Black ratsnakes for vole control?
 

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 21:16:57 -0400, "Scopata Fuori"
wrote:





Black snakes, in the US, are harmless, beneficial creatures. The only
exception I am aware of, are the notorious cottonmouth snakes, found near
water. Black snakes look scary, especially big ones, but just let them go
their way, and they will not bother you. They won't bother you, in fact,
unless you insist upon bothering them, and they are unable to escape any
other way.


Yes, this is why I like snakes. I thought maybe black snakes were
indigenous here because they were in northern VA where my grandfather
lived while I was growing up.

If I had black snakes, and they were eating vermin, I'd make sure to let
them have a nice safe place to hide, like the woodpile, so they wouldn't be
tempted to try to come in the house to nest.

We have a nice comfy woodpile, as I do not make many fires--too lazy,
save it for company!


Also, their presence tends to discourage copperheads, which *are* a bad
thing to have around.

You make me want to do some research on NC snakes. We have a nice
little science museum here that treats the topic quite well from what
I understand.




Scopata Fuori


ObRoses: Climbing Peace is throwing up vicious, 3/4" thick basals, but is
not blooming again. I think I will end up moving it, since the telephone
pole I was going to wrap it around really does need to be taken out.

Black ratsnakes for vole control?
 

"Scopata Fuori" wrote
Black snakes, in the US, are harmless, beneficial creatures. The only
exception I am aware of, are the notorious cottonmouth snakes, found near
water. Black snakes look scary, especially big ones, but just let them go
their way, and they will not bother you. They won't bother you, in fact,
unless you insist upon bothering them, and they are unable to escape any
other way.

Around here (N. pensinsular Florida) it's something called the black
racer, and what's either a subspecies or a rare color variant called the
indigo racer. Powerful, fast-moving snakes (they don't call them racers
for nothing!), graceful of motion and arguably beautiful, and harmless.
I saw one on almost every piece of land I considered buying, and have
come to consider them a good luck charm. I have never seen any
venomous snake on my property: maybe the racers eat them. Everyone
else I've talked to in my church has killed at least one cottonmouth or
rattler or coral snake near their house; there's even a place that buys
freshly-killed snakes for their skins.

Ob. roses: the Romanticas and other Austin wannabees I bought 2/3 to
3/4 off from Wayside as bare-root grafts and potted up are mostly doing
well, except for one I transplanted into the wet and seem to have killed.
Gina Lollobrigida (spelling?) has done nicely, with good crops of nicely
smelly blossoms, but looks to be too small a bush for my tastes, and
"Handel" (modern climber, white flowers with pink to red edges) has
been growing well if blooming a bit fitfully, in spells. Beales writes of
Handel, "An excellent rose, but somewhat `pretty' for my taste," and he
has a point: at least it hasn't a hybrid tea look to its blossoms. Handel
is
also old enough (1956) to be out of patent, so perhaps I can try it on its
own roots here.

Mark.

Black ratsnakes for vole control?
 

Mark. Gooley wrote:

Around here (N. pensinsular Florida) it's something called the black
racer, and what's either a subspecies or a rare color variant called the
indigo racer. Powerful, fast-moving snakes (they don't call them racers
for nothing!), graceful of motion and arguably beautiful, and harmless.
I saw one on almost every piece of land I considered buying, and have
come to consider them a good luck charm. I have never seen any
venomous snake on my property: maybe the racers eat them. Everyone
else I've talked to in my church has killed at least one cottonmouth or
rattler or coral snake near their house; there's even a place that buys
freshly-killed snakes for their skins.

When we lived in FL while I was growing up, we kept the neighbors son's
pet indigo racer at our house. His mom was deathly afraid of snakes and
my mom loves 'em. He was the absolute coolest snake. Coral snakes,
OTOH, were greeted by an immediate call to the MPs to come kill them.
The coral snakes had a bad habit of crawling up between the jalousie
windows and screens on our house for the night time warmth. Beautiful
snakes as deadly as they are gorgeous.

So far, I've been watching my Granada vigilantly. It's doing quite well
so far. Perhaps because it was a potted Weeks rose that I bought
locally at Witherspoon's. It's also all by it's lonesome right next to
the patio so it also has minimal exposure to the black spot that has
been my curse in other parts of my yard. Like Shiva, I've pretty much
given up this year due to the deluge we have experienced this year here
in NC.

Susan - who's s.o. is highly enjoying her temporary credit card-less
state. The s.o. thinks this is the longest period of time I have ever
gone without buying *something* for the yard. *smile* As I reminded
the s.o., it's *temporary*. *evil grin*
shsimko at duke dot edu

Black ratsnakes for vole control?
 

Mark. Gooley wrote:

Around here (N. pensinsular Florida) it's something called the black
racer, and what's either a subspecies or a rare color variant called the
indigo racer. Powerful, fast-moving snakes (they don't call them racers
for nothing!), graceful of motion and arguably beautiful, and harmless.
I saw one on almost every piece of land I considered buying, and have
come to consider them a good luck charm. I have never seen any
venomous snake on my property: maybe the racers eat them. Everyone
else I've talked to in my church has killed at least one cottonmouth or
rattler or coral snake near their house; there's even a place that buys
freshly-killed snakes for their skins.

When we lived in FL while I was growing up, we kept the neighbors son's
pet indigo racer at our house. His mom was deathly afraid of snakes and
my mom loves 'em. He was the absolute coolest snake. Coral snakes,
OTOH, were greeted by an immediate call to the MPs to come kill them.
The coral snakes had a bad habit of crawling up between the jalousie
windows and screens on our house for the night time warmth. Beautiful
snakes as deadly as they are gorgeous.

So far, I've been watching my Granada vigilantly. It's doing quite well
so far. Perhaps because it was a potted Weeks rose that I bought
locally at Witherspoon's. It's also all by it's lonesome right next to
the patio so it also has minimal exposure to the black spot that has
been my curse in other parts of my yard. Like Shiva, I've pretty much
given up this year due to the deluge we have experienced this year here
in NC.

Susan - who's s.o. is highly enjoying her temporary credit card-less
state. The s.o. thinks this is the longest period of time I have ever
gone without buying *something* for the yard. *smile* As I reminded
the s.o., it's *temporary*. *evil grin*
shsimko at duke dot edu

Black ratsnakes for vole control?
 

In article , says...

"Scopata Fuori" wrote
Black snakes, in the US, are harmless, beneficial creatures. The only
exception I am aware of, are the notorious cottonmouth snakes, found near
water. Black snakes look scary, especially big ones, but just let them go
their way, and they will not bother you. They won't bother you, in fact,
unless you insist upon bothering them, and they are unable to escape any
other way.

Around here (N. pensinsular Florida) it's something called the black
racer, and what's either a subspecies or a rare color variant called the
indigo racer. Powerful, fast-moving snakes (they don't call them racers
for nothing!), graceful of motion and arguably beautiful, and harmless.

Interestingly, blacksnakes are the only N.A. snake known to chase you.
Only the males in mating season, and it's all bluff, but it's fun to
watch.

Also, they have an antiseptic in their saliva to disinfect their food.
If one bites you with its tiny teeth, the punctures usually heal up in
less than a day. DAMHIKT :-).

I've always liked snakes, but my wife is terrified of them. Oh, well,
she has other redeeming characteristics :-).

--
Where ARE those Iraqi WMDs?