How do I re-establish a snake population in my Carolina Piedmont yard?

[struggle4progress]

I've got about 3/4 of an acre, not much tended, which is urban-suburban wooded with corridors to parkland a few miles away, and I'll get a fair amount of wildlife. I've seen red fox, deer, lots of birds including hawk, bats, plenty of small mammals (voles, mice, chipmunks) and so on on the property

I've also got tall trees, and in tick season, I'll get ticks dropping

So here's the thing: some of the tick-borne disease reservoirs use both mice and deer, so if I've got deer, mouse, and tick on the property, I may be contributing something of a public health nuisance

So I want snake on the property to control the small mammal population a bit

About a decade ago, I had a beautiful 10 foot black snake that liked to sun in the backyard. I tried to maintain some undisturbed areas it could traverse. But when I had my roof redone, the idiot roofers encountered it and (morons that they were) proudly chopped it to bits

[LynneSin]

1. Instead of killing the small mammels, why not go after the ticks. Get a few Guineafowl

http://www.lymediseasepa.com/GuineaHens.htm

[TZ]

2. Those won't last unless he fences them REALLY well

My sister's neighbors had them and they were ALWAYS escaping and sad to say, getting run over...

[LynneSin]

3. Well you have to provide a roost for them, my stepfather has only lost 2 over the last 5 years

I mean, they are in the neighbors backyard also picking ticks but the neighbors don't complain.

[struggle4progress]

4. It's not a fenced yard, there are neighborhood dogs and cats about (as well as the

occasional fox), and the ticks quite frankly are likely to be several tens of feet up in the trees

[UTUSN]

5. (Looking up "Carolina Piedmont" as we speak, so as *never* to go near there.) n/t

[Flaxbee]

6. call project orianne

It's a conservation group focused on the eastern Indigo snake, one of North America's largest snakes (they also eat small rattlesnakes ....)

http://projectorianne.org/

They can probably help you find some good information about snakes and re-introduction.


Also, contact (via email) the North Carolina Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation.

http://www.ncparc.org/


Good luck! Snakes are very widely misunderstood, and an extremely important part of a healthy ecosystem.

[struggle4progress]

12. Thanks!

:bounce:

[realisticphish]

7. I love snakes

non-venomous snakes are relatively easy to purchase (at least in Ohio) if you find a reptile show or online breeder. However, I don't know anything about reintroduction; I would check with resources like those mentioned above.

One warning: in some states, like Ohio, ban anyone from introducing animals to the wild; even native, wild-caught ones, if they are kept for over two weeks. I would check the laws before rushing to the nearest reptile store.

[LynneSin]

9. And the neighbors may not appreciated it

because the snakes will move around

[supernova]

8. put a pile of wood out there

that you have no intention of disturbing. They love wood piles.

[Heidi]

10. Invite some College Republicans over for a campout. (nt)

[Lance_Boyle]

11. Rodents are not contributing so much to the tick problem. Deer are.

Black racers will help with the rodents, but for the ticks (especially the little "seed ticks") you need guinea hens.

[struggle4progress]

13. Section 3: Life Cycle of Ixodes Scapularis

... The adult Ixodes tick lays eggs in the spring. The larvae develop in a month and by summer are ready to feed on mice, birds, rabbits and deer (many believe only the white tailed mouse and perhaps other rodents are intermediate hosts and that deer and other putative hosts merely provide temporary lodging and source of feeding). It is during this time that larva feeding on Bb infected mice acquire the Bb spirochete. In fall and winter the larva become dormant. As spring arrives the larva molt into a nymph form, which feed on deer, mice, rabbits and humans. It is during this spring and summer season (primarily May through September) that the infected nymph form of the tick transmits the spirochete to humans, as well as continuing the future spread of the spirochete by transmitting it to the white tailed mouse ...
http://www.nclyme.org/history3.html

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that mouse control may contribute to lyme disease control

[Zorra]

14. Host a GOP Senate forum.

[Deep13]

15. Have Samuel L. Jackson land his plane there. nt

[av8rdave]

16. Vote Republican?