Those other snakes crawl into birds’ nests and eat all the hatchlings. Why chase a mouse in the barn when you have 3 or 4 baby birds in a nest and helpless?
My mother grew up on a farm in the low country. Her philosophy about snakes was for 92 years that “the only good snake is a dead snake.” I’ve had to hose snakes out of high birds’ nests. I procrastinated at one barn and the black snake ate the baby wrens but ignored the nest of mice. Black snake was dispatched. And so were mice. Too late for the wrens.
Mother taught me to use a hoe. She was always saving birds and squirrels and disposing of snakes. A hoe works best for snakes.
I will say, it takes some large mental gymnastics to come up with reasons to not be proactive to natural dangers our species has learned to manage in this truly, at any level, dog eat dog world.
Most anyone today understands that we are all in this together, each one of us alive in this world has it’s niches.
What some forget, the human animal also has its place and uses and protects it’s resources, just as any other alive does.
Won’t go into what is proper use and protection of resources, common sense should help dictate what those are.
No, we don’t need to go hunt rattlers down and eliminate all we can find, any place we find them, you are right there.
BUT, do you let lice living in your hair, fleas on your dogs and cats, ticks and flies on your horses, termites in your walls, cockroaches in your kitchen, mice raise their young in the shelves in your pantry and your horse’s grain … so as not to disturb them in their ecological niches?
Thinking that thru is where common sense comes in when it comes to rattlers and their place when we find them in where we and our animals live and may be bitten by them.
Rattlers and other snakes that are seriously poisonous to us and those we care for, common sense would tell us, don’t belong “left alone because they eat mice” when that is putting us and ours in danger by their nature.
Rattlers are the kind of snake that doesn’t really travel that much.
When you find them somewhere, if they go hide, if you disturb them or not, if you come back later, they will be back right there again.
Rattlers are not territorial or aggressive as other animals may be.
They stay where they find food and move on when the food sources become scarce, is their nature.
We have had rattlers and bull snakes living in the same old warrens other animals dug.
They rarely fight each other, but all snakes will eat anything smaller than they are, including other snakes.
If that happens to be where we humans and our animal live, rattlers become a real, direct danger to us.
THAT is why it is not smart to hope we run rattlers off and that will be good enough, because they will come back and others will come by as they move around.
THAT is why is best to kill those that come around where we live.
As for catching them and moving them somewhere else, that alone is controversial also, only done where a species is to be protected, which our regular rattlers are definitely not.
Most rattlers are thriving just fine, as long as they stay where they are not harming humans or those they care for so we don’t have to play Russian roulette with them any more than absolutely necessary.
By the way, we live in a nature preserve started in 1957.
Our land was deemed an important part of where native species thrive and raise their young, in a time where commercial hunting became a larger industry and a preserve where nothing was hunted was considered important.
We don’t wantonly go killing anything, never have, but we also live here and, in the comparatively very small area humans and our animals are confined to, we are proactive to keep our space safe of any that may harm us or our resources, as common sense dictates.
Not living with rattlers underfoot falls under common sense in our book.
If there was a real need or way to remove them and re-home them, we would find a sensible way.
There is not.
Why take those chances we get bitten in the process, stress the snake and all where we may release it, in a world full of more such snakes?
Again, common sense would tell us if that is necessary, or if killing those few that want to make themselves at home in our space makes more sense.
For most, most any place, it really does.
Want to go saving this or that?
There is plenty out there in need, use resources where common sense determines.
Recommending removing and rehoming rattlers doesn’t really make much sense.
Clipped by me. IMO, pests in the house is a very different situation than pests in an outdoor area. I see a very big difference in objecting to bugs living on your pets and in your hair vs objecting to native wildlife outdoors. Try as we might, attempting to sanitize outdoor environments is futile at best. Even if you kill what you can see, it is safe to assume that there are many of the same that you don’t see- which is why it may be a safer option to live cautiously in rattlesnake country (teach your kids to ID and avoid snakes, do some snake aversion training with your dogs, do your best to remove snake buffets, etc) than feel a false sense of security for having killed a few.
As far as relocation goes, of course it depends on where you live. The OP mentioned they are near vast undeveloped land. Given that most snakes have a very small range (a mile or two at most, with many having a much smaller range) relocation can be very effective, when done safely. Personally, I wouldn’t attempt it, for the same reason I won’t attempt to kill one- I don’t want to get within striking distance. I prefer the hose method, from a distance! Most venemous snake bites occur during attempted dispatchings.
I also want to be clear that I never criticized the OP, or anyone else. I simply wanted to offer another perspective, as well as some tips that folks may not know. I don’t fault anyone for doing what they feel is necessary to protect their family and their pets. I have encountered three different types of venemous snakes on the farm at home, and I have a dog, barn cats, horses, and young cousins who visit. I understand the need for caution and safety. As more and more land gets developed, more native species (harmless and dangerous alike) get pushed into spaces where they must cohabitate with humans. Most, given the choice, would avoid human interaction. I think it is always prudent to consider all options for dealing with our inevitable encounters, especially when it concerns conservation of native species.
Copperheads are found in my area and I would not hesitate to dispatch one on my small place.
A few years ago a friend walked out of her barn one summer evening after tossing night hay and stepped on a Copperhead which promptly (understandably) bit her. Snake was dispatched and she spent 4 or 5 days in the hospital receiving many anti-venom treatments.
Venomous snakes get dispatched with a shotgun. A couple of years ago I shot a 6’ rattler in my dry lot. Scary. No way I would try to kill one with a hoe or shovel. All other snakes get a free pass.
Where I live, they got snake-charmin’ ranchers who come from places with fancy names like Herpetological Socioety that will come and fetch a rattlesnake and take it far away. So if ya got that option, it’s real nice for a snake to not get dispatched.
Where I come from now, we got snake-charmin’ ranchers from places with fancy names like Herpetological Society that will come and fetch a rattlesnake and take it far away to a better place for a snake to do snake things. It seems to work out real well for the snake to not be dispatched.
We have prairie rattlers around here… my FIL dispatches of them… we’ve had 3+ dogs bitten by them. No fun trying to find emergency vet help at 10 pm at night. We had one vet tell us “well I just got home and I’m not leaving”
FIL is out mowing everyday, he lets the bull snakes hang around.
