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StevenB
1 year ago

Your love of herpetology really shines through on this article. Very fascinating and informative read. You have my 5K sats. Thank you very much for providing such a valuable article.

Bonnieblue2A
Bonnieblue2A
1 year ago

Very interesting. A few years back I inquired about getting more black snakes on my property because my renter was losing bulls to rattlesnake bites. I know that black snakes predate upon rattlesnakes and figured that I had an imbalance that needed addressing. The local game agent told me that it was illegal in Missouri to breed and sell the non-venomous black snakes.

I did not know that Copperheads are in the same family as the Water Moccasin.

@Jack, what has your experience been on your own property of your free ranging fowl reducing and/or controlling snake populations within their ranging area? Would this be a good reason to free range even if you know you will be feeding aerial and 4 legged predators during the daytime?

Bonnieblue2A
Bonnieblue2A
1 year ago
Reply to  Jack Spirko

A close friend in SD gets his pheasant dog (English Springer Spaniel) vaccinated for rattle snake bites. I will research the one for cattle and forward the info. to my renter, thank you.

Yes, the King Snake is commonly called a black snake here.

Brandon Gouthier
1 year ago

Thank you for the post. We are outside the Beaumont area in the rice fields of Fannett. We have a lot of cotton mouths on our property. I have seen 3 or 4 for any other kind of snake in the past. With a daughter, wife and dog that love to walk our paths and hang out around the pond, I have educated them on how to see and avoid them. I also keep a 38 with rat shot on my hip when around the pond or cutting grass this time of year and through the summer just to keep their numbers down. Keeping the grass short around the house also helps a lot. I did see my first diamond back water snake yesterday and a garter snake last week. But the first 3 I saw this year were all water moccasin’s, even one on a fairly cold day. I have only seen one copper head in 7 years and have never seen any other venomous snake. I would love to start finding king snakes.

Ethan L.
Ethan L.
1 year ago

You’re right about the musking from rat snakes. We have them up here in OK as well, and when I lived out in the sticks we’d occasionally stumble on one while doing yard work. A few minutes later it would smell somewhere between a skunk and a dead animal. Awful stuff. Once your nose picks up that aroma, you will never forget it.