Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living How To Catch a Snake

So I've been wondering why I haven't been getting as many eggs lately. Couple days ago I opened the chicken house to check the water and saw a big snake skin shed inside the house! We have mostly black snakes around my place. So how would I go about catching this thing?

Just find the hole he's getting in through and plug it, you know he is eating plenty of mice that are stealing your chicken food.
Most snakes are more beneficial than harmful.

I've heard of using caged mice to catch snakes. The come through the bars, but the meal holds the fast. I never had occasion to try it, but it does make sense.
Also agree that snakes can be very beneficial. Maybe snake proofing the eggs would be a better option. How to do that, though, you're on your own!
7mm

I fully agree about the benefits of the snakes being around, mice, chipmunks, etc. I would normally not bother one unless it's a copperhead. But, there is no reason the eggs are disappearing other than that big skin calling card it left.

The chickens I have now are carnivores a bird flew in the lot the other day and was gobbled up in seconds doubt a snake would last more than a few minutes.We used to have some ducks and the house was on the ground so you had to crawl in to get the eggs.I learned pretty quick to take my 22 pistol nothing like going toe to toe with a 7ft black snake in cramped quarters.

Get some "deer netting"
Roll it loosely and lay it along the walls of your coop.
Snakes trying to crawl through it get tangled

Take a medium sized fish hook tied to a couple feet of fishing line and anchor it to something immovable. Next take a fresh egg and poke a tiny hole in it with the tip of the fish hook. Insert the hook inside of the egg and place were a snake is likely to find it. Snake eats egg, shell breaks inside snake, hook catches snake. It is fool proof.

Justin, I will do this, sounds like a plan!

My aunt once painted an old door knob white and left it in the nest. Snake didn't return after the knob went missing.

I have a relative that does varmint control and he catches snakes with those sticky cardboard things for mice. When he releases them he just puts vegetable oil on it.

This. It works well.

I have heard that an old golf ball in the nest will work. Need to be the kind with wrapped rubber bands. Snake eats it thinking it to be an egg and his digestive juices melt the outer cover and the band stare coming apart blowing him up from the inside. I don't know if it works or if they even make this type golf ball any more. you used to be able to get glass eggs just for this purpose, but I would have no idea where to find one now. miles

Called by several names but we call them chicken snakes here. I kill every one that I can. They eat lots of quail eggs, baby rabbits and baby squirrels along with song birds and eggs that are in trees. We have some here that swim from tree to tree along lake edges and then climb the trees eating baby anything, from squirrels to wood ducks. They are bigger but I don't know if they are a different snake or just the diet is different. They look nearly alike but could be a close relative. miles

I've always caught them with a 12 gauge

Over-penetrate?

Not if he swings it by the barrel.

Ed

I took a snelled hook, put it in the egg, tied some monofilamnet onto the end of the snelled hook line. Yesterday, the egg is gone and the line is missing about 2 or 3 inches from where the hook was. Something has an egg with a hook in it's gut, but I don't know what.

May have to go to steel leader and braided fishing line...

Yep, I'll se how things go.

When I was a kid the feed store sold glass eggs in a egg carton for getting rid of snakes. Recently one of our friends was using range golf balls. He said the golf balls work fine.