Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 02-02-2009, 10:45 PM
 
Location: Southern California Mountains
563 posts, read 1,449,173 times
Reputation: 456

Advertisements

I have heard that Vietnamese Potbelly pigs eat snakes. Around here, Southern California, most animals have certain jobs:
Cats: Rodent and rabbit control. Lizards are cool but get eaten by cats frequently.
Potbelly Pigs: Snake control.
Dogs: Coyote, cougar, bobcat control.
Llamas, Donkeys, Burros, Herding Dogs: Goat & sheep protection from coyotes and errant dogs.

Wildlife to be encouraged:
Lizards: Bug control, especially Horned Toads, as they eat lots of ants!
Non-venomous snakes: Rodent control.
Roadrunners: Snake control.
Tarantulas: Bug control. (Hehehehehe!)
Owls, hawks, other raptors: Rodent control.
Bats: Flying insect control.
Toads: Bug control.

Be careful with the kitties...coyotes love them.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 02-03-2009, 06:53 AM
 
Location: TEXAS!
37 posts, read 440,098 times
Reputation: 39
Well from what I heard, we really don't have a coyote problem out here, almost every neighbor has a dog, so hopefully that's enough to keep them away...
We do have a bunch of turkey vultures out here though, and I know they won't go for "live" animals, but the cats still duck down in the corner when they spot them
I also heard that donkeys and horses help to keep snakes away, due to the ground movement when walking... I'm a horse person, so who knows ... maybe one day I'll have my own again and that would help with the snakes also...
A neighbor of ours did shoot a rattlesnake in front of his house last summer... I heard they were really bad last year.
Also... if you have a phobia regarding snakes (mine are spiders ), make sure you have a husband that can handle them... kinda like here... he kills the spiders for me and I killed the copperhead (he kindly "supported" me... 20 feet BEHIND me standing in the back of the garage giving "instructions" LOL)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-03-2009, 10:29 AM
 
37,315 posts, read 59,854,747 times
Reputation: 25341
cats because they kill mice/lizards help keep down a snake's food supply so they go away from areas where they can't find food...
that being said some cats do kill snakes--and some dogs are good at it too
when I was young lived in area outside Seguin, east of SA--we had no special dogs--just ones that wandered into the yard when people dropped them out in the country--one of our dogs looked like the Ol Yeller dog--except he was brown==saw him kill a 3-4 ft rattler by grabbing the end of the snake and popping it like a whip until he broke the neck---that was in our back yard--dog was bitten on the neck and how he survived I have no idea...his head was really swollen--my daddy gave him some asprin in a pan of milk from what I can remember...
my sister keeps guineas on her place north of SA and they are good about killing snakes--and they will go after pretty big ones--will gang up on the snake and run them off...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2009, 08:10 AM
 
1 posts, read 7,892 times
Reputation: 11
Husband being Army, we moved to Copperas Cove from Georgia a few months ago. We have lived in the Killeen area before, but never had this much of a problem with snakes as we do now. I keep our yard very short and do not leave things laying around. We also live in town which is really odd having snakes like this. But our cat Mal Mal is our snake killer. She is a housecat but she loves being outdoors. She will go out on the prowl and by morning she has a snake at the back door with it's head bitten off. Tho we never find the head, there is the body. I was always told that cats do kill snakes but never really seen it till we got her here.I think it really just depends on the cat. Our cat can be mean lol So if you have a 'Miss Priss' I don't think she'll be out there much getting them snakes much less bugs lol But just to let anyone know that is moving to the central TX area, yes the snakes are something else here. I'm a native of backwoods Arkansas and I have never seen this many. So just watch where you walk unless you have a mean ol cat like us
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2009, 11:30 AM
 
