Posted on 06/01/2025 5:48:14 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Well, as long as its placid and eats small destructive animals (excluding birds) I suppose that makes it a good animal neighbor.
Haha - you wouldn’t like our place. Since it warmed up / in the last 5 weeks I’ve seen 5 snakes on our property. 6, if you count that I’ve seen the big (for a garter snake) twice. That is NOT counting my daughter’s pet corn snake, which is about 4’ long now.
Neighbor and I were talking rain last night and I said the same thing. May have had more rain some years but never wet for as long as it's been this year. Those April showers might end up being four months long.
My daughter reminded me that “central” Black Rat Snakes are usually darker in the north part of their range, and lighter in the south, with more of a pattern evident in the south. Since we are “mid-South”, a bit lighter would not be unusual.
Do you know which variety of potatoes you planted? Here’s some more Tater Info that Pete sent me:
https://www.civicgardencenter.org/blog/determinate-or-indeterminate-potatoes
I wonder if Qiviut's new "pet" rat snake was resting after a meal and hope that it finds a safe comfortable place outside where it can be useful patrolling for small damaging animals without bothering Q too much!
Interesting. These were baby red potatoes that had begun sprouting in the pantry before I could use them. I didn’t mound them. This was the same kind I grew last year. I hope I’ve left enough room for them. Last year for each potato that was planted, I probably harvested 8 or 9. I always consider these things as an experiment, so we will see what happens. As I recall, I harvested in early September, so maybe 90-100 days later.
I wonder if Qiviut's new "pet" rat snake was resting after a meal and hope that it finds a safe comfortable place outside where it can be useful patrolling for small damaging animals without bothering Q and Mom too much!
I figure it was resting after eating, too. When they’re scared or hungry, they’ll move. This is from my (limited) experience with them.
Good Morning!
Today’s tasks include, but are not limited to:
Mowing the hay field that is my yard
Tucking in the last of the Marigolds and Cosmos in the garden beds
Watering what needs watering in said garden - and beyond
Picking more salad greens and spinach for me and the chickens - some Strawberries, too :)
Dog/Mule/Chicken/Racoon/Barn chores (’Stew’ is self-sufficient on pasture, now)
The ‘Canada Circus Train’ left yesterday about 10am. Two trucks, two trailers, one Side-by-Side, one UTV, 8 men, about a dozen DOGS and everything they ALL need to enjoy a week in Canada hunting Black Bear with the dogs and fishing for world-record Walleye and Northern Pike. Got a call at 9pm last night that they were bunked in at our cabin and in the morning when the others show up (I think 19 total are going?) they’re heading North, around Lake Superior and then further into the wilderness. About another 6 hours north of where they are right now. Beau has been planning this trip for months, down to the smallest detail. I know they’ll have a good time. (They are well north and east of the wildfires.)
Right. Some years we’ve had heavier rains, but more widely spaced in time. 2011 was pretty rough (floods), but, a lot of that rainfall was well upstream too.
I just looked at a couple holes I’d dug several days ago, when the forecast looked a bit more promising (to continue drying out). Said holes are ~10” deep, to transfer tomatoes into. They filled a couple days later, fluctuated a bit, and are still nearly full of water this morning, with rains a few hours to our west and headed our way. NWS says the rain gets here around noon... :-(
All the plants in the ground doing best are the ones I did NOT “plant deep”. (Best of all are those in pots.)
Ah, then you are not so negative toward the slitherers as I took it from your post. :-)
Pretty much all the rat snake family (includes corn snakes and so on) are good climbers and some even spend a lot of time in trees, both to hunt, and to avoid predators themselves.
An interesting factoid is that for a given size, king snakes’ constricting strength is about 2x that of their cousins, the rat snakes, or even snakes such as pythons — an adaptation to kill and eat other constrictors, it is thought. A good size king snake is darn strong!
We need to wait for the rain to stop for much of anything.
I fear it’s going to decimate my tomato crop.
RE: my NOT-a-Pet Rat snake (LOL)
I got a really good look at the snake 3 times - on the ladder (not coiled), riding the rake (draped over a tine) and on the ground (again, not coiled). I saw no evidence of a recent feed ... lumps/bumps, etc. I am fairly certain it was looking for some place high because it was interested in the bird nest I could see .... it likely would have tried climbing the wall at some point. I think it’s an old nest - haven’t seen a mama bird flying in/out, no babies evident.
I have seen Rat snakes around here several times ... edge of front porch, crawling across the back yard, & mom discovered a dead one that accidentally got locked in a plastic bin that it must have crawled into.
“Black eastern rat snakes are non-venomous constrictors that feed mainly on rodents such as mice and rats. They also eat frogs, lizards, birds, and eggs. They have been known to climb trees searching for nests full of eggs. They will even eat other snakes, including venomous species.”
Note: I did not know they ate other snakes, including venomous. We are in Timber Rattler territory, although most are probably in the mountains (we’re half a mile from the base of a range). After 16 years of AT trail work in the mountains, I have encountered numerous Timbers - I don’t see ‘our’ Rat snakes taking on the Timbers I have seen. One Timber was a ‘black phase’ and as thick around as my forearm - huge snake and impressive.
My motto is “live and let live”. If the snake isn’t in a chicken coop (I don’t have one - my SIL did & had snake issues I was called to ‘resolve’) and isn’t venomous, I let them go on their way. If we do end up with a Timber on the place, I would likely dispatch it because of mom. I have warned her not to reach in (leaf/rock piles, under bushes, etc.) with her hands when doing yard work - use a hoe or rake. We also have black widows so bare hands are not a good idea.
Yes, if it was a recent feed, you’d certainly have seen the lumps and bumps. We have black rat snakes around here from time to time. Last summer I saw them in my flower bed just off the front walkway. Usually he or she hangs out near the wood pile on the side of the driveway and underneath the pine trees that line it. Over there he’s fine. I leave him alone. In my front flower bed? You’d better scoot away!!
Our dog from my time as a baby until about 13 was named Ginger. Mom told me I went crawling out of the house once and could have gone off the porch drop off but Ginger picked me up by the diaper and brought me in.
I haven't been able to set foot in the new garden patch for several days. I had planned to mulch and cage my tomato plants but that's not happening until the rain stops and the ground dries out enough to walk on it without sinking to my ankles.
Howard is home from the vet. He's missing a few bits now but none the worse otherwise.
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