Homestead mailing list

["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT gmail.com>]

.On 7/2/06, Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com> wrote:
....... Smaller than the one that
> put me out of commission for a few months about twelve years ago.
> Pygmy rattlers are small but nasty poisonous. Need to get cats to
> keep down the mice.
.Are bull snakes and their ilk immune to rattlesnake venom? It might
serve a person well to stock the homestead with snakes of the
non-venomous variety.

In this area we don't have much in the way of rattlesnakes though I'm
told there are some. When Dad came across a large snake of any kind,
he'd put it in the barn where it could feast on mice and rats. We were
always careful, and a little nervous, about moving hay bales in the
feeder barns, but I don't think we ever came upon any snakes.

In fact -- and I may have told this story before here, so feel free to
slap me -- the only one who ever encountered a snake up close and
personal was Dad. He was cleaning out a grain bin in the second story
of the corn crib when a bull snake eased off a rafter and dropped onto
his shoulders. At precisely the same time, my mother who was picking
green beans in the garden, had her finger opened by a kitten who was
sleeping under the shade of the beans. Of course we all thought the
world had ended as our parents never screamed like that.

I have cats, Gene, and they only go part way in removing rodents --
though they drag a fine, fat rat up to the porch from time to time, I
still have rats tunneling under the barn. I hate to use poison because
of the cats....

At least the rat population is low enough that I never see a rat these
days, which I know is not much of an indication.

Marie