Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First of all, I do not own any snakes, and never have, so I know nothing what so ever about them. I am, however, one of the few grown women I know who isn't afraid of them, I actually like them, I enjoy holding them, and if it weren't for the whole feeding ritual, I probably would own one.

I have had a rather radical idea of how to solve a problem we're facing, but before I act on it, I want to make sure there will be no problems I am ignorant of.

We live in a wooded area on 1.5 acres, with a partially wooded garden club right behind us, and a horse farm with 10-15 horses next to us, and 5 ares of what could only be described as "woods" across the street (which happens to be a tiny, single lane, dirt road). There are plenty of snakes around, I've seen them. But they are doind me no good right now with my problem.

The problem is, we have just recently had a family of rats set up housekeeping within our walls (in the attic, in the garage, between the first & second floor, etc.). I've seen in other, much more accomodating homes, how futile an extermintor can be against rats, so I'm not real keen on the idea of dishing out that money for almost no results. So, I'm wondering how insame it would be for me to get a rat snake, and set it loose in the attic. My hope would be that it would clear out the other inhabitants, and would then leave (there is access to the outside) and set up residence on the property or nearby(I figure where there are horsebarns, there are rats). I have no idea what the fallout of this might be to us or to the snake, so I don't dare act on this idea unless someone more knowledgable than I says "what a great idea!" If this is totally ridiculous or horrendously insensitive to the poor snake, please forgive me, I plead ignorance. Thanks.
Faith

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I wouldn't be suprised if you don't already have snakes in your attic. But snakes aren't going to kill all the rats, and they might not even be the right kind of snakes.
(By the way, you know a captive snake can eat prekilled mice, right? You just buy em frozen, thaw em, and drop em in. And you only have to do it once a week . Nice and simple compared to the who-knows-what my dog eats in her food. Snakes are fun pets.)

Excellent point about the dogfood, LOL. All I know is stories I've heard from others (including my children) about watching snakes being fed, and it was always live animals, and I think they said something about the snake headbutting the animal or something like that. I figured I can go to the pet store when I want to hold a snake, and if I ever felt an urge for gratuitous gore, there's always Hollywood To be honest, I think the clincher for me was seeing someone's snake cage, with old skin in it and everything, it was stinky and gross. I like the snakes themselves, their so silky, and many of them are so pretty, and I just find them strangely fascinating, but their baggage is a big deterent. Also, I really think that pet owners in general should have some degree of passion for their animal, so when the novelty wears off, caring for the pet doesn't become a chore. I don't think that's where I am regarding snakes. On the upside, I do have two boys, who have a mother who isn't repulsed by snakes, so the odds of having a pet snake eventually (that I don't have to care for) are better than most.

Regarding the rats, the other response I got simply said it was not a good idea with no explaination. While this does not surprise me, I kinda want to know why. My first thought was that the temperatures in the attic may pose threat, but then if the rats can handle it with fur coats and an internal heating system, maybe a snake would like it. I also thought that maybe the snake would run out of rats and not find it's way out before it starved to death, but I think they can go a really long time without eating, right? Or maybe there would be hazards in there that would pose a threat to the snake, like fibreglass insulation, or nails sticking out of the wood, etc., but snakes are supposed to be fairly intelligent, so it would probably avoid things it wasn't comfortable with, right? Oh, and I also considered the whole re-release of a domesticated animal problem, but if it's a snake which has been fed live animals, isnt part of that about preserving the natural instinct to hunt, conquer and kill? But you pose something that hadn't occurred to me (which is exactly what I expected) so let me ask you, why wouldn't a snake kill them all? We're not overrun, there were no rats a week ago, and this is one reason I've asked these questions now, I'd like to get it taken care of quick before they get settled. Are you saying one snake couldn't eat them all, or a snake would intentionally preserve a few for future use, or what? I mean, it's unlikely, but we could actually be talking about only one rat. They (it?) came in through the garage, after the dogfood, ironically. Chewed a hole in the bin, and were helping themselves, and I've heard scurrying twice in the house, but that's it. I've moved the dogfood to a fresh bin, and moved it into the pool bath. I tried a couple of traps right away(snap type and glue type), but they did nothing (I was shocked!). I bought some bait, but I'd really rather not use it if possible, since the two places I've had evidence of rat activity are at oposite ends of the house and almost two stories apart, so they have full mobility throughout the structure, and I don't want the whole house to smell of dead animal.

