Really? What kind?
they can co-laps their ribsWow, thank you all for your complements, comments and suggestions, you guys are fabulous!
I never thought baby mice could fit through 1/2 inch hardware cloth but they do as well! They used to get in and scurry into the coop as too but I have since put a stop to them entering the coop. But they still do occasionally get into the run at night I am sure.
As for the rocks along the outside, Lizards love to hang out there in the summer basking themselves in the heat and the smaller Lizards can also squeeze through the cloth too. (Had I known all these things could get in, I would have originally used 1/4 inch cloth!!) This is how I first saw a small snake get in through the wire, I was sitting with a chicken on my lap in the coop and I heard all this clawing at the wire on the outside of the run, there I saw a Lizard running for it's life coming into the run with a snake in hot pursuit! So no doubt yes, the snakes find these rocks appealing to hang out in.
Also, something else I changed up early last year, Feb., 2017. I switched from sand to wood mulch. Sand was SO dirty and the clean freak than I am,I couldn't take the dust anymore. Wood mulch is SO much cleaner, warmer in the winter, smells good, just an all around nice bedding. I keep a big pile behind the coop and THIS is what I suspect attracts snakes. Obviously these babies were just born in July or Aug, and are now looking for winter hideouts. My coop and run smell just like this mulch and appears to them to be a perfect place to hibernate out of the weather. Snakes love to den up together, last thing I need is for the baby Rattlers to join in!
The "screen" idea that @MissChick@dee mentioned isn't a bad idea, but if they can climb Tarpaulins like @Shadrach mentioned, maybe this won't work? I need to watch the video that @coach723 left for me. And thank you @Evelyn's Mom for all the valuable info on Garter snakes! And thank you to the rest of you, you guys gave me the support I was looking for!!
I will stew on this and let you know what conclusions and actions I take to solve this issue!! We are expecting HIGHS in the 30's next week, snow too, so most of these snakes should be burrowed up somewhere by now or soon! (yeah, in my mulch pile and hidden in the bedding of the coop, run, under the nest boxes.)
Thank you again to ALL of you!!!
Did they eat and eggs or chicks? I hope not.
Did they eat and eggs or chicks? I hope not.
Little baby gopher snake. 
I think any snake can climb up a pole, shed wall, or tree.
I've seen rattlesnakes climb up in mesquite trees on my place...not that unusual but pretty disturbing! They have actually climbed up above the HC around the bottom 2' of my pens and got into the pen through 1" square welded wire. After mice and not my birds but still.
