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Post by bullfrog on Apr 17, 2024 8:25:52 GMT -5
… and you go “snap…”
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Post by illinoisfisherman on Apr 17, 2024 13:00:28 GMT -5
A healthy trio
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Post by TRTerror on Apr 17, 2024 13:26:29 GMT -5
Oak Snake ?
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 17, 2024 13:56:56 GMT -5
Yes. Trying to get into a chick brooder. Its only the white oak snakes that regularly harass my chickens. Cottonmouths come in a distant second. Most other snakes leave my chickens alone. Once a rattler killed a young rooster.
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 20, 2024 20:15:40 GMT -5
This morning the little white female got a streakedhead. Then this evening she got a cottonmouth. She didn’t get bit.
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Post by tonyroma on Apr 21, 2024 8:07:24 GMT -5
What do you do if they get bit by a cottonmouth?
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 21, 2024 8:18:08 GMT -5
What do you do if they get bit by a cottonmouth? Give them Benadryl and antibiotics for several days. The little white one is the only one to not be bit so far. All my other dogs have been bit and most of them were bit multiple times over their lives. I've never lot one yet to a snakebite. The big yellow male did have a strange reaction on his second bite where it didn't swell, but gave him lockjaw. I had to get him some strong antibiotics from the vet and I let him spend a week under vet care due to his refusal to eat or drink. In all other circumstances, the dogs sleep it off.
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Post by jstubby2 on Apr 21, 2024 8:24:36 GMT -5
Oak snake? Yellow rat snake?
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 21, 2024 9:41:12 GMT -5
Oak snake? Yellow rat snake? White oak snake (grey rat snake). Might as well be called a “chicken” or a “bird” snake. They must be devastating on wild turkey clutches. This time of year they flock to my coops from all around. Here’s the one my dogs had: I’ve killed several dozen of them attacking bitties or eating eggs over the past 3 years. Probably around 30 or more. No othet kind of snake comes close to the amount of specific targeting of chickens these snakes make. I even lost a near-grown guinea to one. The snake killed it and tried to swallow it, but could only get the head and neck down.
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Post by PolarsStepdad on Apr 21, 2024 9:52:58 GMT -5
Dang. I've never seen one kill a bird that big. They usually just stay to the mice and eggs
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 21, 2024 18:20:40 GMT -5
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Post by swampdog on Apr 21, 2024 18:24:21 GMT -5
Man vs nature. Keep on protecting the flock.
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 21, 2024 18:27:44 GMT -5
I have a few 8 footers running around (the white oak snakes) that I've never caught messing with the chickens. There seems to be a slot size; 3-6 feet is the sweet spot for preying on the chickens.
Corn snakes (red rat snakes) are present and as of yet have never caused a problem. Neither do black racers or indigos. I once suspected a water snake of taking chicks. All confirmed chicken predations can be boiled down to 3 species:
1. Grey rat snake (white oak snake): Around 3 dozen predations. 2. Cottonmouth: Around 6 predations. 3. Timber Rattler (canebrake): 1 predation on an immature rooster.
Cottonmouths are the ones most likely to find their way in a coop and get stuck inside, eating their fill and being unable to fit the way they came. They're the ones most likely to clean out an entire brood of chicks in one sitting. Given that I've had half-a-dozen such runs by cottonmouths, ground-sleeping birds found near water must be a major part of their diets.
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Post by illinoisfisherman on Apr 21, 2024 23:28:47 GMT -5
I don’t like snakes and that many incidents with venomous snakes makes me nervous.
I have heard that venomous snakes can release as much poison as they want to. Is that why the dogs survive? They don’t give them a full dose?
My neighbor was bitten by a cottonmouth right in front of our house. He almost did not survive. They flew him to Tallahassee by helicopter. They just make me nervous.
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 22, 2024 7:10:03 GMT -5
I don’t like snakes and that many incidents with venomous snakes makes me nervous. I have heard that venomous snakes can release as much poison as they want to. Is that why the dogs survive? They don’t give them a full dose? My neighbor was bitten by a cottonmouth right in front of our house. He almost did not survive. They flew him to Tallahassee by helicopter. They just make me nervous. I think it has more to do with the physiology of canines. North American pit viper venom is nasty on rodents and birds. Human physiology is more like a rodent. That’s why lab rats make such good test subjects. How their body reacts to something is a lot like what ours do. I’m sure the snakes are pumping the dogs full of venom. The snake is fighting for its life. It just isn’t very effective on a dog.
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