I have never seen any sign of snakes in the attic, it would be so nice if one would just happen to go in there on it's own and take care of this for me, but I'm not going to hold my breath. It's seems to me that snakes, particularly rat snakes, are God's exterminators, and He always does a better job than man. Don't worry, I'm not going to put a snake in there unless you guys say it's ok, but the alternatives really are pretty sad. I may as well just leave dollar bills out and hope the rat(s) will chew on them and hope that maybe the ink will change their genetic structure, or the fibers will clog their system, or something.

First of all... in case you or your kids are ever truly thinking about getting a snake as a pet...don't worry about the cage being all "stinky and gross"...it should never be allowed to get that way, and won't if you are properly caring for it.
About the ratsnake it the attic idea...well...I would say that the only way you should even consider it as a possibibity is if it is a wild-caught snake from the area right around your house.
And it would have to be a pretty good sized one. Where, exactly, do you live? Are there wild ratsnakes in the area?
I'm not saying, "Go for it!"... but I am saying, don't buy a captive snake and release it into your attic. You would want a snake that is already practiced at hunting down and capturing rodents (most captive snakes are, in fact, eating pre-killed these days). And it would be important that once the snake escaped from your home (which it would, once the food was gone)
it should be able to care for itself in the wild (again, wild-caught).
It's a questionable idea at best, but please don't use a captive raised snake on this one. Again, you would have to find a pretty big (5 foot minimum) ratsnake, assuming that you have rats and not just noisy mice. You might check the field-collecting forums, and see if any local herpers think it's a worthy enough idea to come and help you see if there's any big ratnakes in your area. Good luck. Let us know what you decide to do. Duffy

Thanks for the advice. I haven't actually seen any rat snakes around here, or anything else that big, but I have seen a few 2-3 foot snakes, mostly just little green snakes, in the yard. In all, I'd say there is about 30-40 acres right around my house that is wooded, but there are 6 or 7 houses interspersed among that, and my personal property is only 1.5 acres. It's not wooded exatly, but it's sort of park-like, with lots of big trees with shrubs and plantbeds around them. Behind us is horse property with about 10-15 horses, and across the street there's one more horse. I'm thinking those two places are the most likely places to find ratsnakes, because that's where the rats would be, but like the subjectline says, I claim no real knowledge in this area.

I think maybe I will call a herper or two in the area, and see what they say. Is it likely to be listed under "Herpers" or "Snakehandler" or what? Never mind. I'll figure it out. I'm still not set on this. I DO want to make sure I'm not traumatizing a snake by doing this, so I am committed to following the advise of those of you who know. I think I will print out this entire thread so that I don't forget any of the negatives that need to be considered. I know Ken said at the beginning that this whole thing was not a good idea, but he seemed a little too dismissive (No offense, Ken, if you read this) and I really kinda needed discussion, so I could understand the reasons why and why not. You can't come to an informed conclusion without understanding on both sides. I think I got some good information here. Going by what you all said, it looks like, realistically, this probably won't happen, but it's worth a couple phone calls still. Thanks!

Faith,
No offense taken. To be honest I felt your post could be 'trolling' and I didn't want to expend the energy to 'feed the troll.' Perhaps I've become jaded over the years? Good luck with your rodent problem, I stand by my advice to trap or kill them via mechanical devices/poisons.

kk

Don't know about rats, but a rat snake will clear out all the mice in your house. We had a 6 foot black rat get into our house a few years ago and never had mice since.

