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Reptiles & Amphibians

Do snakes eat LARGE koi fish?

11 years ago

Hi - I live in southeast GA where we have plenty of snakes in this part of the country. I am an animal lover but unforunately, terrified of snakes. I do know that I am not likely to be bitten as long as I watch where I step and leave them alone. My dogs are my concern! I have a koi pond where several of the fish are about 18" or larger, however, there are a few smaller ones in there.

A while back we had 2 of the smaller fish go missing within a short period of time. They were probably about 8 - 10". I thought raccoon, heron...however, neither very likely in my yard. Yet I have seen snakes around the koi pond and there was one there yesterday (didn't get a good enough look to tell what type, it slithered into bushes.)

What type of snakes are most likely to eat koi, can they eat ones the size of the ones that went missing, and do venemous snakes eat koi? My doggy run is not far from the koi pond and that is my biggest concern! I have 3 curious dogs who are my family and I would be devastated if any of them were bit by a poisonous snake. There is no emergency vet out here in the country... :o(

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Comments (3)

jimmy2010
11 years ago
It was probably some type of mammal that caused your large koi to go missing. It could have been a heron or there is a slight chance they were eaten by a water snake if you live near water. Only water snakes and garter snakes would go after fish. There's probably at least 4 species of nonvenemous water snakes in GA plus the water mocassin. They're much better at catching frogs than healthy good size fish. A her0n though would have no problem.
User
11 years ago
An 8-10" fish is easily swallowed by a heron, hauled off by a raccoon, or eaten (with difficulty) by a really BIG water snake. Herons find koi ponds to be like a fast food drive through if the ponds don't have a place for the fish to hide. They can spot fish as they fly over and wqill land to check it out.

The small snakes you see near the pond are attracted by the smaller wildlife, such as the bugs, the frogs, and minnows.
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curlyrebel
11 years ago
Most likely the victim of a raccoon. Or feral cat highly unlikely a snake was the predator...even a turtle could've been the guilty party....but like I said mot likely a raccoon,cat or Herron

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