war

It has been a very hard few days.  My heart is very heavy as I report that the snakes here have eaten virtually every frog, tadpole, and froglet in the pond.  I thought it was just one juvenile snake, but, no, I looked out the window one day and saw no less than four snakes, maybe five....and....nothing else but the goldfish, Large Marge and George.  Three of the snakes were large, very large.  These were frog-eating snakes, not tadpole-eating snakes.  The baby snakes were eating the tadpoles and froglets.  The bigger snakes have been eating the frogs.  I have basically created a frog smorgasbord for a very large family of garter snakes.  Large Marge and George have weathered the storm, but the loss of all those tadpoles and froglets and small frogs is simply devastating.  Nature is very cruel.  I had taken pictures of froglets, but since they are gone, I cannot bear to share them right now. There was also a baby lizard who liked to hang out but he is gone, too. 

Meanwhile, I was able to scoop one tiny froglet out of the pond.  Just one.  I put him in a 20 gallon aquarium with some rocks, pond water, some lily pads and some moss.  Poor baby.  All alone in the world.

Later, I found a solitary tadpole.  I scooped him up, too.  They are safe inside, with a lamp above them, keeping them warm. 

Make no mistake, this is war. I had thought that perhaps I could catch that little snake (when I thought it was just one.) On Saturday, I had a pair of kitchen tongs, some rubber gloves and a bucket and tried to catch it, but it was too fast. I then called the local snake expert, Tim Cole, who has a snake relocation and education service and he suggested minnow traps, which are basically a jar that minnows swim into and then get caught in because they can't figure out the exit hole.  So, Monday, I bought a couple of minnow traps and baited them with night crawlers.

Unfortunately, that's when I saw that I had a whole nest of snakes, probably living underneath the pond liner where it is cool and damp.  These snakes are too big for kitchen tongs, rubber gloves or even minnow traps.  I spoke to my neighbor, who kindly lent me his .38 revolver, loaded with snake shot and told me he liked to have it ready when he was at his ranch.  I was ready to use it, but my husband asked me to stop in at the gun store and at least learn how to shoot a gun, as my only experience with firearms has been with a 12 gauge shotgun.  When I stopped by the gun store, I went ahead and bought some snake shot for the 12 gauge.  I also put a nice sharp shovel next to the pond.

War. It isn't pretty.  I tried diplomacy.  I really did, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. 

Oh -- and one other thing, on Sunday, I put a little statue of St. Martin de Porres next to the pond.  He is the patron saint of veterinarians as he had the first pet clinic in the 16th century and is pictured with animals all around him. He was also the first Black saint and the patron saint of interracial couples. I asked him for special help to save the frogs and fish.

Retaliation Begins

This is the little snake. Not angry, just upset.  The bigger snake wanted to kill me.

This morning, I stepped out onto the porch to leave an overripe peach to attract some fruitflies for our little froglet.  I saw the baby snake's tail on the rocks as he was slithering into the pond.  Slowly, I put on a rubber glove and I GRABBED HIM BY THE TAIL!! EEEEEEEKKKKKK!   He swung around and I dropped him into a bucket.  YES!  I started making preparations to take him to the herpe store.  I hoped that I could donate him and he would live his life in a little glass house where some little Alfred E. Neuman kid would stare at him and poke at him.  As I was set to leave, I saw another, larger snake in the pond. Emboldened, I realized that that his head was hidden by a rock and he could not see me, so I grabbed at him, and he swam away, but I was persistant and I GOT HIM.  He was quite a bit bigger though and swung up and tried to strike at me.  I found another bucket and threw him in. This snake was angry. He hissed and struck.

I didn't have a lid for the second bucket, which housed the angry, larger snake, so I taped some plastic over the top.  I admit it, I was a little terrified. Snakes are scary, even little ones.  I thought about putting them in the trunk, but if the buckets fell over, well, can you imagine two loose snakes in your car? As I was leaving, I saw another snake in the rocks, but I was out of buckets and had reached my "totally skeeved out" limit.

At Herpeton, the local store that deals with snakes, the nice guy there there said that they could not sell native snakes, but that they usually released them into the wild or called State Wildlife to take them to release them into a park.  Darn.  I had sort of hoped they would have to live as pets.   Revenge.

This is the larger snake, safely placed into a container for relocation.  He was striking and swinging around and whipping around this enclosure.   They put the smaller snake in a separate container because they were afraid this guy would bite him or eat him.  I am glad he doesn't live at my house any more. He looks innocent here, but I caught him as he was momentarily still, as I thought I was just taking a picture.

So, now I am ready.  I have fought back and this is no longer a one-sided war.   I have my weapons.  I have resolve.  At this point, I saved two of the snakes. If I have to do something more drastic to the others, so be it.   Baby frog and tadpole will receive special care and hopefully, they will survive and be members of our family.