It rained…a lot ….6 inches in 3 days and still coming down. So the dogs can’t just stay outside and I end up letting them in and out a few times more than normal.
As I’m bringing them in, both of them looked next to the brooder and jump a foot back! Anything that startles the dogs is never a good thing!
So I carefulyyyyy check behind the brooder…and there in the shadows is a red and orange rope that suddenly coils up and tried to look fierce!
I don’t mind good snakes, aka nope ropes. I encourage then to hang out in the yard and am sad when one doesn’t win in a fight against a lawnmower.
BUT…..I draw the line when they go after my animals. There are enough mice and rats and even lizards, so when something eyes a baby quail I am not happy.
I managed to get the dogs inside and get help holding a flashlight to find the red rat snake.
Next thing Mr. Rat snake knows, it’s being grabbed up by a pair of rubber tipped grabbers and unceremoniously ushered out in the yard , rain or no rain.
A quick head count shows that I was right on time as the snake had not gotten into the brooder yet…whew. This snake was small enough that the wire on top would have let him get in for dinner.
It’s for these reason I try and keep some wire on hand…a grinder, tin snips, and 5 feet of 1/4″ hardware cloth later the quail had another layer of wire on their brooder. Then I did the same for the chick brooder to hopefully prevent any successful snake snacking!
Update: It’s been a month and no missing chicks of either type 🙂