Natural pest control

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I came into the house to find this natural rodent control in my family room. Gopher snakes here (Pituophus catenifer affinis) don't bite people when handled, so I picked it up and took it across the street to show the 8-year-old boy and his family. He was thrilled; he'd never been close to a snake, nor touched one before.



I occasionally leave the front door to the courtyard open at night for the dogs. It must have come in last night.

I'm very glad to see it - that means the reptile population is coming back after the introduced feral cats disappeared.

In the background you can see a circular dish with a leafless Ansellia africana. It's coming in now. One of the two new growths died from heat, even in the bright shade.

[DirtyCoconuts]

nice- that looks woo much like a rattler to me but the quite tail would give some comfort- a nice treat for your neighbor. i bet he loved that!

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Gopher snakes have narrow heads, not much wider than their neck. They are very muscular snakes, but the body width to length ratio is much narrower than in rattlesnakes.

Rattlesnakes have wide, V-shaped heads. They look like a pointed shovel or arrow when viewed from above. The horizontal head flare is occupied by venom glands. Their bodies are very thick for their length.

The rattle may fall off completely, even on older animals. I don't look at the tail when trying to rule out a rattler.

Plus - because we have omnivorous king snakes in our neighborhood, Lampropeltis getula californica, we have no rattlesnakes. The king snakes eat lizards, rodents, rabbits, birds, other snakes... whatever they can catch and fits in their mouths. I haven't seen a rattler around here, ever, and I moved here in 1986. I did see one once on the Echo Canyon trail to the top of Camelback Mountain, about a mile from here.

[DirtyCoconuts]

I have a respect from a distance relationship with snakes. We have too many poisonous ones to mess around with. That whole coral shake vs king snake is no fun since we have the deadly one. Plus cottonmouths, I’ve seen them while kayaking in the ‘Glades and don’t forget the super fun sea snakes!! They swim way faster than I do in 90 cm carbon fins and they are MEAN!!!

I am sure there are more deadly snakes here (don’t mention the spiders; we had a brown recluse coming in our laundry room in college!!) but those are the only ones I have seen myself. Oh and rattlers. (Shudders)

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Lol Florida is herp heaven in the US.

[MJG]

I grew up in the desert. I still have fond (Eeek!) memories of going into the bathroom to take a shower when I was 12, and finding a scorpion in the empty bathtub.

My mom would go out on our back patio every evening to kill black widow spiders. She used her "spider stick". Her all-time record was 17 black widows in one night.

Just all part of the local fauna. I do like your new houseguest, ES.

And I have to say upon reflection I find the prospect of Florida critters much more intimidating than desert ones.

[Ray]

So far, here in NC I’ve seen garter snakes, king snakes of several color varieties, milk snakes, glass snakes (actually a legless lizard), long, thin, green grass snakes (one out on the end of my pier recently - why would it be way out there?), and a timber rattler. We also have copperheads and cottonmouths, but I’ve had no contact with them yet.

[Shadeflower]

I found something scarier on one of my plants today

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You mean the scale?

[WaterWitchin]

I respect snakes, spiders, etc. From a distance. All have a purpose in life, which doesn't mean I need to share personal space with them. Stay out of my bubble Mr Snake. Forage somewhere else Mr Spider. Find your own nest elsewhere Mrs Mouse. Frogs and anoles are always welcome, of course.