Hi I am new here, I have posted maybe 1 or 2 times. I also have had a rattlesnake in my garden. I hate those things I am so scared of those I am sometines to scared to go out into the garden. We have had 1 rattler and 3 king snakes in the 10 years I have lived here but that one rattler was enough to really scare me. He was right outside the back door when I walked out he was behind a flower pot. I realize the Kings are harmless. I don't know how you were brave enough to put that snake in the bucket. We just had a man in my area die a few weeks ago from a rattlesnake bite. I guess I am the only one who finds them ugly, and since I have kids I want them as far away from my house as possible. I hate to say, we had to kill the one that we had it was pretty big. We are not snake wranglers and these snakes are not something one wants to fool around with, When I heard that man here died I was shocked. I am glad your cat is ok. I have a few cats that are the neighbors that roam my yard which I am glad for, hoping they will scare away the snakes so I do not have to hurt them, because I will not handle a live snake and relocate it, I am just not that experienced, and no one will come here and do it for me. I did not even want to look at your picture but I did, ewwwww I got the chills. Be careful, Carrie

I'm no fool, I don't like the poisonous ones. But other than that I'm not afraid of snakes. But I do understand phobias since I have one with cockroaches (go figure that I stay here in Florida!) Anyway, last week while in the veggie patch, I noticed the dog growling and jumping at something. Sure enough, it was a HUGE striped rat snake. I made her stop since it's harmless and I don't want her messing with snakes since we have killed rattle snakes here. Later on that afternoon I go to the chicken coop to gather eggs, I opened up the hatch to the nesting boxes and this snake is inside one of them, trying to swallow a golf ball, with a real egg laying right beside it. So I grab a stick and try to sweep it out of the coop, the stick is brittle and keeps breaking off. I finally get it out of the coop on the ground, still the golf ball is in it's mouth. So I go to look for the pitchfork only to pick it up and move it off the property - when I get back it is gone - the golf ball lying there where it finally managed to spit it out. So I'm searching for it, can't believe it disappeared so fast. Then I looked up in a close-by tree and there it is, out on a limb, sticking it's tongue out at me. So I gave up for about and hour and went back to check the coop - it's back in there AGAIN trying to swallow another golf ball. I chased it back and forth all over that chicken coop but it got away through the chicken wire and into another tree. The next time I will get a pair of gloves on and snatch that sucker up and dispense with him to the neighbor's property.

I certainly hope you don't take it out on the snake; what we're doing here is attracting hummingbirds in locations and concentrations that would not normally exist. It's only natural that you will attract predators, if they're around. We're also making it easier for the predators, in my opinion, w/ the feeders w/ perches. Yes, my feeders have perches, too- I'm not judging, just making an observation. I would try to hang the feeders in such a way that they wouldn't support anything else besides the feeder and the birds. ALso, maybe hang them more out in the open, maybe on a long thin metal wire hanger, from something high above. Good luck! :)

As long as there is food (rodents, chicks, eggs) you will have snakes. If you let the ratsnake live, it leaves less food available for venomous species.