Do snakes dig holes ???

[enola]

Snakes might be able to shove their nose through loose soil, but they are not capable of digging tunnels. Probably following mouse tunnels.

 

[SAMnELLA]

Do any of those repellants work ?

 

[Subdolus]

Just thought I’d jump in here as I’ve been a snake keeper for years and have seen a little bit of not quite right information here, notably the idea that snakes aren’t capable of digging.

Most snakes, especially snakes native to the US and Canada, are very, very capable of digging tunnels and burrows; in the wild they will and, if given the opportunity in captivity, they will burrow and dig tunnels as well.

Rat snakes, corn snakes, and garter snakes are all pretty good diggers and while they will use tunnels and dens created by other animals, they’re all perfectly capable of digging their own too.
Generally, if it’s not an arboreal snake (not sure, offhand, if there are arboreal snakes native to the US and Canada), it can dig, and can dig pretty well, even in fairly compacted dirt.
Rat snakes and corn snakes are also very adept climbers (and tend to enjoy eating birds and squirrels, despite the name), and are exceptionally good diggers. I have to be careful with our pet rat snake when we go outside as he will immediately try to dig and burrow in loose dirt if I’m not paying close attention. In his enclosure, there are tunnels and little dug out dens everywhere; we keep him in a natural-type enclosure, so he has a lot of dirt to dig in. All that, and he’s not even adult yet, he’s only about half the length and weight he’ll eventually get to at 3 feet.
Snakes can compress themselves much, much flatter and skinnier than one might think.
Our 8ft boa can easily fit through 2” high opening with minimal effort and a 1” high opening with a little wiggling.
A smaller snake can easily get in through openings smaller than that with a little bit of, no pun intended, legwork and wiggling.

Snakes are, despite what many people seem to think, rather clever animals that do learn and can learn to compensate for/get around things put in their way; I have a couple that learned how to open their cage locks or open their cages from the inside when we figured they were secure enough because ‘how could a snake figure that out?’ (the hint is: by watching the movement of the latches when we opened the doors, they learned how to re-create the movement themselves by pushing the latches from the inside).
Snakes can also lift and move heavier objects than you’d think.
Our not-quite-grown rat snake can push or wiggle under (to burrow) 10b landscaping stones; as an adult, he’d likely be able to displace even larger ones.

In this case, given that snakes can dig and get in that way, it wouldn’t really matter if you got rid of a rodent population if one were around, because the snake isn’t after the mice specifically, it’s after the chicks; rat and corn snakes do naturally eat—just about anything that’s small enough and easy enough to catch, which includes birds, eggs, nestlings, hatchlings, rodents and small mammals that aren’t rodents, frogs, toads, small fish, etc…
Most wild snakes really aren’t that picky about what they eat; if they can catch it, and it fits, they’ll take it.

Captive snakes give the false impression that ‘snakes eat mice’ because that’s just what keepers tend to feed them and after years of eating nothing but mice they don’t always recognize other things as food; our pet snakes get rats, mice, week old quail, day old chicks, baby rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, and baby guinea pigs just for variety, all pre-killed and ordered from feeder supply places, never, ever live.
That said, I have zero doubt that, given the opportunity, they’d go straight after our chicks and have a meal.

Oh yeah, and the dead snake pictured does, in fact look like a rat snake.

Hardware cloth that is securely in place may deter them though, as once they’re the size that they could overpower and eat even a day old chick, they’re too large to fit through hardware cloth no matter how much they might try.
It would have to be in place under the dirt as a ‘floor mesh’ however, otherwise the snake(s) easily figure out how to dig below the barrier and come up inside the coop.

We haven't found repellants that were generally successful aside from just making sure the enclosure is as snake proof, from below, above, and all sides, as possible--and that the latches on the outside aren't easily opened. We use a key lock for that, as our own pet snakes have taught me that snakes can easily learn to open knobs, latches, levers, etc...

Relocating the snakes elsewhere can help too if it's just one or two; as annoying as they may be, they are beneficial for the overall ecosystem, so when it's possible, it's best to capture, bag it up, drive it out to the middle of nowhere, and let it go again.

 

[SAMnELLA]

Thankyou for all that info, Subdolus, We also noticed tunnels in our yard that are just underneath the grass. It may be something different digging those, may be some type of mole ?? My dog goes crazy trying to dig them up, but hasn't been able to catch one yet. I usually don't kill snakes, especially the non venomous snakes. Just don't want to lose my chicks and we aren't experienced at handling snakes. We have seen a lot of hog-nose snakes here that we just left alone. My idea to dig around the coop and put wire down might not work either because the coop is right next to a very large tree (tree roots). The tunnels seem to be coming from underneath this tree.

