Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was watching Animal Planet and on Animal Cops Miami they had a guy I think from the Everglades Outpost on there. He had to catch some cobras that had gotten loose. Now he used a method to catch one that I was wondering what other people thought about using to help catch snakes to study. He drove a rod into the ground then tied a string to it and to the other end of the string he tied bait, in this case a dead baby ball python. Then he covered the bait with a box with a little opening so the snake can get in. The snake found the bait and swallowed it and was stuck there because of the string. So the next day he came and found the snake. Now they didn't show how he removed the string. I dont know if he pulled it out or let it swallow it. I figured either way you would have to use a natural fiber string. I also figure you wouldn't catch things like rattlesnakes since they hunt with heat and the prey would be dead and not warm. But I was wondering what people thought about this as a way of catching like rat snakes or corn snakes and other snakes like that.

I have never heard of that but it dose sound like an idea I would like to try this coming summer. I would be verry interested in hearing others comment on this. I would imagine if you cut the string what little the indevidual would swalow would not have any advers affects but then agan what is to keep the snake from swalowing the string all the way to the pole? I mean your not going to get a box to hold a hungery cobra know what I mean?
My reptile collection and research

pope used the same trick in China in the 1930

As a boy (45 years ago) I read an account by Raymond Ditmars where he used this technique on northern water snakes.
He tied a small fish to a shoreline log, where he had seen water snakes basking. He left it there over night. The snake would ingest the fish and still be tethered there in the early morning.
I tried it then. It worked.

Since I assume you would like to trap a snake unharmed,
a couple comments:
* The spines of the fish made regurgitation more difficult.
* As with any trap line it MUST be checked regularly for
the safety of the animal.
* The trapped animal MUST have a place to hide from predators
and not incur extreme environmental duress (hot or cold).
* The string must not be too fine so as not to cut the
trapped animal's gut. It should be soft and natural,
such as cotton cord, so it can be cut, digested or passed.
* Release of the animal should be done as quietly as possible.

Finally, in this scenario, and in the one you related, freshly killed, poikilothermic bait was used. Baiting with a dead mouse would have more difficulty because of the time constraint (heat loss, necrosis, etc.) Good news here is that a ratsnake or kingsnake, for example, can easily regurgitate a mouse, should conditions get unbearable.

Good luck, Bill

#1- My recipe is for hognose snakes but with a little variation it could probably work with many others. Take an older metal minnow bucket and set the crank of the lid to your desired width(it should be maximum girth of the snake, maybe slightly smaller) Dig a hole and place minnow bucket into it up to the opening. Place several large toads inside, voila! The snakes crawl in, eat the toads, and can't make their way out with the large meal in their stomachs. This trap must be checked often.

#2- For ratsnakes, roll strips of carpet and place in the crooks of oak trees and other trees. The warth attracts them and they coil inside for warmth. This is best checked in the mornings. I've unrolled as many as 6 adults in 1 piece.