just saw snake in my livingroom

[Illum]

Illum, while those traps you mention sound like they might work well. Some of those sound rather dangerous if someone has small children. If a child somehow comes across a glue trap you could get it off of them fairly easily.

Maybe worth looking into for a single person or a couple without children...

oh right, there involves children

 

[TedTheLed]

If only they made a glue trap big enough for children.. just kidding.

if you happen to have kids or anyone with small arms and a child-like curiosity --

you can put the spring-trap in a BOX, with a little hole in it for mr rat.
see how that works?

and I tried the electric ones; they're aroud $60. , they didn't last long, developing shorts that required scrubbing, and they don't hurt humans, or cats (cats can't get in the tunnel -- though I suppose a kitten could)

 

[hank]

> mothballs

Erm ... they used to be thought of as safe.

http://www.epa.gov/ttnatw01/hlthef/naphthal.html

 

[JonN06]

I could see a small armed curious individual sticking their arm into the box...

You could buy a shotgun, and just check the glue traps every half hour? :thinking:

 

[TedTheLed]

..not if the hole is small enough..

..you did mean small-armed right? not small armed like in 'armed and dangerous' ?
this is an important distinction to make in order to be understood.

I mean, suppose you order a bowl of oatmeal with molasses,
and they brought you oatmeal with the furry hindquarters of a burrowing mammal? that would be bad.

same problem with hot dog buns...ya can't be too careful.

 

[JonN06]

I've seen rats wider than small children's arms. I was going for the actual arms of the children, not the armed and dangerous children. I think small children should only be shooting at things they can see, and not sticking their firearms into ratholes. That would be improper.

However, I do agree with you on the hot dog buns and oatmeal. :thumbsup:

 

[Illum]

I could see a small armed curious individual sticking their arm into the box...

You could buy a shotgun, and just check the glue traps every half hour? :thinking:

you know the splatters flies and mosquitoes displace when they get zapped? A shotgun will not only amplify that a hundred fold, but your local flooring specialist will love to give you a quote on replacement slabs


only place where I've tried glue traps was to smear some bananas in the middle and hang it up U shaped in the garage...you'd be amazed what you can catch on a hot summer day

 

[Monocrom]

Come to the southern tip of Manhattan island, I'll show you rats that could easily devour Paris Hilton. Not her little tiny poodle that she carries around in her purse. The rats down there are far bigger than her pet. A family of rats could easily chase down Paris Hilton, and make a meal out of her. Ironically, there are some very opulant apartment buildings in that section of Manhattan. She's probably been down there a few times already.

 

[TedTheLed]

judging by the satisfied grins on the rat's faces I'd assume she turned the tables on 'em.
devoured, indeed..

 

[JonN06]

Well I sure hope the OP took care of their snake problem. Any updates? Was the snake to be heard from or seen again?

 

[Linger]

I don't necessarily think glue traps are all that cruel. It just sucks when you realize after setting them up how many insect/pests come across them.

Well I've seen the glue trap work on a mouse.
(Quick re-cap, first mouse dead in a trap, no sign of snake.)
The next night while my g/f and I were strategizing in the office, the dastardly 2nd mouse attempted to infiltrate our meeting. The mouse was doing well, it had had penetrated security and managed to avoid both cheese and peanut butter traps in the kitchen to gain successful entry to the office where it hid under the computer (I have the tower raised for circulation). I was looking at my laptop, my partner had just turned around from the desk when, for reasons unknown, the mouse ran over her foot.
She yelled 'Snake!' and I set an un-modded M@g3D in motion towards her feet, but all we saw was a little tuft of fur running for cover. She quickly changed her I.D. to mouse and we tried to herd it out the sliding door but it ducked into the office closet instead. Stupid mouse.
This is the best, my partner said 'put the trap in there to kill it." How to explain to an excited woman that the traps are not offensive weapons, that traps need calm settings when the mouse is forraging, that there was no way this little suicide mouse was going to interupt her escape and evasion to stick her little neck out for a tasty treat.
We tried to catch the mouse with buckets and bins, but we did not.
We kept her pinned behind a book shelf, and brought out the sticky trap. And, to appease my partner, I brought the mouse trap out too. Bait trap was placed next to book shelf, glue trap between wall and back of computer desk along the mouses only exit route. And then my partner and I stood silent, waiting, waiting for the mouse to decide we'd left and that it was safe to emerge. A few short minutes and the mouse poked her nose out again, and crawled out from the bookshelf. As I suggested, the mouse didn't go for the bait, but very suprisingly, the mouse walked up the mousetrap, onto and along the kill bar, now she did not touch the bait or the trigger, but it was totally surreal to watch this mouse climb onto the trap and walk up along the kill bar, climbing down the far side of the trap and walk away. She climbed up the baseboard and avoided the glue trap. (I'm not sure what happened next, I shone a light or my partner moving in with a bucket, but the mouse changed direction and went back towards her hiding spot). Fleeing us, the mouse ran right onto the glue trap and got stuck.
Now I know the night before we'd put out the dead mouse, but with this live one I just couldn't do it. We talked about options for a while (killing the mouse, freezing the mouse, ignoring the mouse and leaving her for bait), and I eventually decided I'd release the mouse in a park.
To release the glue traps you add an oil...I had a bottle of olive oil that was a year old and I'd already replaced it with something fresher, so I sent this little mouse to the bottom of a bucket by pouring oil on the glue trap. I carried the mouse a few blocks to a big park and when I openned the lid, the little mouse (completely drenched in extra virgin olive oil) wasn't preening or cleaning her coat, but lapping up the oil from the sides of the bucket. I imagined her little bile gland working over-time trying to cope with all that oil, seemed happy though, anyways I dropped her in the park and walked home.

