Hi Lori Dont waste your time and money the wax will work only for a few wks.... Invest in garden netting that will stop snakes you can but the netting at home Depot the netting with 1/2 inch holes.. wrap around pole with plastic wire ties. Cheap and the role of netting will go far. I have saved many bluebirds over the years. I used PVC waxed and it just caused failures. You will find trapped snakes alive too and must cut them loose if you can. Snakes trapped are often food for vultures. ---Ray

20 PAIRS?! Count yourself lucky there Ray! I only have 6 boxes and two nestbox pairs and I am lucky to get more than 2 pairs. Plus, the Tree Swallow population seems to only be growing. They're as much of tyrants as House Sparrows! Without all the murder that is! I do enjoy their company and cooperation nesting aside my bluebirds. Ray, you must realize that that's A LOT of bluebirds! I know you have a large trail, and I'm only a backyard bluebirder, but you're truly fortunate! And to be able to work with these birds for 23 years? LUCKY!!!! I'm an extremely young bluebirder who might have to move to keep life going. Every day with these birds is precious. If I move away I have to adapt to the possibility of not having ANY bluebirds! This is only my 6th season and next year might be my last year with them for a while. I'm a young adult looking into college. If I do leave for that reason, I wouldn't keep my boxes up if someone doesn't manage them! That would be disastrous! To also mention one hell of a war I've put up against my local HOSP! Here in Ohio, any sunny drive during the day in the country finds a male or female bluebird perched atop the electric wires. Within a few miles is another pair. Also, realize that Bluebirds' nesting territory is HUGE!! Tree Swallows nest within 100 feet of each other! The swallow project website brings up a big fact...we will probably never get bluebirds back to their original population levels. There is simply too many HOSP, too much development, too many Starlings, etc. Be fortunate for what you have! How can one manage/afford all these nestboxes? It amazes me. Especially those with full time jobs!! Good luck as well. Enjoy the bluebirds you have. They're beautiful and amazing. But you simply can't have blues colonize like Martins, who, to me, seem to be even less of! They require much more specific requirements! Enjoy our amazing Bluebirds. They're one of a kind. ~Tim~

Hello M. We don't have much of a snake problem here in the woods of West Michigan, those that we do have get plenty of critters on the ground. I can only tell you that the parents visiting is a good sign. Do you have meal or waxworms out for them? There is a lot of growing to be done in a week and every day increases their chances. Go to www.sialis.org. There is a spot there that shows pictures "from egg to fledgling" It will help you determine the age a little better. It is common for the parents to try to save the babies by calling them out of a dangerous situation, at least they have a chance protecting them on the ground where as they would surley be doomed by the snake. My understanding is they will save themselves first knowing they can have a next nesting. Are they feeding these babies when they visit? If they are feeding them you could be ok. I suggest getting in touch with a rehabber now, you may need to call several. Put sombody on allert that you may need assistance with these babies. At the bottom of the sialis website is Bet's (website author) contact info...she is very helpful. I would also locate a good source for wax worms (bait shops) if you dont have some on hand already. Come back tomorrow and let us know what is going on. Good Luck and Baby prayers!

I am sooooooooooo sorry, I will finish the story for you. Got to tell you what we found that night, what was so 'surprising': [This is after we watched the fledgling video several times and saw a shadow across the outdoor camera lens...] We decided that we had better go outside and check the yard to make sure there were no fledglings on the ground before we let our 4 dogs out for the night. Two of our dogs have birding instincts. By this time, it was pitch black (after 9pm). And thanks to our list's researchers, we know there was no moonlight. We each took a flashlight and went out the back door, Dave went one way, I went the other. I headed toward nest box and as I was walking past it, my light caught something out of the corner of my eye that didn't fit ...I saw something on the TOP of the outdoor camera. I YELLED to Dave "It's a snake!!!!!!!!!!!!!". As he was coming to me, he told me to get a reacher [a device used to help folks pick up things beyond their reach], which I gladly did so I could get away from the snake. I grabbed a digital camera but I was too shaky to set it to flash so I don't have a picture from then. This snake was coiled up on top of the outdoor camera!! Coiled twice or three times, it looked HUGE! What first ran through my mind was that the camera might be warm, especially since it'd been on all day. Is the warmth what attracted him? Don't snakes work that way? I've seen Dave try to get a snake we saw in the spring with the reacher and he wasn't successful. Where am I at this time, you ask? Halfway across the yard of course! As Dave extends the reacher toward the snake, it extends its head and body in the other direction as it tried to span the distance between the top of the camera to the underside of one of the patio umbrellas. Just like in the jungle movies. Eeeekkkkk! Reacher-with-snake in one hand, flashlight in his mouth, Dave's moving toward me to grab a plastic bucket that has straight sides and a lid but the lid had a hole in it. I'm screaming "He's going to get out of there, there's a damn hole in the lid!" and my 'Snake Rangler' said "He can't climb up the sides!". I finally edge slowly toward the bucket. As I peeked into the it, flashlight on the snake, I started yelling again "It's got diamonds, diamonds...look at the head...it's triangular...it's a rattler." We have rattlers in these parts. I've not seen any, thank goodness, but some of the male neighbors enjoyed regaling me with stories of them when we first moved here. That and little scorpions which unfortunately I've seen in our basement. I digress. Dave took the snake bucket to the yard past the gate so the dogs wouldn't get at it. He put a flat stone on top of the hole. It took me some time to get to sleep. Of course, I was seeing the snake reaaaccchiiinnnggggg out to me. But I was mostly wondering if the snake was attracted to the warmth of the camera. I didn't say I was thinking logically that night. I was concerned that if the snake was attracted to the heat of the outdoor camera which is the same as the IN BOX camera, are nest boxes with those cameras putting our chicks in danger??? === That's where my head was that night. Keith Kridler, expert and nice guy, identified the snake as a rat snake. They can crawl up ANYTHING, they have good eyesight and probably was watching the nest box for days, and can detect vibration. You know what it's like when a box of 5 15 day old chicks start to flapping their wings and all that kind of activity. Amazing, huh???? Linda...