I have just encountered snake (garter) number 2 on my kitchen countertop! Now I am not about to lie about being someone who is going to be concerned about killing a snake that finds my kitchen a happy habitat. I live in Minnesota, we have just been through a long winter, but I cannot live with these things in my kitchen! We started seeing them about 3 years ago when a development began across the street - we first saw them in the basement in the fall, then spring, last fall was when I found the first one on my countertop. I am at my wits end!! They can live in my yard, but not in my home!!! We do have rock around the foundation and around the deck of our above-ground pool, We dont have much for heavy shrubs around the house and we keep them trimmed. There is an open field on ten acres next to us which Im sure has a nice population of mice. We have yet to find a mouse in our house, but thats likely because the snakes may be getting them. We thought we found how they were getting in, closed it off, didnt see any for a year, but now they are back. Now what? Do we have to dig up around the entire foundation to look for other entry points to get rid of them? Or should we get a cat or mouse traps, we also live where there is much marshy land, which the frogs/toads like. Help I am getting desperate!!!

Jack Russell terriers are some of the best snake killers around. They are just too energetic for an old dude like me. In Judy's case I would suggest a Rat Terrier. No kidding! If you live around an owner with Rat Terriers used for squirrel hunting, beg them for a puppy. These incredible little dogs are practically incapable of leaving a snake alive! I have seen many Rat Terriers and Beagles, from many hunters, that were bitten by Rattlers and Cottenmouths. Of all these bitten dogs, only one died, And, she was a beatutiful small female that was recovering from a very tough delivery of a litter, only the day before. I took her for a gentile walk, she spotted, smelled, or heard a very large Rattler about 40 yards away, and took off, by the time I got there, the snake was dead and she was bitten on the side of her face. She lasted 4 days, even in her weakened condition. Rat Terriers are the most lovable dogs, smart beyond belief, strong, and totally fearless. They will kill mice and rats continuously for great fun. Squirrels are right up their with mice and rats. Rat Terriers wake up happy and, stay that way all day. They live vigorous, and long healthy lives. But, all the sporting dogs I've been exposed to, seem to take snake bites with no permanent damage. Rats and mice are the lure. They can be discouraged. Prevent the rats and mice from getting to the animals food. Keep your animal feed enclosed. Feed only as much as they will eat in an hour or so. We started keeping our feed in thick plastic drums with tops that would latch down. Clean up areas where they might live. Our rat and mouse population plummeted and the snake problem went away. The Rat Terriers came years later.

Well, a power loss caused me to lose the post I was typing detailing the recent lions in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Anyone can read cougarnet.org to get the background behind them and the current situation. The difficulty around making official statements about cats being here can be shown by looking at the one best-known confirmation here in Oklahoma. It was a tagged cat that was born in the Black Hills of S. Dakota and managed to travel here in a few months time looking for its own territory (young male). It was killed by a train in northern Oklahoma after it's location had been recently pinpointed in North Dakota. What are authorities supposed to say to accurately provide information to Oklahomans and Kansans after that. The official statement is that we have occasional ones pass through but no resident ones except some possibly starting to make permanent homes in the far NW. There have been a few confirmation in other parts of the state that were not reported but they were more likely to be from the exotic pet trade than native, wild ones based on the evidence, so the wildlife people do not publicize them. The guy that killed the one in Kansas last year did so illegally, but got in almost no trouble because he cooperated and provided the remains to the wildlife people who were so eager to confirm the first one proven there in many years that they didn't press the issue. In Oklahoma btw you can kill any lion that is posing a danger to you or any livestock you own. It is perfectly legal. In fact, if you call the game warden in my local area to say you have one posing a danger to you or your animals, you will be told to kill it if needed and then call them back after you have. I'm sure there are many sightings in Oklahoma that are accurate and not mistaken identity, but the vast majority are incorrect. This is obvious by the fact that more black ones are reported than any other color, and there is no large black cat that exists anywhere near here except for the ones (not cougars) imported to this country as part of the exotic pet trade. That is absolute FACT. Even these are now heavily regulated so they are almost non-existent. Sorry, I have been out of town and didn't get a chance to read this thread the last few days. No hard feelings from this end. I just want people to know the facts of the situation. There is a big difference between being mistaken and lying. I am mistaken a lot, but I don't lie. Nobody is saying that most people who say they have seen cougars are liars, it is just mistaken identity. The truth should not offend anyone, and eventually when we start seeing evidence of resident populations, I will as happy as anyone. I think it is starting, but I think our population density combined with their needed size of home range will make it almost impossible for them to increase in population very much in most of Oklahoma. After all, between 20% and 30% of all the highly studied cougars in the remote Black Hills area were killed by autos over a three year period. BTW, I killed another pygmy rattlesnake last week!

Jo, any time you catch and release a critter, you can pretty well plan on it coming back. It's fine to be a humanitarian about it, just as long as you know that's what they're going to do. I think that some of them can beat you back to the property, and dumping them where they'll be a problem for someone else is not a very good plan either. I hate to have to shoot things, but there are times when it's really the only thing to do. Dawn, I know what you mean abut every day being an adventure. When I went out to check the tomatoes earlier, I found a small turtle that was feasting on a small fruit I had tossed aside. Not a terrapin. An actual turtle. I just left him alone. One of the more exciting things that happened is that I have a big bank of windows in front of my computer and around to the side, so I get a really good view of most of the pasture. One day during the heavy snow, in the middle of the afternoon, I saw something swoop down and grab a small prey and then fly up to the top of one of the sheds. I figured it was a hawk. Naturally, I got out the big binocs, because I wanted a closer look. Imagine my amazement when he turned his head and looked at me and I realized it was not a hawk at all. It was a huge owl, out hunting in mid-day! As far as those black snakes, we tried the artificial eggs, and I tried jamming the holes full of bird netting, and we shot a bunch of them. I was horrified to learn that they can kill a full-grown hen. My neighbor who raises chickens as a business is the one who told me what the problem was, after I had him come and look at a dead bird. What seemed to finally cut the population way down was when I put out that Snake Stopper powder. I've only done it once, and probably need to renew it pretty soon, but we haven't found a snake in the chickenhouse since then. Not that they can't come in and steal eggs and leave again. I just haven't seen any of them this summer. I scattered the powder when I figured snake season was about to begin, as soon as it really warmed up, and it seems to be working.. Pat