Since those two days, no mouse sightings. No mouse droppings, and I check the old places and pretty much everywhere I can think of to point a flash-light, no mouse droppings.

I don't necessarily think glue traps are all that cruel. It just sucks when you realize after setting them up how many insect/pests come across them.

The new glue traps are sitting bare...no caught insects, mice, or snakes. See this was an aberation: my house is clean, the kitchen tidy, most dry food stored in pest proof containers. I do a lot of camping and know hygenic houskeeping is essential.
The mice traps are waiting patiently. I change out the bait on them every week (still old cheddar and organic crunchy peanut butter) and no takers.
No snake, no snake droppings, no sign of anything snake like. I still have the living room furniture moved out from the walls so I can check the perimiter.
At what point has this ceased to be a snake hunt and just reverted to normal flashaholism, with me rotating through different hotwires and custom multi-emitter leds; 'looking for snakes' ...or playing with fancy lights.

It's been fun, I totally wish I had a caught a snake, but now I've spent so much time looking i've grown confident its not here to be found. Well earned peace of mind or complacency?

 

[JonN06]

It's been fun, I totally wish I had a caught a snake, but now I've spent so much time looking i've grown confident its not here to be found. Well earned peace of mind or complacency?

Ehh... It's probably gone by now. Who knows? Good job on the mouse catch. :twothumbs

 

[Black Rose]

We had an issue late last year and early this year with mice.

Due to our neighbours, we ended up with mice in the attic.
The landlord had an exterminator come by and put a gazillion bait packs up there to deal with them.

Well wouldn't you know that one of the little buggers managed to climb down the chimney structure and got into our basement.

Even though I'm not keen on killing anything, even a mouse, I put out a couple of those quick kill snap traps baited with peanut butter...nothing.

Tried Reeses peanut butter cups....nothing.

I remembered that I had a live trap in the shed and decided to try that. I put it in the basement with some peanut butter on the trigger.

A couple of hours later I heard a rattling noise in the basement, and having forgotten that I put the live trap in there (C.R.A.F.T. disease ), opened the door to see that the doors of the live trap were closed and that I had finally caught the mouse after almost 2 months of trying to get it.

It was kind of odd; as I was walking this mouse down the street at 1 AM, I was talking to the mouse and told it "You picked a really bad night to get caught buddy" - it was about -18C at the time.

 

[TedTheLed]

..ling; they can't resist peanut butter, as described, your spring trap seems to be malfunctional. is it new or old and dirty and sticky and rusty..?

as for the oiled mouse, that's like spreading mint jelly on your sheep for the wolf! expect an influx of gourmet snakes!

just kidding.

 

[Dances with Flashlight]

I wonder if the search for this snake will really ever be over. Just maybe, having found a nice, hospitable place, he's gone back to the old homestead to pack up his family and bring them all over. And I once had a flashlight big enough for a snake to hide in...

 

[TedTheLed]

let's hope it's a non-poisonous snake or else Linger will be looking for a more hospital place..

 

[Linger]

your spring trap seems to be malfunctional. is it new or old and dirty and sticky and rusty..?

The Viktor Kwick Kill trap was brand new (well one day old: they came in a two-pack) and after the incident I did test it to release as expected. Maybe it was a Zen mouse. It was a surreal experience, because I knew what was going to happen, it just didn't happen. I wish I had a picture of the mouse on the mousetrap bar to share.

gone back to the old homestead to pack up his family and bring them all over.

:green:
The snake whooping sticks (brooms, poles for paint rollers, car snow brushes)are still pre-positioned near most doorways... I dare say I won't be caught with my pants down again.
I'ma gonna go make a special snake finding light, maybe a 12v lead-acid hand torch with a few high CRI emitters

 

[JonN06]

Maybe you need to buy of those arctic death ray lasers.

 

[TedTheLed]

don't clobber 'em, grab him with a grocery store 'grabber' 'reacher' thing,
a wonderful tool to have around the house with many uses, especially if your back goes out ...
like this: http://www.arcoa.com/products-ezg.html

 

[Black Rose]

let's hope it's a non-poisonous snake or else Linger will be looking for a more hospital place..

There are no native poisonous snakes in this region.

Garter snakes are the most common.