# Is there an animal, pet, that can help with snakes?



## Frankie (Aug 7, 2010)

I do not have a big fear of snakes, but am seeing more, and they are startling me. Is there a pet, something I can keep outside that will take care of the darn things?

If not, any other ideas? I am pretty sure it has to do with the creek, but can't be positive.

And saw a new one today, 20", dark green, black circles,,,,,what is it?

thanks


----------



## shannonw (Aug 7, 2010)

Not sure what kind of snake that was, but I have heard that guinea fowl are good "watchdogs" for snakes and will even kill them sometimes. I had thought about getting some this year but just never did. One warning though, I have also heard they can be a little noisy.


----------



## cretahillsgal (Aug 7, 2010)

My cats kill the snakes around here!


----------



## Frankie (Aug 7, 2010)

Julie, just regular ole barn cats?


----------



## Marty (Aug 7, 2010)

Yep if you have a creek or pond you have snakes. They terrify me. What you saw was probably a grass snake but be careful for the copperheads.

Get some barn cats. I never see a snake around here.


----------



## Aunt_SunQuest (Aug 8, 2010)

The only animal I know about that will kill snakes are pigs. The bite of rattlesnakes will not kill them but they do kill the snake.

My uncle broought a old hog farm the mountains in California and it was about 50 years before he ever saw a rattlesnake on the 80 acre farm. In the 1960.70's and 80's I used to tramp the hills and play in the creeks and never saw a snake.


----------



## AppyLover2 (Aug 8, 2010)

Pigs was the first thing that came to my mind.


----------



## Bess Kelly (Aug 8, 2010)

I believe ferrets are snake killers also. Believe they are very welcome where they have Cobras --

Pigs will definately kill them but, how many of those do you want around the barn..LOL?


----------



## Matt73 (Aug 8, 2010)

What about a mongoose



?


----------



## Jill (Aug 8, 2010)

Cats can... Especially big ones like Maine Coons!


----------



## Frankie (Aug 8, 2010)

Awwwwww, thanks Marty,,,they didn't make me nervous till you said that!!!!!!!

Jill, can I get a Maine Coon in Tennessee??

I thought about going to the shelter and just getting the biggest one, but they won't adopt out to you if they know the cat will be outside.

When younger all our cats were inside. If I get an outside cat, how do you make them stay?? And should I start with older?

Maybe I'll just get all that was mentioned, and have a true zoo!


----------



## shorthorsemom (Aug 8, 2010)

I did some trap-neuter-release (rabies shots included) on some feral cats that were roaming around our farm. They lurk around our house and barns and fields and I have a small feeding station and shelter provided for them. They are wild, not pets, but they do us a great service for us by keeping the mice out of our house. I have also seen them with baby snakes and all kinds of varmits.	These cats are born wild and have instincts house cats do not care to have. They are healthy and happy and we help each other.


----------



## cretahillsgal (Aug 8, 2010)

My cats are just regular ole barn cats. Not big at all. We have rattlesnakes here and they are awesome at cornering them until I can shoot them with shotgun.

BUT they have also killed 3 rattlesnakes on their own. One of them about 4 foot long. I don't know how they do it, but they do. I think they work as a team (I have 6 cats). Some distract it while the others go in for the kill. They make me feel safer when I go outside cause I know if one is around the cats will let me know.


----------



## Jill (Aug 8, 2010)

Yes, you can get them in TN. We have two Maine Coons. It's "just" a breed of cat


----------



## REO (Aug 8, 2010)

Julie's snake killing cats came from me! We've had this family of cats for 11 years and we've never seen a snake at our place! These cats are awesome!

I gave her some of our kitties



Jules told me of them popping in the air to avoid the snake striking them and them smacking the snake! These cats are worth their weight in gold!


----------



## REO (Aug 8, 2010)

I wanted to tell you about our momma cat Marcy, where the family comes from. She has 3 kittens on the porch. They were in one of those shoe boxes that boots come in, with a attached lid. We've had critters coming to eat the cat food at night. One morning hubby saw that the lid was closed so he opened it and in with the kittens was a dead 'possum! Marcy had killed it and it fell in the box. The other night there were 3 racoons on the porch! I think they were after the kittens because Marcy opened up a can of WHOOP butt on that racoon! She put it in a world of hurt! Hubby shot it.

