# Snakes in woodpile



## Nick Mystic (Jul 13, 2013)

Has anyone had much of a problem with snakes setting up shop in their woodpile? We live in western NC where copperheads are common and I usually kill a few each summer that get too close to the house. I  have two dogs and one of them has been bit twice by copperheads and I'm not keen on getting bit myself. I generally do not like killing things if it can be avoided, but I think poisonous snakes near the house are just too big a threat to leave alone.

I've often thought that the woodpiles are likely places where such snakes would find as a good home, but until this past week I never actually encountered any in them. Last week I picked up a nice piece of an oak limb in the woods on the way home from a morning hike with our dogs, so I carried it home to throw on my woodpile. As I was sliding it into an opening I saw a copperhead buried in between some splits with his head just poking out. It was about six inches from where my hand was! I tried shoving a piece of pipe in between the splits to get him, but he disappeared in a flash. A few days later we finally had some sun, so I decided to flit off the tarp covered piece of plywood I have on the end stack that doesn't have a permanent roof over it. When I did, the copperhead was lying right on top of the wood. He slowly slithered into the stack before I could do anything. I went back about a half hour later with a hoe, my weapon of choice for snake killing, and he was back sunning himself. I was able to get a clean whack at him and dispatch him.


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## weatherguy (Jul 13, 2013)

Mice love to make their home in wood piles, snakes like to eat mice, perfect recipe for attracting snakes. Ive seen some in mine but thank god we don't have copperheads, Ive seen milk snakes and garter snakes, nothing to fret about, I leave them to clean my wood pile of varmints.


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## rideau (Jul 13, 2013)

My situation in So Ontario is the same a weatherguy's....common to see garter snakes in/on the piles, less common to see milk snakes....but nothing poisonous to worry about.  I'm glad to have the snakes dispatching the inevitable mice. 

I wouldn't be very happy to have poisonous snakes, but don't know any reasonable way to get rid of them other than your present method. 

Wear heavy leather gloves and be careful is the only advice I have.  Good luck.


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## red oak (Jul 13, 2013)

I usually find a small snake or two, had a rather large black snake a few years back.  Like others have said, the non-poisonous snakes are okay to have around for pest control, poisonous are another matter.  I've never seen a poisonous snake around my piles, and I don't do anything special to keep them away - just lucky I guess.


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## bogydave (Jul 13, 2013)

SNAKES ! 

No Snakes in ALASKA


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## TradEddie (Jul 13, 2013)

I'm always expecting to find a snake in the woodpiles, but never have. I often find mice nests.

TE


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## PapaDave (Jul 13, 2013)

Garter. I find skins too.


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## Mr A (Jul 13, 2013)

Copperheads are poisonous? There are rattlesnakes in my area, I haven't seen any in the wood pile, I have rats. I wouldn't mind having some snakes in there too. Make a lot of noise, bang some splits on the pile. I'm not a snake expert but they will only strike if cornered or surprised.


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## MrWhoopee (Jul 13, 2013)

Mr A said:


> I'm not a snake expert but they will only strike if cornered or surprised.


 
We're fortunate that rattlesnakes are like that, they will avoid you if at all possible. The same can't be said of some of the eastern poisonous snakes. Some can be downright aggressive. My only suggestion is to move up north or out west.


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## Mr A (Jul 13, 2013)

MrWhoopee said:


> We're fortunate that rattlesnakes are like that, they will avoid you if at all possible. The same can't be said of some of the eastern poisonous snakes. Some can be downright aggressive. My only suggestion is to move up north or out west.


 
 Yea, I was curious and was just reading about copperheads. They strike first, ask questions later.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jul 13, 2013)

Some time ago I had contact with some NC residents and remember that they had asked me about snakes as it seems they had lots of them. In all the years of our wood burning, I've seen only one snake that I remember. That was a milk snake.


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## TradEddie (Jul 13, 2013)

Copperheads are not poisonous, they are venomous. Not usually fatal, but they'd spoil your day.

TE


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## Buckeye 2012 (Jul 13, 2013)

Sprinkler pulverized moth balls and powered sulphur around your stack. You will never see a snake if you do.


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## Hogwildz (Jul 13, 2013)

Around the house, yes. Around the wood pile, have not seen any there.


