Wannabe Thief

Well, uh....

We have a double-header.

Went out to give the rabbits some frozen water bottles since it was so hot, and my roommate decided to check on the quail. He goes, "We have a guest," as he's looking at the top tier of the cage. I said, "At least we don't have two." He bends down, looks at the middle tier, crouches, looks at the bottom tier.... Long pause. "We have two snakes."

So we had to scramble to get another temporary bin set up. #1 is back, only 48 hours after we released him. He's not really as hungry as he thinks he is, I'm sure. He has to be cramped in the temp bin until we feed and release the other black rat snake. Haven't positively ID'd the other snake yet. Also, my camera ran out of batteries, so photos will have to wait, but there will be some.

I love this thread! Did that female ever lay? Or did she trick you?
Sorry about the quail you have lost, but you did make a few friends in the process

This is crazy. This week has been the Snakening or something. We fed one of the two we found yesterday, and when we went out to check on the quail today we saw something black in the grass about 15' away from the cage... yep, a black rat snake. So we had to let one of the guests go so we could bring in this new guest. We've never seen him before. He's a biiiiig boy, and badly beat up. Lots of scars. A very sweet-natured snake, as always. He's getting fed tonight, so I'll take pictures once he digests.

So cool!! The Snakening!!

I think at this point they may be getting caught intentionally.

It's taken me a bit to be able to get back to my computer. Here's a couple of pictures of our scarred visitor. He was such a sweetheart, although he did try to go down my shirt.

#1 continues to musk us every time we deal with him. It's gone from flailing to ninja musk, though. We'll be holding him, he's all calm, tail goes *wiiiiiiipe*, and then we smell it. Brat.

Our quail eater, #4, shed. Has a month and a half of steady meals and a comfy home improved his temper any?

Answer:

bryanb said:

I think at this point they may be getting caught intentionally.

Click to expand...

Positive reinforcement, aka adding something desirable following the performance of a specific behavior would tend to agree with you, as would I.

Aozora said:

#1 continues to musk us every time we deal with him. It's gone from flailing to ninja musk, though. We'll be holding him, he's all calm, tail goes *wiiiiiiipe*, and then we smell it. Brat.

Click to expand...

Snake, thy name is Damien.

I really love this thread. I'm sorry you've lost quail in the process and that the threat continues, but I love meeting your unrepentant thieves.

It's like this:






The guy said after shooting the video, he fed them 100 juicy worms. They are obviously accustomed to coming in for feeding.

Actually, that great video (loved it!) inspired an idea. If these snakes truly are catching on to the idea that breaking into the quail building gets them fed -- and I think they are -- then you can use this learned behavior to your advantage.

They have come to associate your general area, your quails, and you with a convenient meal. With a little work, you can get them to move to an alternate, more desirable location (one that keeps your quail out of harm's way). If you figure out a way to block the snakes' access to the quail completely and bait something nearby with a f/t meal (like an open bin?), you can gradually move your bait to another location. This will hopefully teach them that the easier meal, and the one that keeps them out and about at that, is the new location...and they'll leave your quail alone. (I wrote a behavioral analysis term paper a few semesters ago on this concept in practice and aced it...it's good stuff!)

Just a thought. It takes some time, some effort, and some food, but it could be worth it. In my experience, it works!

It's not just the quail--I have rabbits too, and chickens. The chickens are in a tractor I move around from day to day, so the snakes look for them in a different spot every day. At this point, my whole property is basically covered in road flares, fireworks, and spotlights to a breed of snake that specializes in birds and small mammals.

I thought the black rat snakes had gone into brumation because we'd had a cold snap, but the last couple of days have had highs in the 80s and I was wondering if I'd see anyone again. I went out to check on the animals, came around back of the rabbit shed, and almost stepped on on #1. He thoroughly musked me just to remind me who's really boss here, and has settled comfortably back into his favorite hide to await his next free meal.

He was after kits again. Another one of my rabbits has nine 2-week-old babies, and he was going after the rabbits instead of the quail. This mama rabbit is even bigger than the other doe, and although she's a little sweeter she would not hesitate to defend her kits. I think I keep saving #1 from his own stupidity--rabbits can really hurt something if they want to.

So I may have found where some of the snakes are living. Was walking around the house, when my roommate saw something unusual sticking from under the siding. We look a little closer, and it was a scaly black rat snake tail. Of course the snake disappeared under the house when we pulled up the siding to take a look. There's no mistake though, it's a black rat snake. He can't get into the house, so it's all good.