One thing for sure, don't mess with Marcy or her kitties!





Her 3 kittens are females and I bet they'll be good cats too.


----------



## Boss Mare (Aug 8, 2010)

Remember to keep your wild rodent population down.


----------



## hunterridgefarm (Aug 9, 2010)

HOGS are the best. we are around woods and we have 3 of them and no snakes.


----------



## Marty (Aug 9, 2010)

Carolyn, this is Tennessee where they still drown kittens in the river and dump them all over the roads. Just ask anyone for kittens and you will get yourself a whole litter fast. No one will spend money advertising kittens so call around to the feed store, vets, go check out everything and makes some calls and you'll have kittens before the end of the day coming out your ears.


----------



## vickie gee (Aug 11, 2010)

I have likewise heard that guineas are terrific snake killers. I just don't want the noise from them and since my anatolian shepherds are not used to them they would probably end up dead birds. My neighbor has a cat colony of thirty something feral cats. One of them has taken up residence here. She left me a token of her appreciation recently. She put half of a dead snake out by the lavatory in the barn. I moved it over by her feeding dish. She moved it back to where I had found it. Twice. I finally figured out she was leaving me a love offering! Last year a nice couple came down to pick out a couple of pups and we ended up throwing in a few cats that my neighbor was more than happy to donate. They needed them to take care of a mouse problem in their cellar. Later they wanted to know if we could get them more cats! A couple of weeks ago our male livestock guardian dog was barking like crazy right before I went to bed. He had his head pointed at the ground by the gate entry to the kennel where the female and her puppies are and the bark sounded nothing like when he has found a turtle that amuses him. He was serious. I told my husband that it had to be snake so GET OUT THERE! It was a copperhead and he nearly got away but we got him with a shovel. We have killed a couple of water moccasins this year as well. We saw our female dog kill a snake after she grabbed it and flung it. I won't kill a snake if I know it is non-poisonous.


----------



## h2t99 (Aug 11, 2010)

Carolyn,

If you need a couple of kitties that are great hunters I have 3 kittens from this spring!! They were born early spring so plenty old enough to go and they hunt all the time!!




I will even deliver them!!! lol


----------



## Katiean (Aug 11, 2010)

Guinea hens are supposed to kill mice and snakes. We had some and they were very noisy and didn't make a dent in the mouse population. So we got cats. We have no mice and no snakes. The mice were so bad they would sit and wait for me to feed. We have 5 barn cats and they go to the neighbors to hunt since there is nothing here. Then we got a feral cat that has taken up residency inside our house since the 4th of July. I have petted her twice and tried to pick her up to take her down to spay. Nothing doing. We have a cat in our house we can not catch. But still no mice or snakes or lizards or anything that may crawl around.


----------



## Aristocratic Minis (Aug 11, 2010)

We have some guineas and I really like them. They can be noisy, but they are good alarms if something is wrong. They eat ticks and will alert to snakes and will often kill them.

Some feral cats hang around our hay barn and I believe they are very good about hunting for vermin and snakes.

Luckily these animals seem to have kept snakes away. Knock on wood!!!!!!!!


----------



## Shari (Aug 12, 2010)

Turkey's also are good at getting rid of snakes. My Father's family farm back when in Green Mountain, NC... they used Turkeys to take care of the snakes.

They are also a lot more quiet than Guineas.

So will chickens for that matter, we don't have poisonous snakes here but they do eat the Garder snakes and lizards here.

Is something I worry about when I finally get over to VA though. Sigh


----------



## wildoak (Aug 14, 2010)

Jack Russells lol. We had two, both great snakers although they have both been bitten too (and survived). The funniest was an old cocker spaniel we used to have - he was a very quiet, easy going little dog until he saw a snake, and he would just go nuts over it. He never got bitten but he sure alerted us to a number of snakes. I have 6 barn kitties who do a great job on mice but I've never seen them with a snake.

Jan


----------



## shannonw (Aug 15, 2010)

Good to know about the turkeys being good for taking care of the snakes. We actually acquired three from our friends a month ago. They are not very noisy, just not so pretty to look at!


----------