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## wesessiah (Jul 14, 2013)

i've never found one in a wood pile, but occasionally do in brush piles close to the woods. the best investment for keeping them away is having cats. cats eat the mice, and the good ones kills the snakes. females are far better at the job too.


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## Applesister (Jul 14, 2013)

I've heard moth balls does it too. Spread under the stacks.


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## blades (Jul 14, 2013)

We have timber rattlers a a couple others in various parts of the state, Very rarely do any of these show up in my area. Brown recluse spiders and relatives are the worst threat right here, with Black Widows further south and west. Any of these spoil more than your day.  Got nailed in Az many years ago, Diamond Back , do not want to go through that again.


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## aansorge (Jul 14, 2013)

Snakes, scorpions, and black widows were a common part of my life in Texas.  You learned to be cautious in your travels through the woods and whenever you picked something off the ground.  I stumbled upon several rattlers, many moccasin, a copperhead, and one coral snake.  I didn't avoid the woods, but you were constantly mildly aware.

Moving to Minnesota was a revelation.  You mean I can walk through the woods and not worry about snakes? Cool!  Mosquitos?  More annoying in reality, but Deet works wonders most days.


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## jdp1152 (Jul 14, 2013)

Was mowing last weekend and saw two or three along the length of the stacks.  No poisonous snakes here so I leave them be. Worry more about the ticks the mice have, but put tick tubes under the pallets to help.  Spent a month and a half feeling like crap with coinfections of Lyme and babesiosis. I'd welcome any critter that helps keep blood sucking parasites away


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## weatherguy (Jul 14, 2013)

wesessiah said:


> i've never found one in a wood pile, but occasionally do in brush piles close to the woods. the best investment for keeping them away is having cats. cats eat the mice, and the good ones kills the snakes. females are far better at the job too.


 
One of our cats is great at taking care of all varmints but occasionally brings them into the house, he brought a still alive bird in that got away and flew around the living room until my wife caught it and let it go, another time he brought a live garter snake into the house and got bored with it and went back outside, I walked upstairs and see this snake slithering around my living room. I scooped it up and put it back outside.


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## rideau (Jul 14, 2013)

Pray tell what are tick tubes?


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## jdp1152 (Jul 14, 2013)

Tick tubes are cardboard tubes with permethrin cotton balls in them. The mice take the cotton for their nests and it kills ticks for a few months.


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## MrWhoopee (Jul 14, 2013)

jdp1152 said:


> Tick tubes are cardboard tubes with permethrin cotton balls in them. The mice take the cotton for their nests and it kills ticks for a few months.


 
Seems a little indirect, how about something that kills the mice?


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## jdp1152 (Jul 14, 2013)

I'm not keen on poisoning mammals in their natural environment.  Too many other animals eat them.  Insects and weeds are a different story.


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## wesessiah (Jul 14, 2013)

weatherguy said:


> One of our cats is great at taking care of all varmints but occasionally brings them into the house, he brought a still alive bird in that got away and flew around the living room until my wife caught it and let it go, another time he brought a live garter snake into the house and got bored with it and went back outside, I walked upstairs and see this snake slithering around my living room. I scooped it up and put it back outside.


 
oh man, i couldn't have it to where they have free access in and out. we have one cat that stays outside a lot, and we will let her in when she comes to the door and wants in. the other outdoor cat stays outside, but i think he may be dead since he's been gone for a month. the female makes sure her prey can't get away, her initial attack always disables it. if she's giving it as a gift to us, she kills it and leaves it on the porch.
edit: i should say if she's giving it to me, because she hisses at my wife if she goes near the gift, lol.


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## PapaDave (Jul 14, 2013)

Had a Dachshund that did that.


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## MrWhoopee (Jul 14, 2013)

PapaDave said:


> Had a Dachshund that did that.


 
Dachsund that hissed at your wife?


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## PapaDave (Jul 14, 2013)

Funny guy.
Actually, it would bring dead mice to the porch. Pierced skull and all.


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## Bocefus78 (Jul 15, 2013)

I will usually fire up the weedeater and trim around the piles before doing anything just to let them know that I am about to be in there. I prefer the spade to the hoe for my weapon of choice if the g23 isn't in my belt. I don't do snakes.


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## rideau (Jul 15, 2013)

Non-venomous snakes are your friend.  They eat vermin. Unfortunately, also frogs and toads.


