BLACK SNAKES

Yesterday we saw our first black snake this year! We probably wouldn’t have seen it if we didn’t need to run to the store. I love black snakes – don’t know why ( my favorite animal is the wolf). In Chinese astrology I was born in the year of the snake. Maybe that’s why.

This black snake eventually went into the woodpile.

For the most part, they just want to be left alone. One of the best things about black snakes is they eat mice. So, we don’t really have a mouse problem around here. (My cat eats them too, but that’s another story!)

They also eat baby birds and eggs. It upset me when I heard the momma bird squawking, but there was nothing I could do! Survival of the fittest, right!? I did take pictures, so it didn’t upset me too much.

This is a small one, probably only about 18 inches long. It wasn’t too hard to get out of the house…it slithered into the vent cover, which I had closed. I threw it and the snake outside.

One night, late last summer, my son woke my boyfriend and I up saying there was a snake in the house! I thought he was joking…he wasn’t. It was right outside my bedroom! Another baby, about a foot long! My boyfriend grabbed a clamp and threw it outside. Later, we found some skin hanging from the basement storm door. He probably fell off, landing on the inside, and slithered into the house when the door was opened.

We had a couple of black snakes living under the front stoop! I concreted up the holes, making sure they weren’t under the stoop when I completely sealed it. I did NOT want dead snakes under there! I did one side, made sure they weren’t under the concrete then sealed the other side!

Took me a couple of days, but there are no more snakes under the stoop or sidewalk. There were a couple other places I concreted up, one in the mint garden and another along the driveway.

My dad and I had been working on rebuilding the mower shed. I couldn’t do much because I had just had major surgery, but I helped a little when I could. I decided to take a break and went to sut down in the door of the camper. I heard a little commotion behind me. I stood up (I hadn’t sat down completely) , looked, and there was a snake slithering away from me. A couple seconds later here comes a mouse with her babies still hanging out! (She was giving birth when the snake disturbed her!)

Some facts about black snakes:

Non venomous, constrictor

Can grow up to 8 feet long, usually around 4

Have been known to nest with copperheads

Lay up to 30 eggs, babies are 12 inches long, incubation period is 60 days, adults mate in spring

Lay their eggs in rotten logs, manure, , wood piles, manmade structuresh

Hunt during the day in spring and fall, at night during the summer

Will rattle their tail to make predator think it’s poisonous. Also produce a musk and will bite (story about that in another post)