Cats vs. Snakes ?

[Wewild]

my cats love to play with snakes. the snakes eventually high tail it if they make it and dont come back.

Sometimes they don't get away. Present from the cats.

 

[GMN]

:shock: Just because you hate snakes or have ophidiophobia does not mean this is wrong. Rat snakes are a LOT less dangerous to people than cats, dogs and other "cute" animals. But if my pictures bother you that much, I'll remove them. :roll:

A typical ophidiophobic would not only fear them when in live contact but also dreads to think about them or even see them on TV or in pictures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophidiophobia

Don't remove them, not everyone on here dislikes snakes, I myself am fascinated with them.

GMN

 

[TexasBred]

Naw...leave'em on here...just quit putting them on the baby. Now when the baby ever does see a poisonous snake he/she will think it's a play thing.

 

[starlinka]

my cats love to play with snakes. the snakes eventually high tail it if they make it and dont come back.

Sometimes they don't get away. Present from the cats.

It's just a baby rat snake. They are ONLY dangerous to mice and good to have around. I don't think the cat would be that brave with a real poisonous snake. Myself, I don't think cats should be used for "snake control". They'll kill the good snakes, along with birds and other small animals, but the really bad and dangerous snakes would still be there.

 

[starlinka]

Don't remove them, not everyone on here dislikes snakes, I myself am fascinated with them.

GMN

I removed it yesterday because I thought people didn't like it. But I might put it back! The snake was REALLY gentle and if I had not caught it myself, I would thought it was a pet snake (I also washed the snake before I let the baby play with it). People, who think it was wrong, can check out these links
http://myfwc.com/nonnatives/amnestyDay2007.html
http://www.burlington.lib.ia.us/youth/C ... mmer05.htm
http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showth ... p?p=132916

 

[kerley]

Starlinka, Does your baby know the difference between the harmless rat snake and a baby rattler, cotton mouth, copperhead ? I,m not sure the baby does. I know my little two year old grand daughter does not. You are her mother and I guess it is your decision. Just my thoughts. Tom :cboy:

 

[starlinka]

I don't think it would be a problem. By the time he is old enough to play outside by himself, he will know the difference.
I also have a German shepherd that plays with the baby. You can say the same thing - he will not know the difference and will play with EVERY big dog he meets ;-)

 

[kerley]

Starlinka, You are correct, dogs will play with other dogs. Children also play, but not with snakes. I don't have a dog in this fight so you continue your way. I wish you well and your child lots of good luck. Tom :cboy:

 

[ToddFarmsInc]

Snakes eyh?.....

Here's a shot I took a couple years ago just right outside my back door. This is a pair of mating black snakes. (those are the ones I like to put out in my barn to catch mice. I'm guessing these two are about 4 - 5 foot long.)

and this is what they looked like afterwards....

:cowboy:


LOL ;-)

 

[starlinka]

Starlinka, You are correct, dogs will play with other dogs.

I really confused here... I don't understand what you mean. I said kids play with dogs, when they have a pet dog in the house. But it don't mean they will go play with neighbor's guard rottweiler just because they are use to playing with a dog.

Children also play, but not with snakes.

They do - have you checked my links above? And this "play" is supported by government institutes. Snakes are very popular pets, sold in almost every pet store and are kept in houses around children and adults . There is nothing unusual about that.

 

[starlinka]

Here's a shot I took a couple years ago just right outside my back door. This is a pair of mating black snakes.

Cool! I've never seen them mating, thanks for the picture!

 

[Lammie]

If I didn't have the chickens, I wouldn't mind the snakes, honestly. And as long as they stay away from my chickens and eat the mice, then they can stay. I had a HUGE rat snake that lived in the corner of the barn at my last house. I let him be and he kept the rats out of the barn. Snakes around here seem to think that my hen houses are a buffet dinner, which is natural, I suppose. But I really don't want to touch the things. I had one in the garage of my last house when I was renting it out, and my then BF went over there, picked it up and moved it away from there.

I got nothing against snakes. They are a part of the natural order of things. But I don't want them in the house or around the animals and certainly not around the baby. I taught my sons to respect living things and not to just be fearful of things with which they were unfamiliar. I also taught them that wild animals should be left alone.