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## DeathMetal71 (Feb 16, 2016)

this year my wood pile for seasoning will be in the woods back of our big garage and we are getting chickens in April,so I'm worried about snakes in my pile! Back home in northern Indiana we had no venomous snakes,here in Southern Maryland we have two species. We live in a area that is swampy and has lots of frogs for snakes to fest on.So I'm nervous about snakes this year,though we only see Black Rat snakes around here.


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## taylorfarms (Feb 17, 2016)

Snakes are not a problem here , if we are getting wood off one of the farms with sandy soil when it is warm, hognose snakes will jump at you and scare the S^&T out of you but nothing that hurts you, one knocked our weiner dog/Rottweiler mix off his feet one time, only time I ever liked those snakes.


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## neverbilly (Feb 17, 2016)

TradEddie said:


> Copperheads are not poisonous, they are venomous. Not usually fatal, but they'd spoil your day.
> 
> TE



I've never heard it put that way. Hmmm. Not poisonous, but venomous. What's the difference?

My appreciation of poisonous/venomous snakes is that the copperhead is the second most dangerous snake, after a rattlesnake. Death by snakebite in the USA seems rare these days but a bite by a copperhead or rattler can do some serious damage.

I have had two friends bit by copperheads. Both required a hospital stay.

I wish I had a picture of a rattlesnake that a friend of mine found coiled up in his garage. Now, mind you, this a fine home inside the city limits of my small town. Never would one expect a rattler there. But they had clear-cut some land about a half mile away and we think that snake left there and was on the move. I've seen big ones, but this one took the cake. If that guy bit you, wow, I can see how you might not make it! It was OVER six feet and big around as the calf in my leg.


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## chazcarr (Feb 17, 2016)

Here in CT, my piles are loaded with garter snakes.  Usually find one every time I take some wood.  

One time there was something different.  A fairly huge all black snake that just slithered away fast as a bullet.  Scared me good, and haven't seen anything like it since, nor have I ever been able to determine what it was.  Probably a pet that escaped and didn't live through the winter on its own.


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## Wood Duck (Feb 17, 2016)

chazcarr said:


> Here in CT, my piles are loaded with garter snakes.  Usually find one every time I take some wood.
> 
> One time there was something different.  A fairly huge all black snake that just slithered away fast as a bullet.  Scared me good, and haven't seen anything like it since, nor have I ever been able to determine what it was.  Probably a pet that escaped and didn't live through the winter on its own.



In the eastern US, a large all-black snake is probably a Black Racer or Black Rat Snake, which are a common native snakes. They can be six feet long sometimes. Not poisonous and probably eating a lot of rodents from your woodpile.


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## chazcarr (Feb 17, 2016)

Wood Duck said:


> In the eastern US, a large all-black snake is probably a Black Racer or Black Rat Snake, which are a common native snakes. They can be six feet long sometimes. Not poisonous and probably eating a lot of rodents from your woodpile.



Well that is solved, definitely a Black Racer.  Snake was scary fast!


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## Dobish (Feb 17, 2016)

i haven't seen any in the woodpile, but they love to hang out either in my rock pile or under some flag stone. for a while, they made their way into the basement, and when I tore out the bathroom, I found that they had been sneaking in under the tub.... that was quickly taken care of.

One of them was under the fence when I was painting it, and I accidentally painted his tail gray....


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## BrotherBart (Feb 17, 2016)

Biggest one I have seen here was laying on top of one of the HP servers when I had my server farm and office in the basement. As far as the wood pile the only ones I have seen since Michelle, The Woodpile Panther, showed up one day are in her mouth offered to me as gifts.


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## TradEddie (Feb 17, 2016)

neverbilly said:


> Not poisonous, but venomous. What's the difference?



Poisonous means it'll kill or make you sick if you bite it. Venomous means it'll kill or make you sick if it bites you.

TE


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## neverbilly (Feb 17, 2016)

TradEddie said:


> Poisonous means it'll kill or make you sick if you bite it. Venomous means it'll kill or make you sick if it bites you.
> 
> TE



ah, good answer, lol. Makes sense, I wonder why everybody gets that wrong! Like pronouncing realtor, "real-a-tore?" Not exactly, but kinda.


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## AmbDrvr253 (Feb 17, 2016)

I HATE SNAKES. ALL SNAKES...... Venomous, poisonous, non poisonous, non venomous, does not matter.


