I just got back from my snake job.

I was sitting at home, relaxing in front of the TV when I got the call, "Come quick! There's something in your trap behind the shed making LOTS of noise!"

I jump in my shoes and I'm there in less than 15 minutes!....

ARRRRG! I'm too late! I had the snake on my glue board and when I get there, the board has been dragged out of the trap and the snake is long gone. It left it's mark on my glue board along with it's supper. A dead bird was stuck tight to the glue along with a bit of sand and some pine straw.

It's hungry, now. So tomorrow I'll be back with a couple of swing door traps and some live mice. I worry that I'm wasting my time as with today's rain our temperatures are gonna drop for the rest of the week.

Wish me luck!

You're not securing the glueboards. It has to be so heavy and secure that the snake can not move it. I have made my own version of the cahaba using plywood and the gluboard gets stapled to the plywood.

Grainger sell the glue by the gallon as well

I use plastic downspout and cut them down the middle so I have pieces that are kind of half moon shaped and about 10 inches long. I then just stick them ontop the glue boards and trim the glueboard edges.

so what do you do with these snakes Nic ? After they are all stuck like that .Are they able to be removed unharmed?

I only ask because you are in a region that the Queen snake is found .An endangered species in N.Y.

Nic,

Wow! That's a bunch of snakes! If I could catch that many in one shot I would keep them in my shop and sell them to folks with mice and mole problems!

I don't have any down spouts but I've got a plenty of 4 inch PVC and ABS pipe. This sounds like a pretty good idea for me to try.

Indecently, you probably already know, but vegetable oil will take them right off of those pads. Just smear them down with it and the more energetic critters will wiggle themselves off. Sometimes you might have to work it in gently with your finger tips. Granted, I never took that many off of any one pad.

Warrior,

I have some home made cahaba type traps. I bought one and when it arrived I felt kinda stupid for spending so much money on something I could build myself with scrap lumber and 15 minutes.

I've got some double sided tape that I can stick them down with. I'll give that a shot too.

I went back this morning with my swing door traps and a couple of live mice. I'm hoping the one I missed last night will be hungry tonight, seeing as how he left his last meal on my glue board.

Spray with veg oil, they come right off with no issues at all!

In 11 years I've probably lost .00000000001% of my snakes caught in glue traps. secret is????????????????????? location,location,location. And I us extended trap checks.

The only way the snake could be harmed in the release is if you are impatient and don't let the veg.oil work and try to speed the process by pulling on the snake. Put the veg. oil on and relax and enjoy the show of the snake contracting etc. until he crawls off unharmed. Resist helping the snake will appreciate it.

Rick and David, I keep forgetting that you actually have snakes in your area. Those over-sized nightcrawlers that we call snakes couldn't move a glue board if the formed a team!

Paul, I need to ship you some. I can guarantee that when I come out of an attic and hold up a shed skin as long as I am tall I ain't even got to make a quote. I could ask for a blank check and get it.

I had a job this year where I caught several 5 foot plus bull snakes, I used half cinder blocks with a stake to hold my traps in place. My snakes go nowhere, except to the storage yard(my release sight) to control mice and voles.

I got a short video on my facebook page of a nice lovely that I picked up a couple weeks ago. About a three and a half foot timber. It was real nice walking up and seeing a nose poking out of a cinder block that looked as big as my fist, it wasn't but timbers are some big headed SOBs.

I wonder on my next trip south in the spring .I could use the glue boards to try and catch some .
I Have to say Muddawg,Those rat snakes are mighty strong. Unlike the garters that Nic has in his pics.Constrictors are all muscle.Gaters just grab a hold of their pray with their mouths and start swallowing it alive.
not that I have any experance catching snakes aside from by hand,but what if going after the larger constrictors(native species of course) A 4'x4' plywood box only say 4" high .make a hole in the side 4"-6" Hinge top put glue on bottom inside Then you can either go to the pet shop they sell under tank heat pads ,or no need for live mice as I feed my snakes fresh dead mice or rats .Being how a snake uses its sense of smell to find its food ,drag the freshly killed rodent along the ground leading up to the box.If its a cool night plug in heat pad and get box as close to the last place the snake was seen and as hidden as possable.if warm enough just place box in a hidden area.Two things I have learned from working with reptiles . they love to hide in boxes placed in there cage ,and the food does not have to be alive . but must be fresh . You can buy them frozen at your local pet shop.However A scent trail I suspect would be of the most important.Thaw before use...Hope this helps .

Maybe only put glue on the back half bottom to get snake to fully enter box

I've got a couple of traps set baited with live mice.

I had been asked before why I don't use frozen mice and maybe it's just my thinking or maybe it's the snake guy that I talked with once before that told me wild snakes wont eat it unless it's alive. That makes sense to me because of how many other critters I know of that won't eat dead prey. I've been told that only captive snakes will eat dead mice. That's something that they learn. Frankly, I don't know but it does make sense to me.

To clarify, my glue boards do fine with smaller snakes but these rat snakes(chicken snakes) I'm after routinely reach lengths of 5 to 7 feet and greater. Years ago, when I was driving a feed truck for a local hog and turkey producer, I caught one on a brooder farm. As I was coming back out I saw him stretched across the drive way. ALL the way across the drive way! So I HAD to stop and play with THIS one! Get this! I stand 6 feet tall and with his head in one hand and the other reaching to his middle, I could not lift him high enough to get his tail end off the ground! I didn't measure him but guessed it to be a good 8 or even 9 feet in length. And the girth was HUGE! I'm guessing no less than 6 inches in diameter. I had my hands FULL!

Anyway.... I got side tracked there.

I've not had a lot of time this week to implement some of these new ideas but things will be calming down on me today and through the weekend. I'm gonna go back over there armed with some new trap ideas and a couple of heating pads.

Muddawg dead or frozen mice do not have a heat signature.

This is why we use heating pads, reptile stones and a new one for this thread hand warmers work.

The bait and the heat get them on the glue boards and they rarely ever get to eat them anyway before they are all stuck on a board anyway

Native species of course?? Really I wish. This snake was caught in Queens NY by a client Thomas Herrman

For larger snakes you will need help and I recommend that you will need a person for every 3 foot of snake length.

Nice pictures. If we had those up here I would need glue boards the size of a bed and rolls of toilet paper for the customers!