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Snake FAQ Part 2
Snake FAQ Part 2 continues on with various ways and ideas about how to reduce the risk of garden snakes over the summer months.Even though they are in most countries and continents many of the same problems and solutions are valid. I hope you find these garden snake information ideas useful.
PLEASE MAKE SURE to
check here for more ideas on how to protect your garden.
as some of the ideas there may also be helpful.
Beware of falling fruit.During late summer and early autumn we get a lot of fruit falling onto the ground from fruit trees which are very close to our house. At night small animals come and eat into them, not sure what they are, could be possums but could just as easily be rats or mice (remember, we do live in a rural area here - not the city). Whatever is out there out night has a good chance of turning into garden snake food. Just these last few days the fruit has started to fall and I forgot to clear them away quickly. Sure enough, today our
Boxer Dog found another Tiger snake
right up near the side of the house near the lounge window. I HIGHLY encourage you to clean up any fallen fruit each day, don't wait until vermon have a chance to arrive and start to make a home near yours. The snakes sense of smell is very goog, they are coming for the mice that are eating your fruit. You can avoid problems by keeping your house and garden pest free.
Rabbits live under rubbish like this - snakes go their to eat the young.When you clear up the garden make sure you leave old branches well away from the house. Common garden snake food includes rabbits, rats, frogs and mice which all love to nest in rubbish like this.
This area was full of rubbish when we bought this house, getting it all taken away was one of the first jobs we did. Sure enough, there was a rabbit living in there at breeding time.
Snakes in trees over winterAs cold bloodied animals the common garden snake needs to find a warm spot over winter. It seems they can nestle into holes in tree trunks if they can get in deep. The trunk of the tree offers thermal heat and they stay there until the hot weather arrives.
At the moment our boxerdog is way too keen on the trunk of this wattle tree, she goes over to it, places her nose right onto the trunk where there is a hole and breathes really deeply then looks back to us. We have blocked off the area where the tree is now and she can’t get there anymore. Not sure if there is one hibernating in there but don’t want to take any chances. There is something in there for sure as she is agitated when near it which is not normal for her.Just to keep you updated on this. Turned out there were field mice living in the lower part of the trunk. I have no problem with field mice normally BUT they were living within a few feet of the house so they HAD to go. No mice = no snakes.
Snakes can hibernate and breed around the bottom of electric light poles.Just learned this one from the man who came to check our wooden electric light pole for any termite damage. He had to dig down right beside the pole about 18 inches and test the wood. In doing that he said they often cut into snakes hibernating up against the wooden pole underground as the wood offers thermal warmth. He mentioned to me they often use that location as a breeding nursery.
Snakes love a good woodshed
This is well known but still worth mentioning. They love to hang out in woodsheds and wood piles as they are often the areas where mice, rats and rabbits live and raise young – great food for the snake. It is always advisable to have your woodshed away from the house and make sure that any loose wood lying around the garden is placed well away during summer.
Snakes don’t often go into open areas, they mainly hug the edges.In all of our experiences we have never seen one out in the open grass, they have always been travelling along the edge of rockeries, fencing, walls etc. Of course, they do go into the open areas if they have to travel across them at some stage, but we have always seen ours hugging the sides of some fixture. Makes them harder to see initially but you can follow their progress this way if you need to.
Snakes can hide under rain tanks that are placed on corrugated iron.Another new one for us, we actually had a small snake hiding under the 5000 gallon rain tank by sliding into the corrugated iron wave the tank rests on. Our neighbour knew of this habit and has placed small stones at the base of his tank, ours had nothing at all and was the perfect hiding place.
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