However, you probably shouldn't go out and buy or capture a ratsnake and then release it in your house. First of all, where do you live? You might not be in ratsnake range, in which case you'd be introducing a species. Second, if you buy a ratsnake and release it, there is always the chance of introducing a non-native disease to the native snake population. Such an introduction has a good chance of severely damaging the native population. Third, the snake you release in your house will most likely NOT stay there more than a few days or weeks. He'll find some way out. On the other hand, if you live in ratsnake range and one just happens to find your house and get in, it will probably stay there for a good while and will get rid of your rodents. In short, please consider the welfare of the snakes as well as your quality of life.

If you're concerned about the rats and live outside ratsnake territory (west of TX basically for obsoleta), I'd recommend getting traps or a human exterminator. If you live in ratsnake territory, you could either wait (but it may take a while!) and see what happens or go ahead and do the trapping/extermination thing.

Van

I live in northeast Florida. I've seen enough animal documentaries to know that I am definitely in Ratsnake territory. Even saw on specifically on Florida snakes some years back which talked about the Rat snake, both red & yellow, and described them as one of the very best choices for pets. They were beautiful, too. And because of the kind of area I live in, with horses nearby, and everything, I thought it would be a great place for a rat snake(or a few). If there aren't any already in our little wood, there definitely should be! But I understand what you're saying. What's the liklihood of being able to ATTRACT one that already lives in the area into the space in question? Or maybe even trap a wild one and set it loose in there (Well, maybe not me personally, but someone who knows something about them)? I don't think I'd need it to stay long. There aren't very many rats yet. Oh, and incidentally, in case it matters, I don't have any very small children, and the dog is contained, outside. He NEVER comes in, and doesn't have free run of the entire property, either, he has his own space.

I'll add a couple points to consider. Snakes don't have a whole lot of necessities in life, but they need more than food if they're gonna want to stick around somewhere.

One other need is shelter. No problem here, as there usually are plenty of hidey places in an attic.

Another is water. Usually not much of that in an attic.

Another is a suitable environment in terms of temperature/humidity. An attic in Florida may get too hot, too dry, and thus too hostile for a snake to want to hang around.

Yet another, at least at certain times of the year, is, umm, companionship. One snake, by him/herself, won't stay happy forever.

Bottom line is that your idea may be plausible, but probably not recommended as it will be too stressful on the snake. That will mean that the snak probably won't stack around, even if there's a plentiful food supply. Simply too many other negatives.

I'll also point out your statement that there aren't very many rats yet. The key word here is YET. In the absence of predators, natural or otherwise, you could be overrun quickly.
I'd recommend bringing in a professional exterminator asap - before it's too late!

Hope this helps some,
MichaelB

I thought about the water issue, but rats won't go where there's no water, either. I don't know where their water source is, but there must be one. The heat was one of my first concerns, and one of the main things that prompted me to ask the original question. The attic in question does lead directly to a closet in the garage (which was the point of entry) which houses the fireplace chimney(which has been very cool for some time now), hot water heater, drain for washer(pvc pipe which goes outside), vent for dryer(also vented to the outside), etc, and from there is a door with what I believe is substantial space beneath it for a snake to pass through. I base this on the fact that it has proven to be enough space for a rat to pass through. If the temperature is indeed, too great, I don't think it would take long at all for a snake to find it's way to this much cooler environment. Also, at the other end, there is an attic access door which looks rather like a small closet door, in our master bedroom, located right next to an A/C vent, which, while not the best thing in the world for our electric bill, does provide a tolerable temperature in that part of the attic.

The only thing I can say regarding the companionship issue is that my main goal in bringing up this whole project at this time is to get the rodents dealt with before they have a chance to multiply, and if I can do that, I won't need a snake to hang out long enough to cramp its style for too long. I'm hoping its just one or two rats at this point, since the problem is so new, and a day or two of the snake's time will take care of it. I also think that if I were lucky enough for the snake to shed just one time in there, it would be a very strong deterent for any other rodents that might come along later. I will, however, cover the concerns you brought up if I speak to a local herper. Thanks.