 

[Subdolus]

Thankyou for all that info, Subdolus, We also noticed tunnels in our yard that are just underneath the grass. It may be something different digging those, may be some type of mole ?? My dog goes crazy trying to dig them up, but hasn't been able to catch one yet. I usually don't kill snakes, especially the non venomous snakes. Just don't want to lose my chicks and we aren't experienced at handling snakes. We have seen a lot of hog-nose snakes here that we just left alone. My idea to dig around the coop and put wire down might not work either because the coop is right next to a very large tree (tree roots). The tunnels seem to be coming from underneath this tree.

Rat snakes a big bluffers, if nothing else, so are corns; sometimes they’ll ‘rattle’ in dry leaves or against hard surfaces to try and make you think they’re rattle snakes.
Smaller rat snakes (usually younger) will also repeatedly strike at anything and everything as their main defense mechanism as younger snakes are prey for a lot of things; larger ones will typically either try to ‘rattle’ to warn you off or will simply run—heh—slither away.

My corn and rat both do that if they think I’m being annoying by doing things like cleaning their cages.

In addition to pet snakes, I’m also the only person locally willing to deal with the wild ones for the wildlife rehab; nobody else wants to touch the idea. WI doesn’t have much for venomous snakes though, just Timber Rattlers further South and it’s super rare to see those anywhere near human habitation (bonus: they eat wood ticks too!).

Pretty rare to get bit, but occasionally I get a finger or my hand tagged. I’ve been pooped on a lot, but rarely bitten.

It may help to keep in mind that the worst a rat snake can do to you is either:

- Poop & musk all over you, which stinks and is kind of gross, but is otherwise harmless. It’s an attempt to startle you into letting them go. You might be surprised just how MUCH they can poop-musk you too. At least it washes off easily and the smell doesn’t stick like, say, a skunk.

- Bite, but even adults can’t really cause significant damage; you’re more likely to injure them pulling away (breaks their teeth sometimes) than they are to significantly injure you. Yeah, it’ll break skin and you’ll bleed, but the wounds are small and as long as you clean them the chance of infection is very low.

Wearing gardening gloves can help prevent hand bites from a scared wild rat snake, their teeth really aren’t that big and wouldn’t get through gardening gloves without a lot of grinding work, which a scared snake is not going to try.

If picking them up with your hands still seems too intimidating, a cheap snake hook can be helpful. Snake hooks aren’t meant to hold them for very long, just to be able to lift them and get them into a bag/box/bin to be transported elsewhere.
This is the snake hook we have here; a couple of our cages are pretty deep and I can’t always reach a pet snake I need to get and move, so the hook comes in handy to, well, hook ‘em and pull them to where I can reach them. Pet stores usually sell collapsible snake hooks in their reptile departments as well.
The non-collapsable ones are pretty much a hook attached to a golf club shaft.
Snake bags don’t need to be anything special, pretty much any bag will work, including a paper grocery bag (not plastic though, suffocation risk for the snake). Wildlife supply places tend to sell thin linen or burlap sacks with ties for that purpose, or a cheap laundry bag works too.
I also take those things along if someone calls wildlife rehab to say they have a snake in a shed/wall/window well and don't know what to do with it, though most times I just end up using my hands to pick 'em up.
Pet stores usually have snake hooks a bit cheaper.

Wild ones may thrash if you pick them up (always in the midsection), but typically calm down a bit if you get them by the middle or back (but not by the actual tail, only the last inch or so is the tail). Picking them up by the back of the neck can injure them pretty severely and hurts, which will make them more likely to try and turn to strike when you let them go.
When mine are in a lousy mood they thrash a lot for a few minutes, but don’t really try to turn and strike, they just want to get away and not be handled.

Wild ones typically do the same: The thrashing isn’t usually trying to turn around and bite, it’s trying to get away so they can hide. They don’t want their head toward you because, in their mind, you’re a big horrid thing trying to eat them so the last thing they want is to get their head where you’d be able to, well, ‘eat it’.
They DO share territory well with other snakes (rat and otherwise), so chances are there are probably other snakes around; while taking care of any external pest issues (moles, mice, voles, rats, shrews, etc…) may help, the chicks might always have some level of danger if trapping isn’t done. Even with trapping in place, if they can dig in or get in otherwise, the risk will still be there until they’re larger.
It is worth noting that rat snakes frequently top 6’ as adults, so even smaller juvenile chickens or smaller breeds as adults could be vulnerable.

It may also be worth looking around your property in general to seal off holes and cracks in sheds/storage areas, building foundations, etc... that they--rodents or snakes--may use as shelter or cover, or that rodents/small animals may use for the same purpose. If there are problems with small rodents in the yard, keeping potential food supplies in thick plastic, metal, or glass containers will help as most rodents can chew right through bags or thin tupperware style containers. It also means keeping the area around any bird, deer, or squirrel feeders clean too.
That’ll help keep rodent and small animal populations in your yard area at a minimum which can help keep snake populations down as well.
I don't typically recommend poisoning because that kills--pretty much anything that ingests it, including any wild animals that ingest a rodent that died from being poisoned, so you can inadvertently harm dogs, cats, owls, raptors, snakes, foxes, or anything else that may eat rodents.
Glue traps are also something I don't recommend as they trap everything, and they're an extremely painful, torturous way to die for anything, from insect on up to mammals, birds, etc...that might get trapped; some animals will even chew limbs off to try and get away. Even if it's a pest animal, it doesn't deserve that.
Best methods for long term control tend to include keeping everything spic-n-span in the area, keeping hiding places sealed off, and lessening the chance that your yard looks like an awesome place to live--after all, places with less food, no easy shelter, no hiding places, etc...are no fun and most wild animals will not want to stay there.