1,765 posts, read 4,348,256 times
Reputation: 2308
Quote:
Originally Posted by silhouette74 View Post
Husband being Army, we moved to Copperas Cove from Georgia a few months ago. We have lived in the Killeen area before, but never had this much of a problem with snakes as we do now. I keep our yard very short and do not leave things laying around. We also live in town which is really odd having snakes like this. But our cat Mal Mal is our snake killer. She is a housecat but she loves being outdoors. She will go out on the prowl and by morning she has a snake at the back door with it's head bitten off. Tho we never find the head, there is the body. I was always told that cats do kill snakes but never really seen it till we got her here.I think it really just depends on the cat. Our cat can be mean lol So if you have a 'Miss Priss' I don't think she'll be out there much getting them snakes much less bugs lol But just to let anyone know that is moving to the central TX area, yes the snakes are something else here. I'm a native of backwoods Arkansas and I have never seen this many. So just watch where you walk unless you have a mean ol cat like us

Well, I'm glad Mal Mal has been lucky so far...but aren't you worried the venomous snakes are going to get in a bite first one of these encounters? And as other posters have mentioned, there are "good" snakes that help keep the rodent population down and they shouldn't be killed just because they're snakes....?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2009, 07:56 PM
 
37,315 posts, read 59,854,747 times
Reputation: 25341
dogs don't keep coyotes off property--coyotes can eat dogs--just like cats--if they want

I don't think you can "encourage" roadrunners since they are one of the most skittish native birds/animals and really don't like humans---you put in a house--they are not going to be very friendly...

lizards are snake bait--have lizards, mice, rats, birds (like chickens) and snakes will come calling
peahens/peacocks are good to keep away snakes and coyotes believe it or not--

some cats are good at going after snakes but not all of them--if you have a city cat, I would not depend on it to be able to be good snake fighter

you could try to buy a whole nest of king snakes which are great for killing rattlesnakes but don't know that you could get them to hang around like pets...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2009, 09:33 PM
 
48,502 posts, read 96,838,702 times
Reputation: 18304
Many people in the country have peacocks because they kill sankes. I have seen alot of ranches that keep them just for this reason.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-22-2010, 10:30 AM
 
1 posts, read 7,353 times
Reputation: 10
My cat Romeo lives outside and for the last 3 nights in a row there have been snakes of various sizes laying dead on the ground by my back door. I think he's killing them because he walks around them like they aren't a big deal, he's not afraid in the least. We live in town and I've never seen that many snakes here in the whole 16 years we've lived in this house. The whole things kinda creeping me out.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-22-2010, 12:25 PM
 
37,315 posts, read 59,854,747 times
Reputation: 25341
are they poisonous snakes???
or grass snakes/black racers, etc???

if they are poisonous snakes, it is possible that construction in your area has opened up a den and they are having to move to new territory...
I would be very watchful during the day/night and check around your house as well
snakes can get inside through some very small openings and be VERY quick/silent when doing so

my dad married his second wife and they lived in her house which was on banks of Guadalupe River east of Seguin--high bank over the river--
one night her French poodles were barking like crazy after they put them in the bedroom where the dogs stayed at night--my dad went in to check on them and there was rattlesnake coiled in corner, penned by the dogs who saw it after they came into the room...
he was close to 90 at the time but got something and beat the snake dead...

scared me because he loved to work in the garden/yard and she had at least one building on the lot that was kind of trashed out but they did not really have other problems with snakes...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-22-2010, 05:13 PM
 
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
3,390 posts, read 4,950,040 times
Reputation: 2049
Quote:
Originally Posted by teatime View Post
This is kind of funny, but when I expressed fear of having snakes in the yard and was considering having an outdoor cat, a friend suggested getting guinea fowl instead! I haven't looked into it, but she said her family had guinea fowl and they do a much better job of keeping critters out of the yard.

But I have a weimaraner with a very strong hunting instinct. There's no way the dog wouldn't see guinea fowl as prey. It took me a while to convince her that my Yorkie was actually her brother and not a long-haired rodent!

Otherwise, I think it would be cool to have guinea fowl. I'm not a cat person, even if it did live outside.
I've heard that guineas are exceptionally good at not only keeping out snakes, but will eat all of the ticks and fleas as well.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:20 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top