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## StihlKicking (Feb 18, 2016)

taylorfarms said:


> Snakes are not a problem here , if we are getting wood off one of the farms with sandy soil when it is warm, hognose snakes will jump at you and scare the S^&T out of you but nothing that hurts you, one knocked our weiner dog/Rottweiler mix off his feet one time, only time I ever liked those snakes.


How the heck do you cross a Rottweiler with a wiener dog?[emoji1][emoji1][emoji1][emoji1]


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## FTG-05 (Feb 18, 2016)

Cats or rats, take your pick.  And if it's rats, get ready for the snakes that are going to be not far behind.  Rats and mice are the only reason a snake will come and stick around.

I have four shop cats, all fixed females.  They all have their areas of my +35 acre farm that they "specialize" in, with some overlap.  I've seen my kitties over 350 yards way down to the bottom of my hill, a couple hang out at my pole barn area, which is about 140 yards from the house and my neighbor's hunter (my UPS driver) has seen my cats over a half mile away from our house on the neighbor's property.

Every once in a while, I'll find a decapitated mouse head, but other than that, no rats or mice.  Every summer, I see a couple black snakes as they traverse the farm, but they don't stick around long.  Of course, it doesn't help that three of my four dogs are one year puppies and will catch and play with just about anything they can get a hold of.

My wife hates cats.  But she hates snakes even worse.  That's the only reason I can get away with having four cats, Ha! Ha! Ha!


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## Nick Mystic (Feb 18, 2016)

From what I've read and seen on TV younger, smaller snakes are more dangerous than those big six footers an earlier member commented on a friend seeing in his garage. It seems counter intuitive, but the reason makes sense. Venom is very important to a snake since it helps it defend itself and obtain food. Therefore, a mature snake knows to use it sparingly, but a young snake panics when it is feels threatened and if it strikes it will often dump its entire load of venom into its prey.


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## firestorm (Feb 19, 2016)

Just this week I came across this taking wood off the stack. Have seen 2 black snakes in the 4 foot range through out the summer aroung the wood piles. I'm not a lover of snakes and there is not much comparable to the adrenalin rush of suprising a large snake in the wood row. But with age has come tolerance and we get along.


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## Vikestand (Feb 19, 2016)

Had this guy hit my lace up boots while cutting wood last summer. Saved me from having a bad day. He's actually alive in the picture. Good teaching moment for the niece and nephew to identify the good from the bad. The second picture is a water snake that about gave me a heart attack. Put my hand down to pull back the tarp on my wood pile and there he was. Woooooo


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## Vikestand (Feb 19, 2016)

Huge supporter of snakes. They are great for barns and wood stacks. Just not a big fan of surprises


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## kennyp2339 (Feb 19, 2016)

That's my little Yeehaw, she's "getti em' "


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## Hasufel (Feb 19, 2016)

firestorm said:


> View attachment 175293
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> 
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My FiL in WNC says that black snakes are good to have because they help keep rattlesnakes away. He was helping us check out our retirement property there last fall and we came across a big black snake stretched out on the road sunning himself. Or herself, we didn't get close enough to check. FiL said that's a really good sign so we gave it a wide berth and left it soaking up the sun.


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## begreen (Feb 20, 2016)

Woman reported recently of finding a snake head in a can of green beans. I'd rather find it in the wood pile. 
http://fox59.com/2016/02/20/woman-finds-snake-head-in-can-of-green-beans/


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## CentralVAWoodHeat (Feb 20, 2016)

I have plenty of black snakes living in several of my piles.  I love it as they take care of all the little mice like creatures.  They also prey on copperheads.  It is illegal in the Commonwealth of Virginia to kill a snake, venomous or non-venomous so, even if you do encounter them, you have to just let them go about their business.


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## FTG-05 (Feb 20, 2016)

Well the snakes are out around here today!  Got just into the very low 60's and found this little guy right next to my neighbor's house.  We actually were standing there for about 2 minutes before I noticed it about 5' away.








Of course, we left it alone!  Harmless, except to little mice and rats and whatnot.


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## Oldman47 (Feb 20, 2016)

Cute little guy and better than your cat at keeping mice away from your stacks.


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## mass_burner (Feb 20, 2016)

I've seen some nests, jumbled mass of sticks, twigs, etc in the stacks of my covered shed. I'm assuming they are mice nests. Is it too cold for garter snakes now?


