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  • From: Mjkoaktreecottag AT aol.com
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Pond snake problem
  • Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:26:31 EDT

I haven't had experience with this remedy personally, but my grandpa Powell
leased land [free--in exchange for "keeping" their fences] in the Shawnee
National Forest, which was adjacent to their farm in So. Ill., back in the
20s
and 30s, from the US Forest Service. Their farm was mostly cleared for
planting corn, etc. so he welcomed having the use of the wooded land and
turned
his pigs out there every summer to fatten them on the "mast" [fallen acorns
from the many native oaks]. Their farm had a copperhead problem and there
were
supposed to be water moccasins in the nearby creek which flowed through his
patch of woods and the leased land, but Grandpa said he never saw any (the
map
in my snake book shows the line as just south of there) and there were
timber rattlers in the woods. Grandpa said that if a pig did get bit, they
usually survived because a.) their skin was so tough the fangs probably
wouldn't
penetrate b.) if they did, the pig's circulation was so slow that the venom
was
not very effective by the time it reached their heart. Don't know if either
is true and don't plan to test it!! However, because of rhe pigs rooting
habit, they cleared out the normal
groundcover and a lot of the ubderstory shrubs, so that the snakes no longer
frequented the woods as much and those who did could be seen easier.
Grandpa often took mama with him when he was mending fence and was more
worried
about the pigs than the snakes so usuall walked the fence on the other side
from
them or in cold weather--after butchering, when he also had more time. So
the point of this story is, if it would work in your situation, get a pig[s]
and let them out!!! My hubby who raised pigs in 1 of his many careers says
they are healthier than today's confinement--feed lot raised pork anyway....



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