HUTCHINSON NEWS (Kansas) 31 October 10 Icky critters do us a favour (Kevin Hardy)
Last week's column began with discussion about the legalities of keeping alligators as pets. Weird? Yes. So we'll change things up this week by starting with snakes, one of man's most detested reptiles.
Q. I just recently moved, and in my garage I had some carpet remnants. Sometimes I left my garage open and a couple of 30-inch black snakes with red lines down the center of their backs got in the carpets.
When I moved, we moved them to the storage shed. I assume that it was a garter snake, but how do you get rid of it? Is it against the law to kill it? How long can it go without water? Will rat poison kill it?
Before you do away with the slithering creatures, consider what role they play in keeping other pests at bay. Al Wells, owner of Advance Termite and Pest Control, said snakes control the mice and insect populations by feeding. He tells me most snakes in this area, like garter snakes, are harmless.
Wells said exterminators often remove snakes to rural areas rather than killing them.
I doubt this is an option for the most squeamish of readers, but Wells recommends removing harmless snakes yourself. If you're not brave enough to use your hands or even gloves to retrieve the serpent, he said a long-handled tool usually works. Glue traps also have been effective at catching snakes, he said.
Wells wasn't sure whether rat poison would kill a snake, but he was pretty sure a snake wouldn't eat it. Snakes don't feed on grain-based foods like rat and mice poison. They prefer food with a pulse. And it's probably not possible to drown a snake to death. Snakes don't drink water, but get most of their H2O from the creatures they eat. So you could try starving it, but that seems a little complicated.
While it isn't illegal to kill a serpent - after all, it's a pest in your home - it just seems easier to remove it or have someone tote it off for you.
Icky critters do us a favour