If it just seems to be snakes that are burrowing to get in, having flashing or hardware cloth 4+ inches deep around the perimeter is usually enough to deter them, but if other animals are digging in and digging below that, a snake will happily use that tunnel to get around the ‘wall’ so, as others mentioned, it would be a good additional idea to go around the yard and look for the things mentioned.

Ideally, though it’d probably be the most expensive & time consuming option, the best way to keep the snake(s) from getting in would be digging up the coop floor, laying down hardware cloth and attaching it to the frame/edges of the coop, then filling it back in with dirt would give the best protection against snakes and anything else that can dig (foxes, coyotes, raccoons, dogs, cats, etc…) as they’ll still be able to dig under the frame/outside, but they’ll be stopped at the hardware cloth floor.
The digging wouldn’t have to be very deep, and depending on how high the roots are, may not be an issue with roots either; usually you’d only have to dig down 2-3 inches and that’s just so the chickens don’t end up walking on hardware cloth ‘floors’. It’d also be possible to just dig down an inch or so, add the hardware cloth floor, then bring in dirt from elsewhere to cover it—or to not dig at all, if the roots are close to the surface, just lay the hardware cloth down, attach it to the frame of the coop, and bring in outside dirt to cover it so the chickens aren’t walking on bare wire.

Since I don't know what your coop looks like, it'd also be worth double checking any parts that extend beyond the fencing and making sure any access doors or windows lock securely with the sort of lock that requires thumbs and a key or combination to get in (hey, raccoons are SMART and can open most types of non key-combination requiring locks with practice, plus, I'm pretty sure they have what amounts to thumbs), and that any cracks or holes are sealed off just to make sure nothing can get in the back door, so to speak.

The MN DNR has a decent page on deterring unwanted snakes from your yard as well, it’s a bit more succinct version of all the stuff I’m rambling about.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/livingwith_wildlife/snakes/deterring.html

And, just since it was mentioned by a few other people earlier, the Virginia Herpetological Society has a great page, with photos, on differentiating venomous snakes from non-venomous snakes (usually water, corn, racer, and rat), main difference is body and head shape and scale patterns.
MANY non-venomous snakes are mimics of venomous snakes to deter natural predators, but this mimicry gets them unfortunately killed by humans who don’t know the difference.
Water snakes are often confused for copperheads and cottonmouths , even in WI, which confuses me to no end because copperheads and cottonmouths don’t even live this far North; they’d die over winter! http://www.virginiaherpetologicalso...-likes/copperhead-look-a-likes/copperhead.htm

As an aside on the hognose snakes, they’re rear fanged vipers, which means it’s pretty rare (not to mention hard for the snake) for a bite given to a human to be a venomous bite, even from a wild one, as a defensive bite tends to be a quick strike and release with the front teeth not the back. They're generally laid back snakes, and are pretty popular in the pet trade.
Rats and corns are popular as well, though I'd never advocate taking or selling a wild snake as a pet as it may be illegal depending on local DNR regulations, and it's super stressful to the snake.
Hognose venom is also pretty mild and, for most people, just causes bee sting like discomfort, however, it’s possible to be allergic to anything, so if you do get a bite from a hognose snake and it hurts significantly worse than small pinprick wounds, it’s probably best to go to to urgent care or a doctor just to be safe.

If it’s not super obvious, I like snakes quite a bit.
Of course, I also like chickens and pretty much any other animal too, so, yep—I might talk quite a bit on ways to let everyone co-exist with as little risk to everyone as possible.
Plus, I’ve found, the more people learn about snakes, the less scary snakes become.

Mostly I say the above as, well, a lot of things are less horrifying/scary/intimidating to deal with the more you know about them, and snakes get a lot of bad rap due to misinformation or fear based information that may or may not have basis in fact, or from fear based on not having much experience dealing with them.
The more you learn & know about them, the better.


Edit: Also, if you think you have moles in the yard, especially if you can see the raised 'tunnels' they tend to make, these mole traps (while pretty wicked looking) are effective. We use them up at our cabin.

 

[Standard 2000]

Thanks for your suggestions! I really appreciate it. Excellent!

 

[Standard 2000]

Thanks for your suggestion Subdolus. I really appreciate it. Excellent!

 

[Standard 2000]

Thanks for your suggestion Subdolus. I really appreciate it. Excellent!