Dear Snake:
You are hereby notified to vacate the premises as of 8/7/2013.
While I am certain that you have enjoyed your residency here in the barn in years past, I must now insist that you leave. Immediately.
Your very presence is causing me great mental anguish. When I accidentally picked you up the other day, mistaking you for a stick, I thought I was going to die. In addition, you pose a threat to my chickens and the eggs I hope they one day produce. You have greatly interfered with my relationship with my magnificent horses as I now am afraid to enter the barn. You have, quite frankly, stolen my barn peace.
I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. And please know that I greatly appreciate any rodent eradication efforts you might have engaged in while residing here.
You have until midnight on the date stated above to be vacate.
I mean you no harm, only the best of luck.
Regards,
Rebekah, The New Farm Owner
(who finds you intriguing and wants no harm to fall upon you, but cannot find the courage to share the barn with you. Can. Not.)
Oh Rebekkah, sounds awful for you, snakes are the thing that worries me about living on property. Your posts on it send shivers down my spine, especially when you accidentally picked it up…yuck!!
In hindsight was it better the devil you know? Hmmm will have to send up extra prayers on this one for you,
Blessings
Girl, look on the UP side. Yes, there is an upside. Though, you would never catch ME in that barn….E.V.E.R. I bet you have no mice. But, mice ARE cute and soo much less threating. You need a snake whisperer. Take the offending cat bed OUT of there. Perhaps, that is the breeding ground. After all, it is a bed!! Good luck, you need it!
Maybe there is a service in your area that specializes in snake removal. One of my neighbors has posted in their yard that they do snake removal, so there are people out that there that do it. Until then your husband gets to go in the barn 😉
OH my….What to do…
I am just going to say this. I love love my hens. They talk to me and I talk to them. They give me the best eggs I have ever eaten. When a fox came and drug one away before we caught it at it a couple of years ago and when my husband took a stick after it when it refused to drop one of the other feather ladies, I would have shot it….and I would never want to hurt anything myself either. I live with the little snakes that curl around the shrubs I want to trim and I just walk away and leave them be. But if these snakes find you chickens and thier yummy eggs, you may have to get tough. I agree with Sukochi, take out the cat bed, maybe add it to a bonfire, maybe one of your workers that have been trying to catch them for you would do it. Do you have a front loader?:)
If you find a way to rid your barn of the snakes, please let me know. I do notlike snakes and have ask Charlie, our black snake to leave, unfortunately Charly must have been a Charlene. I know it is not Charlie because I escorted him to the next county, after my neighbor told me he would come back. I will admit after coming upon a Timber Rattler threatening my cat, I am not so concerned about the black snake brood but I still do not like snakes and want them all to leave and let me cats take up the slack in rodent control…. The cats have gotten lazy and need the work out..
Oh so sorry for your snake infested barn! I have always been told that if you see one then there is always another one close by. It’s not a comforting feeling but you do live out in the country and that’s just the way it is. 🙂 I live in a subdivision but grew up in the country. Having to watch every place you put your foot and look in trees is just part of it. But in saying all of that, I NEVER EVER liked having to watch for snakes. I found one in my yard while mowing in my subdivision and ran over it & then realized what had happened. I was screaming bloody murder while pushing and pulling the mower back and forth over it only to discover the hole it had gone down into. I ran and got a box of mothballs because I heard they don’t like them and I poured the whole box down the hole. I never saw the snake again. I hope he and his family moved to a new whole that didn’t smell funny! Lots of luck!
You know what you need? A road runner! Seriously, snakes hate ’em – or, of course, a few barn kitties, which I know you said it did not want, but… seriously … it’s time.
I’d come help you out if you were a neighbor. I relocate snakes all the time. Black snakes can get grouchy. Last one I had was pretty big and I ended up catching her by the tail and relocating her to a creek bed about 2 miles off. But I know we have more, they’re just wily. I’ll be thinkin’ of you. I’d just try to relocate them one at a time. Good luck!
UGH…I could barely read your post, i dislike snakes that much, but i could never hurt one, i had a snake in my garden last year..named him Walter….i would always call out his name so he would know i was coming and it was my time! Biggest, bravest snake thing i have ever done…good luck!
