are near the river and have bushland around then that is a possibility. If you found two of the chickens then IMO you don't have a snake problem, my money would would be on a Quoll or a cat.

 

[GeckoJosh]

Carpets will take advantage of any place to hide, it does not have to be above ground level.

 

[cement]

Hey snakesalive 123, I have no trouble believing you have a snake in there for sure.
Are the heads of the chooks that are killed covered in a saliva(wet and matted)? Its possible that you have a carpet that is very hungry, and small enough to get in through a hole somewhere and kill a chicken but not big enough to eat it. Even a small 3-4 ft python has a fair strength and could do the job, it wouldn't be the first time a snake has killed prey to big to eat. That would explain the two dead birds in two days.
Very possible that it is living in there under nest boxes and underground in rodent burrows etc. Your bloke is not correct in saying they just live in trees. They live where the food is. If the birds have no sign of wetness (even wetness that has dried) or any sign of trauma then I would say you may have a venomous snake in there cleaning up the mice and biting the chooks out of annoyance rather than an attempt to eat them. It is common for eastern browns to move into a chook house through the day when the door is left open following the scent of rodents and then take up residence until it has cleaned all the rodents out, unfortunately they often kill a chook or two that get in the way, then it then moves on looking for more food.
I have done a callout to a house where there was a 6 ft python living in a rabbit hutch with the rabbit, curling up next to the rabbit for warmth while it digested the rats it took that would come into the hutch at night. The rabbit didn't seem to care one way or the other about the snake and had no fear of it.
If you can get a snake catcher to come out and do a search you should get answers if they are any good. If it has moved on and isn't in the chook house then make sure you go right around and patch or fill any holes. There is a wire called snake wire that has a 6mm guage its very good for keeping out mice to.
The only effective way to keep snakes away is to keep the snakes food source away (rodents), very difficult with large chook pens. Keep the area around the hen house very open and clear of bushes and rubbish etc.

 

[snakesalive123]

Hey snakesalive 123, I have no trouble believing you have a snake in there for sure.
Are the heads of the chooks that are killed covered in a saliva(wet and matted)? Its possible that you have a carpet that is very hungry, and small enough to get in through a hole somewhere and kill a chicken but not big enough to eat it. Even a small 3-4 ft python has a fair strength and could do the job, it wouldn't be the first time a snake has killed prey to big to eat. That would explain the two dead birds in two days.
Very possible that it is living in there under nest boxes and underground in rodent burrows etc. Your bloke is not correct in saying they just live in trees. They live where the food is. If the birds have no sign of wetness (even wetness that has dried) or any sign of trauma then I would say you may have a venomous snake in there cleaning up the mice and biting the chooks out of annoyance rather than an attempt to eat them. It is common for eastern browns to move into a chook house through the day when the door is left open following the scent of rodents and then take up residence until it has cleaned all the rodents out, unfortunately they often kill a chook or two that get in the way, then it then moves on looking for more food.
I have done a callout to a house where there was a 6 ft python living in a rabbit hutch with the rabbit, curling up next to the rabbit for warmth while it digested the rats it took that would come into the hutch at night. The rabbit didn't seem to care one way or the other about the snake and had no fear of it.
If you can get a snake catcher to come out and do a search you should get answers if they are any good. If it has moved on and isn't in the chook house then make sure you go right around and patch or fill any holes. There is a wire called snake wire that has a 6mm guage its very good for keeping out mice to.
The only effective way to keep snakes away is to keep the snakes food source away (rodents), very difficult with large chook pens. Keep the area around the hen house very open and clear of bushes and rubbish etc.

Thanks so much for the info! I think the snake wire is the same as the aviary mesh - it is very firm and small squares about 6mm. I think I might have meshed it IN! I do leave the door open during the day. God I hope it's not a brown snake. This is just getting worse and worse. I did meet a Coastal Taipan in the pen last year, he looked at me like he was higher on the food chain than I was.

My beautiful hen got taken last night, have been up all night to see if it comes back but no luck. Heard the rooster and ran out and found her dead on the ground, just a few feathers out of place. She is a huge hen too. I couldn't find any bite marks but I was probably crying too hard to see and it's hard through feathers and torch light. Her head was not wet, however the other two younger ones I found looked 'stomped' and could well have had an attempt at being swallowed. If it's lots of hungry small snakes I'm pretty much up the creek and I think I will have to build a new, smaller, more snake proof pen and abandon this one for useless as it is too close to the habitat.

 

[GeckoJosh]

If the attacks are only happening at night then you can pretty much rule out brown snakes etc as they are diurnal (active only during the day).

 

[andynic07]

I have done a callout to a house where there was a 6 ft python living in a rabbit hutch with the rabbit, curling up next to the rabbit for warmth while it digested the rats it took that would come into the hutch at night. The rabbit didn't seem to care one way or the other about the snake and had no fear of it.

My kids rabbit wasn't as lucky.

 

[Umbral]

Wow, good looking python!

 

[andynic07]

Wow, good looking python!

It was a really nice looking wild python and not a bad size either. The hutch is about 450mm across . He was relocated without much drama.

 

[cathy1986]

My kids rabbit wasn't as lucky.

Nice lookin snake tho ;-)

 

[ironized]

Ok, I have infinitely less experience then anyone else here but here is what I'm thinking.

A python would only be able to kill it via strangulation. Your chooks would need to be strangled and ALL would have some kind of evidence of that. An interesting way to tell would be to look at their eyes and look for burst blood vessels(A bit of an abstract application of Forensic pathology applied to humans.)

Also you said it had attempted to pull a chook through the fence? To me, this is indicative of it not being a snake. I am, in my newness to this, with out knowledge of snakes that would transport their pray.

That said, to find one pulled through the fence really doesn't make sense for any animal?

Is there a chance you have neighbors doing this?

If it was toothed mammal, you would expect to see blood, and rather unclean and vicious biting to the jugular, tearing and a lot of loose feathers.

I could imagine a monitor doing this, and the chook getting stuck in the fence occurred accidentally some how?

I would guess its a ven of some kind that is after rats and is just taking aggressive chooks. That said, Im new to the game.