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## FTG-05 (Feb 21, 2016)

Oldman47 said:


> Cute little guy and better than your cat at keeping mice away from your stacks.



Not even close.

First, it wasn't in my stacks, it was about a quarter mile away right next to my neighbor's house.

Unless he just ate a mouse, he hasn't had one since probably Sept or Oct., if then.  Who knows how many my shop cats have eaten and/or killed in that time.

He eats one mouse, and he's pretty much done for the week, maybe five days at most, before he needs to eat again.  How many would my shop cats eat/kill in that 5-7 days?

Cats are far better mousers than any snake.  They have intelligence, which leads to the "thrill of the kill", something a reptile would never have.  And that's why cats will always be a better mice/rat killer than any snake or reptile.


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## beatlefan (Feb 21, 2016)

Nick Mystic said:


> Has anyone had much of a problem with snakes setting up shop in their woodpile? We live in western NC where copperheads are common and I usually kill a few each summer that get too close to the house. I  have two dogs and one of them has been bit twice by copperheads and I'm not keen on getting bit myself. I generally do not like killing things if it can be avoided, but I think poisonous snakes near the house are just too big a threat to leave alone.
> 
> I've often thought that the woodpiles are likely places where such snakes would find as a good home, but until this past week I never actually encountered any in them. Last week I picked up a nice piece of an oak limb in the woods on the way home from a morning hike with our dogs, so I carried it home to throw on my woodpile. As I was sliding it into an opening I saw a copperhead buried in between some splits with his head just poking out. It was about six inches from where my hand was! I tried shoving a piece of pipe in between the splits to get him, but he disappeared in a flash. A few days later we finally had some sun, so I decided to flit off the tarp covered piece of plywood I have on the end stack that doesn't have a permanent roof over it. When I did, the copperhead was lying right on top of the wood. He slowly slithered into the stack before I could do anything. I went back about a half hour later with a hoe, my weapon of choice for snake killing, and he was back sunning himself. I was able to get a clean whack at him and dispatch him.


We get copperheads around here. Best way I've found to keep them out of the wood pile is snake repellent, available at just about any hardware store.  And when I see a poisonous snake on my property, I kill it...period.


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## Jeffm1 (Feb 23, 2016)

jdp1152 said:


> I'm not keen on poisoning mammals in their natural environment.  Too many other animals eat them.  Insects and weeds are a different story.


I don't consider disease carrying vermin in MY wood pile or shed to be their environment. That's MY environment. And if they or what they carry can harm me or my children in OUR environment then death by any means necessary will come upon them swiftly and severely. That's the way it is. Like it or not. And if someone doesn't like that then TS.


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## mass_burner (Feb 23, 2016)

Jeffm1 said:


> I don't consider disease carrying vermin in MY wood pile or shed to be their environment. That's MY environment. And if they or what they carry can harm me or my children in OUR environment then death by any means necessary will come upon them swiftly and severely. That's the way it is. Like it or not. And if someone doesn't like that then TS.


That sounds familiar.


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## billb3 (Feb 23, 2016)

except for small birds looking for bugs I've never  found any animals in my stacks.
Little stashes of seeds here and there. Mice or chipmunks.
We have black racers. I've only found them soaking up the sun in the top of a  trimmed yew up against the house. They are gone in a flash. Other than that we have lots of garter snakes, I'll find them in the garden looking for a meal. I let them be. And ring neck snakes. 
Had a milk snake squeeze itself under the front door once poking around in the middle of the living room. Persuaded it outside  pushing it with a broom. Never saw it again.


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## Phoenix Hatchling (Feb 23, 2016)

jdp1152 said:


> Tick tubes are cardboard tubes with permethrin cotton balls in them. The mice take the cotton for their nests and it kills ticks for a few months.



Soooo...if I soak cotton string in permethrin instead, I would get rid of the feral cats?


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## pblormis (Feb 24, 2016)

A Few years back i was cut and splinting wood my wife was loading into the pickup when i hear her screaming I turn in time to see a piece of wood going one way and her the other, when i finely  got her calm down she told me that she had seen a  snake in a split  i found the piece and it was a milk snake went and look at the next piece i had cut from that tree and found one more. needless to say i did all the rest of loading that day by myself. I still laugh about to this day.


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## mass_burner (Feb 24, 2016)

I like snakes, I always catch a garter to pet when I see 'em. My daughter likes to see them too.


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