With snow on the ground to boot!

Should be getting my first call soon. I have removed snakes from snow covered traps both spring and fall. Of course MT snakes are much hardier then their southern gentleman cousins.

This was a snake in the garage call. Seen three time in the last week. I suspect it over wintered under the slab. Traps are set.

A snake call the day after Christmas with 18 inches of snow in sub zero weather is the call that got me going in this biz. I had done some stuff for friends before that......but that call is the one that made me decide to get serious about it.

BTW..it was a 6-7 foot python that somehow got into a basement from the neighbors house. I suspect the callers son and his buddy, the snake owner, were up to no good ......lol

Snakes are great for business. Got a call just befor Christmas.
Housing unit call turns out it was in an apt next door.The apt was rented by a ex garage customer of mine?
After I caught the snake it took me an hour to get out of there!
bob

Snake-away works...for it's manufacturer only. It sells. For snakes, it doesn't.

I get snake calls throughout the year usually. I got one this year with a very attractive young lady, who woke up in the middle of the night alone with a big black snake wrapped around the post on her headboard. I came out the next morning to hunt for it and found myself crawling all around her bed with her... about half dressed. She was mid 20's right out of college and very athletic.

Things like that will make a man step back and think HMMMMM. That is for sure. I had a hard time charging her for that expirience. I still wonder why she did not call her boyfriend to come resue her.

let me just say I love my work and can do it with a never ending drive just because I enjoy what I am doing.... other days I cannot believe just how much I love my job!

Just this week I got a call from a guy who came out in the morning to get his tea pot off the stove to find a black snake laying on the stove. The snake crawled down the back and has never been seen since.

Okie,snake away is not labeled for PIT VIPERS! It will keep some species of snakes away if applied right.
We can not apply it as it is a pesticide but I still recommend it to some customers.
bob evans

From the label "To repel rattlesnakes (Genus crotalus) and checkered garter (Genus Thamnophis Marcianus) from areas---"
LABEL MSDS

La,sorry my bad!
See what old memories do too you.
The salesman told us it wasen't good/labeled for pit vipers. I miss spoke.
we asked because of pigmy rattlers.
Bob

Bob Evans-
I suppose, to be technically legal, Snake-A-Way could only be used for rattlesnakes of the genus Crotalus but not Sistrurus and only for Thamnophis marcianus but not the rest of the garter/ribbon snakes. Even the label of Snake-A-Way lists a number of disclaimers.

Many of the older farmers around here spread sulfur around their outbuildings to keep venomous snakes out. With the ingredients of Snake-A-Way being- sulfur (28%), naphthalene (7%) and inert ingredients (65%); There may be some validity to their actions.

I received a call, Friday, from the Maintenance Supervisor of a local hospital. He stated that the landscaping contractor had reported a "wad of moccasins" near a hole in the bank of the dry retention pond. I set a snake cage trap. Here is a picture of the "wad of moccasins" found in the trap today. Thamnophis sirtalis I think!

Don't think I've ever seen or heard of a snake "cage" trap. Have you got a picture of one? Is it home made or commercially available?

DAVE SALYS-
The trap I use is homemade. Built similar to a minnow trap; but rectangular in shape. Minnow traps work well for small snakes, under certain conditions, but not for five foot long snakes.

Click on pictures to enlarge.



The rectangular traps fit better along a wall and with drift fencing. The trap isn't pretty; but it has had a hard life and works!





The top is made of plywood to provide cover and shade in summer. The trap is very effective for trapping snakes from burrows (prairie dog holes, gopher tortoise holes, etc ).In shallow water, it works well for cottonmouth moccasins and other water snakes. Here is a picture of what came out of one gopher tortoise hole.

Very interesting LA! Do use any bait or scent, or is it more a matter of location as I have found with my glue traps. Have ever tried making one just out of wood?

Dave-
I am a big believer in the use of some sort of drift fence, so seldom use bait or scent. However, if setting under a home, bait/scent is often used. I often keep a couple of white mice in an old aquarium and use the mice or bedding (or both) inside the trap. A removable bait cage, placed inside the trap, is used to contain the mouse. Of course food and water (apple and sunflower seeds) are provided for the mouse. The biggest problem, if you get a male and female mouse, is that you are soon overrun with mice.

I made a couple of all wood traps but found the wire/wood traps easier to make and to check. I get some calls for water snakes and the galvanized wire works much better there. Pop rivets with washers are used to assemble the "funnel".

LA that looks like 1/2" mesh, I would think 1/4 or even 1/8 would be better for the really little guys. What do you think?

Dave-
It is made of 1/4 inch mesh hardware cloth. About the only snake, that we have around here, that might get through the 1/4 inch mesh would be worm snakes and ringneck snakes. I have never received a call for either of these unless it was found in a swimming pool.

Ringnecks and Brown Dekay are found alot of the time in the ground floor kitchens (just off of the garage) underneath the fridge. Brown Dekay found in the entryway of public buildings usually hospital/nursing facilities (entering under automatic door which is adjacent to pine straw mulch).

Just like clock work, 70 degrees Saturday and BAM got my first snake call of the season. Went out Sunday caught one in the house,two in the crawlspace and one outside. Set traps inside and out and today it's snowing. That's MT weather for ya'.