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Snakes

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3 M L & C

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We live with pasture all around our house. There are quite a few rattle snakes around. I have always seen them on the road and killed a few. But recently our kids my wife and I were working on our garage. We were doing some dirt work inside to run concrete. Our two year old was playing on a pile of dirt we were using to make the grade. Our six year old was running wild in the yard and came in the shed to see what was going on. He yelled snake and darted back out. I turned around to see about a 3 foot "prarie rattler" headed for our little girl. Luckily my wife was able to grab her and get out of there. The snake wasn't mad until it figured out what I was doing with the shovel. I know rattle snakes are going to be part of living where we do, and I never thought much about it until I had kids and one came close. My wife thinks we should get a good outside dog to keep watch on the kids. We also have a 6 month old and might have more kids so this is going to worrie her for a while. I know every dog is different, but are there any breeds good at this? Any input would be appretiated.
 
You can get sulphur granules sprinkle them around your yard, or get you some guineas they'll keep the snakes away and also work as your watch dog.
 
You could do like I did and get and release king snakes around your place. I used to have rattlers every summer until I released a few king snakes around here. I made sure they felt welcome and wanted. How you ask, well every time I saw one after releasing them I would pick it up, pet it and feed it a rat. Pretty soon no rattlers and now I have baby king roaming the property. It is a win win situation.
 
Never heard of the cat thing. Thats good because my wife likes taking in the neighbors strays. We have a clean yard no machinery or any junk around. Have a bunch of cats that my wife locks up at night so the coyotes and bobcats don't get them. They catch a lot of stuff durring the day. Have seen them with baby bull snakes and garder snakes. I just thought they were bored from being locked up at night when they like to roam.
 
Think you could get your hands on a honey badger? :lol:

Sorry about not having a serious answer for you, but your post made me think of the honey badger video. If you haven't seen it, just do a YouTube search and kick the kids out of the room. :eek:
 
I would just move! :shock: Rattlesnakes are evil and need to be destroyed from the planet. But they are protected here so "I have never killed one". I have found many dead snakes that appeared to have been shotgunned, .22 pistol bullet in the head, shovel chopped and rock chucked. Wierd! :D We have barn cats and have never had a snake around even though they dwell all over this area. Hope you stay safe and "don't" kill as many as you can find.
 
No snakes, no gators, no insects so large you need a .22 to kill them. No weeds liks corn, beans or wheat to worry about.

And some say I'm crazy to live here. :D
 
Cats don't do anything to keep snakes away. We have four cats that live outside and we have had snakes, bull and rattle, in our yard all summer long. We have a border collie and a rat terrier. Both of them absolutely hate snakes. The rat barks like crazy and circles them until someone comes and deals with it. The border collie tears into them and kills them. As a result he regularly gets bitten and all swollen up, even after giving him the rattle snake vaccine. He nearly died last week because he laid down in the sun when he was swollen up and got heat stroke. The border collie is old and decrepit but he still will take on any snake.
 
gcreekrch said:
No snakes, no gators, no insects so large you need a .22 to kill them. No weeds liks corn, beans or wheat to worry about.

And some say I'm crazy to live here. :D

Yeah, right!

You only need to wrestle with the odd cougar . . .

But I guess everyone needs a few challenges!
 

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