I must be a terrible person in your eyes. I grew up in a farming community lifestyle. There was NO TROUBLE getting rid of snakes at our home. Any kind of snake was eradicated immediately on sight. The area next to our property of tree-laden, gurgling creek water and mossy earth was a wonderland for snakes. We sent the ones that came to our property on to "snake-happy-hunting-grounds".
Rebekkah, I too have snakes around our home and shed. Everytime I step outside even into the closed garage I look down before I step so I will not walk on one accidentally. When I first had trouble living with them I took moth balls and scattered them around. I don’t know if it helped but it might make them move out further from the barn. Over the years I have attempted to remove their desired areas away from the house which helps a little. We, my son and I, were planting mums one fall when he dug a small hole for the new mum and wound up in a snake den of baby snakes. He moved as many as he could but I have had a real problem digging holes in my flower garden now for over 10 years because of that. Needless to say my flowers are rather odd as everytime I seem to do any weeding etc there is that huge old black snake. Looks a lot like your transferred gal. Just learn to work with them as best you can and to get over your fear. It’s the rattlers you have to be careful for and I had one of those one year on my deck.
Good luck. But try moth balls helps a little. And devise a new way to fasten that gate right away.
In the area where I grew up, people kept Guinea Fowl. They were kept to eat insects like ticks (ew!), natural burglar alarm, & also to find & kill snakes. But never as food.
When I joined the US Air Force, I was stationed in England where I was served Guinea Fowl. It takes like chicken.
So all this rambling is to suggest that you add a few Guinea Fowl to your farm. They are pretty, helpful, & delicious!
Rebekkah – I really enjoyed your post! Were you able to determine what kind of snake? I am in the mountains of California, and we get all kinds and have to do a double take before we decide what, if anything, to do about them. Except for the rattlers, I don’t mind the snakes but certainly understand your desire to not have them lurking in the rafters or someplace you may reach. Sukochi is right, though: they will keep down the rodents, and unless the snake is venemous, the rodents are actually more dangerous in spread of disease. Maybe moving things out that may be an attractive "home" or source of nesting material for rodents will help move out the snakes. I had a 4 1/2 foot king snake on the porch one day and was THRILLED because they kill and eat the rattlesnakes. A few weeks later I wished he had stuck around since I had to kill a rattler in the garage and almost stepped on one in the barn. Needless to say, ridding both places of certain boxes, straw, wood collections, etc. helps with the problem a bit. Don’t know about where you are, but here it helps to keep things up off the ground as much as possible. Of course, I still poke the wood pile with a shovel before I just reach in. 😉 Best of luck with the snake removal!
Sorry……I would have killed that thing in a heartbeat, I don’t care what they eat!!!!! I honesty and truly do not think I would have survived picking it up! UGH!!!
Oh no!!! How horrible I can’t even imagine what it must feel like for you· I hope you can find some kind of resolve and find it real quick. After reading the story of your horrible ordeal I am certain I will have horrible dreams of snakes, I really do not like them.
I pray that you can find your barn peace again!
I totally get your snake thing….and as I am a suburb gal moving to Texas in the next year with Mr. Man , I have informed him that HE is on snake patrol and I will run screaming from the garden if I encounter one. Thankfully he gets it. What a guy!!!
I feel for you girlfriend. I hate snakes too. The snake fear would definitely keep me from having a farm. Even my suburban home with woods behind the house is a problem at times. So you have my sympathy and I wish you luck.
I also have a snake or snakes but they are gardener snakes, I have only seen one, each year in the spring, but I just know they are in my stone basement. I guess I am getting use to him around (the grandkids call him "no legs" but he does scare me when I don’t see him and he moves. I don’t even want to think about babies. I live in an old log cabin so who knows where they hide. I do have mice, but rather have them then a big black snake I guess. Sorry but I trap them, that’s life in the country, lucky for me the snakes haven’t come into my house, maybe because of the dog.
Awesome!!!!!thank u! I have no “peace”…(well..I do…till I see that snake!)…im trying..so hard to getoverit!…