 

[starlinka]

If I didn't have the chickens, I wouldn't mind the snakes, honestly. And as long as they stay away from my chickens and eat the mice, then they can stay.

I also have chickens, and I don't mind if snakes eat a few eggs, but I have 14 birdhouses and a lot of birdnests in the bushes and I can't allow them to eat all those baby birds This is why if I see a snake this time of year, I relocate it. I wouln't keep one in the house because I also have pet birds.
Here is another picture of the snake I found in the birdnest. He ate one baby, but because I had a video camera in the nest, I saw it happen and was there in time to save the rest.

 

[3waycross]

If I didn't have the chickens, I wouldn't mind the snakes, honestly. And as long as they stay away from my chickens and eat the mice, then they can stay.

I also have chickens, and I don't mind if snakes eat a few eggs, but I have 14 birdhouses and a lot of birdnests in the bushes and I can't allow them to eat all those baby birds This is why if I see a snake this time of year, I relocate it. I wouln't keep one in the house because I also have pet birds.
Here is another picture of the snake I found in the birdnest. He ate one baby, but because I had a video camera in the nest, I saw it happen and was there in time to save the rest.

Yes I relocate them also. I take them to the same place as all of the (songbird and gamebird eating) feral cats. They all get their own little Harps to play and are happy all the time.

Before all the cat lovers go nuts, I'll admit I have a Siamese cat that I like a lot. She stays in the house and doesn't bother other people or eat birds, and the only snakes I kill are Rattle snakes.

 

[Wewild]

my cats love to play with snakes. the snakes eventually high tail it if they make it and dont come back.

Sometimes they don't get away. Present from the cats.

It's just a baby rat snake. They are ONLY dangerous to mice and good to have around. I don't think the cat would be that brave with a real poisonous snake. Myself, I don't think cats should be used for "snake control". They'll kill the good snakes, along with birds and other small animals, but the really bad and dangerous snakes would still be there.

You seem a bit uptight over snake killings. The cats do what they do just as snakes. I can't train a cat to kill selected animals. I sure like that they work on the rodents.

 

[starlinka]

The cats do what they do just as snakes.

But unlike snakes, cats are not in their native habitat!

they differ from wild predators in three important ways: First, people protect cats from disease, predation and competition, factors that can control numbers of wild predators, such as bobcats, foxes, or coyotes. Second, they often have a dependable supply of supplemental food provided by humans and are, therefore, not influenced by changes in populations of prey. Whereas populations of native predators will decline when prey becomes scarce, cats receiving food subsidies from people remain abundant and continue to hunt even rare species. Third, unlike many native predators, cat densities are either poorly limited or not limited by territoriality [19]. These three factors allow domestic cats to exist at much higher densities than native predators. In some parts of rural Wisconsin, densities of free-ranging cats reach 114 cats per square mile. In these areas, cats are several times more abundant than all mid-sized native predators (such as foxes, raccoons, skunks) combined. With abundant food, densities can reach over 9 per acre, and cats often form large feeding and breeding "colonies" (81 cats were recorded in one colony, and colonies of over 20 are not uncommon) [20, 21]. Unlike some predators, a cat's desire to hunt is not suppressed by adequate supplemental food. Even when fed regularly by people, a cat's motivation to hunt remains strong, so it continues hunting [22].

http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/speaker3.html

 

[TexasBred]

When a dam snake is in my yard he's not in his native habitat either and if I see him he doesn't get the opportunity to return to his native habit. Had a copperhead crawling across the patio last month. A 12 guage sent half of him west and the other half east. :banana:

 

[gerardplauche]

Same here. Anytime I SEE snake, one of us will not leave the meeting... :cowboy:

 

[starlinka]

When a dam snake is in my yard he's not in his native habitat either

You're confused - The snake IS native here, and unless you are a Native American, you're the one whos not in your native habitat. I would not let a poisonous snake stay in my yard either, but I would not kill a harmless animal (rat snake, etc.) and then be proud of what I had done.

 

[gerardplauche]

When a dam snake is in my yard he's not in his native habitat either

You're confused - The snake IS native here, and unless you are a Native American, you're the one whos not in your native habitat. I would not let a poisonous snake stay in my yard either, but I would not kill a harmless animal (rat snake, etc.) and then be proud of what I had done.

This sounds like a PETA commercial :lol: