Guess what I found in the Havahart trap....

Oh MY!

I've been trying to get rid of the mysterious critter(s) munching on my garden by setting out a Havahart trap. I looked out the window this morning and noticed the Havahart trap had been sprung. I figured it was another toad or a mouse that easily got out of the thing.

So, I went to fix coffee and outside to see what the trap had caught. It wasn't a toad. Rattlesnake. ACK!

I moved the trap (with the somewhat angry and scared snake) to a shady spot for permanent relocation later today.

(I'm pretty much a lurker 'round these parts but I thought I'd share.)

~~BB

Reply to
BB
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Maybe there was a small rodent in there that did easily get out, but not before attracting the attention of the snake?

Statistically speaking, the biggest risk of getting bitten is by handling it, so keep that in mind in any case. Unlike some other venomous snakes, rattlers will at least do you the courtesy of warning you when you've gotten too close. Releasing it right where you trapped it might not be all that bad an idea after all. Once the varmints disappear, so will the snakes.

Reply to
Nelly

You have to be prepared to catch anything. Last thing I caught was a skunk and fortunately I could open the trap without getting close to it. Wish I had video taped it because mother skunk had four babies jumping around the trap and on top of it. I did collect pictures of a raccoon a few years ago:

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sure my trap would keep a snake from escaping.

No rattlers around here but I've caught a couple of big black snakes in deer netting around plants. Snakes just roaming around get into things.

Reply to
Frank

Snakes are a good thing to have in your garden, they prey on the critters that eat your crops.

Reply to
brooklyn1

Better you than me, sport!

Susan

Reply to
Susan

Well, you didn't catch the munch monster, but you did get the predator...

C
Reply to
Cheryl Isaak

Not necessarily so. Canebreak/timber rattlers around here will not rattle even when you're trying to do them serious harm. Other species will, but not these. I had a 3+ footer with 13 rattles on it's tail coiled well within striking range of my leg when I was cleaning some paint brushes. Never did rattle. I killed another one half that size by throwing brick pieces at it. Never did rattle. I let all non- poisonous snakes have the run of the place, but the poisonous ones are promptly dispatched. My health/life is more important than their theirs.

Reply to
Red

Not necessarily so. Canebreak/timber rattlers around here will not rattle even when you're trying to do them serious harm. Other species will, but not these. I had a 3+ footer with 13 rattles on it's tail coiled well within striking range of my leg when I was cleaning some paint brushes. Never did rattle. I killed another one half that size by throwing brick pieces at it. Never did rattle. I let all non- poisonous snakes have the run of the place, but the poisonous ones are promptly dispatched. My health/life is more important than their theirs.

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Most would rather avoid you if they see you, even sometimes after you're already too close - it's when they can't escape that causes trouble. I do know of someone who stepped directly over a timber rattler without incident. I've always read they are fairly mellow snakes, and what you say seems to reinforce that notion. Did any of them strike at you?

My place has a few kinds of snakes, among them copperheads. Now those are not nearly so polite. They also flee if they see you coming, but once close enough their only response is to let you have it. We used to kill them a long time ago, but stopped when the mice started coming back. They've been mostly replaced by blacksnakes now, but still when traipsing through the understory shrubs I'll wear boots.

Reply to
Nelly

brooklyn1 wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Indeed they are and indeed they do. But, since I'm not exactly close to *any* kind of medical facility, I'd rather have something that can't kill me eatin' the critters. :)

~~BB

Reply to
BB

Cheryl Isaak wrote in news:C87AD6CA.A78E5% snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net:

What's funny about that is, after I relocated the rattler somewhere else I saw a squirrel poking around where the trap (and snake) had been set up.... grrrr.....

~~BB

Reply to
BB

Snakes are typically nocturnal hunters, and they don't confront... if you make noise upon approaching they will leave. Of course I understand that a lot of people are frightened of snakes.

Reply to
brooklyn1

Dan L. wrote: ...

only one, but rare for most people. hereabouts they are common enough that it is a good idea to be wary:

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pheasants and mourning doves get me often...

i got bit by a rather mean bug the other day. it was on the corn we bought from a stand. green, had a sharp beak and it bit me right away when i picked it up to move it outside... it was like having a hot needle stuck right in my finger. worse than any hornet or bee bite. some kind of borer or weevil with a long beak. i haven't found it yet looking online, but eventually i'll come across it.

so i stuck it in a jar of alchohol just in case i needed to call the bug bite help line and have them come amputate my finger. :^)

songbird

Reply to
songbird

Do you truly believe that the snake or two you catch in your trap are the only snakes on the planet... all you're doing with your trapping is rationalizing a false sense of security. An intelligent person would be cautious all the time instead of using traps... I suppose in your case you will live the rest of your life obssessing about snakes and for no good reason whatsoever.

Reply to
brooklyn1

Whoa! I think we need to back up here a little. Have you followed this thread from when I started it? I'm *not* trying to trap snakes. I'm trying to trap a squirrel (or other critter) that is munching on my garden plants. I *ACCIDENTLY* caught a rattlesnake and I posted about my surprise about it.

I am *not* obsessing about snakes whatsoever. Snakes are fine; I

*welcome* them (the non-poisonous ones) in my garden. And, I'm perfectly fine just avoiding a rattlesnake myself, too; it's the curiosity of the dogs that is the real problem. (Do I need to go into the cautiousness of the dogs when coming upon a rattlesnake or can we let that be a given?)

~~BB

Reply to
BB

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