OMG! Mimi...If I found a snake in my bb box, or ANYWHERE, I probably wouldn't live to tell about it!!! I'll leave the "snake" question to the experts, but I think your blues will probably return and start building again. Please keep us posted!

Donna

Mimi, is your nestbox equipped with a predator baffle mounted on the pole below it?

Kathy

Hi Mimidi
If you dont put the netting the snake will return he knows now where to get a
fast easy meal. I use the netting for the first time last year and even here in the northeast snakes are a problem for our bluebirds. Netting is popular in southern states where snakes are a major problem and used by many Martin
landlords that is where i got the idea. Trust me it works in box's with bluebird chicks just tie around post and the snakes will try and pass thur and get stuck
If you want cut the snake free a few miles away. I loose 20% of my bluebirds
to snakes there more common than people think.
The netting is saving many bluebirds. PVC pipe does not work the snakes
can climb them any lenth. And some Racoons also. Ray

DH and I moved the birdhouse yesterday afternoon. I have it mounted on a tree which I realize was a open invitation for a snake. It had been there three years. We remounted the box at the top of a 4x4 pvc post that is used as part of my fence.

Can I just go into any garden center and ask for garden netting? I do know the pvc will not the snakes. I just want to slow them down until I can get some netting.

I found this snake trap. Now to get some built.

Here is a link that might be useful: Snake Trap

Mimi, the snake trap is fine as long as you monitor it. If a snake becomes trapped, you must be nearby to release it or it can become entangled and die. Instead, I recommend that you baffle your nestboxes--I use the stovepipe baffle on all 35+ nestboxes that I monitor and I have never lost an egg, nestling or adult bird to a climbing predator. The stovepipe I use is 6" in diameter and 24" long . . . others use 8" diameter stovepipe. It is important to install the baffles so that they wobble as this keeps climbing predators such as raccoons from being able to shimmy up to the nestbox. I also recommend using the hardware cloth (as shown on the link below) as this entices snakes to climb inside the baffle towards daylight. Since they cannot get through the hardware cloth, they become frustrated and leave.
I know for certain that there are snakes at all my nestbox locations, including the ones here at the house, and I also know that these baffles work and are doing their job!
Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Predator Baffles

Agreeing with the others, but also to answer your question "Will the bluebirds come back?"
If there is a snake in the box, or trapped, or even dead, the bluebirds will not likely return. If the snake has taken eggs, or young, the bluebirds will not likely return because of the failed nesting, and will most likely try to nest again elsewhere. A snake who has found a meal can learn just like other creatures, and is likely to return. If the snake is unsuccessful, and leaves, the bluebirds will most likely resume their duties at the nestbox.
Be sure your nestbox has been cleaned, so that a predator is not attracted by smells. Once nesting has begun, you can prevent snake predation, and not kill the snake, with the predator baffle that Kathy recommended. That seems to me the best solution for all concerned, because snakes are very beneficial to the environment, as well as food for bluebirds. Did you know that bluebirds will eat small snakes? Yep, they do.
Bluebars

We cleaned out the box and moved it but on looking at the new location I realize it not in a good place. If I used the snake trap it will be checked several times a day because I am outside much of the day.
I will check out the baffle that Kathy recommends too.

Mimidi,
I would not bother with the snake trap,it will not stop other climbing predators,Go with the Stove pipe baffle it will stop most if not all.Just my 2 cents

Matt

Here is some information from The Texas Bluebird Society newsletter, Vol 7 Issue 1 about how to keep snakes from climbing a PVC pipe.

"Slip a 5-foot section of 4" diameter PVC pipe over the EMT conduit pole on which nestboxes are mounted. Then, according to instructions provided by Dan Hanan, paint the PVC with a grease mixture (4 parts gun grease to 1 part motor oil) in a successful effort to prevent snake predation.

At the end of the nesting season, remove the grease by taking a piece of old cloth (about 30" x 6" in size) and soaking the middle in gasoline. Then holding it by its ends, I loop it around the pole (1 turn, 180 degrees) and pull it back and forth while working the cloth up and down the full length of the pole. A second clean cloth with a bit of gasoline cleans the pole up nicely. It is messy. ÂDH"

Linda C

I think a stovepipe baffle would be best - no grease, no monitoring, no maintenance. That's what I have used.