Snake in the rabbit cage

[alforddm]

Had a bit of fun on the farm this morning. Went to check the rabbits and found this in one of the cages.

He had eat a 2.5 week old kit and was too fat to fit back through the cage wire.He had a pretty good wound on his side and momma rabbit's ear was a bit bloody so I think she must have tried to protect her kit. I thought I had gotten a better picture of the wound in it's side but I guess I didn't. You can kinda see it in the blurry picture.

Snake lovers don't worry. I released him back into the forest behind our house.

I'm guess if he had to eat a kit I'm glad he got one of these. I had 3 new litters born yesterday and this morning. One older kit vs a whole litter of newborns is a trade I'll make.

Was it a rat snake? I'm not to up to snuff on my snake ID. I just knew it wasn't poisonous.

I hope I don't lose anymore to stress.

 

[MaggieJ]

I rather like snakes, but that one must have given you a shock. :shock: It's huge! I'm glad you released it back into the woods, in spite of it having eaten one of your kits.

Did you measure it, Alforddm? I guess it might have been a bit tricky, but I'd love to have a clearer idea of just how long it was. In the first picture, it looks so big next to your feet, but in the one of its head it looks not quite so humongous.

Can't help you on the ID, but I hope you find out what species it is.

Don't you love this time of year? Nature springs so many surprises on us! :lol:

After poking around on the Internet for a few minutes, I think it is likely a rat snake. Was the belly white or at least pale? And around the lower jaw?
http://www.paherps.com/herps/snakes/rat_snake/

 

[UFCreel]

It would have been a dead snake here. Nope dont like them one bit.

 

[alforddm]

It was between 53 and 54 inches long. It was a bit hard to measure cause it kept trying to twist up.

 

[MaggieJ]

It was between 53 and 54 inches long. It was a bit hard to measure cause it kept trying to twist up.

I can just picture it! You trying to straighten the snake and the snake writhing and twisting and curling!

I read that rat snakes can get as long as six feet. We have a species of rat snake here -- one day I found one at my feet in the living room -- it had just come out of hibernation in our cellar and took a wrong turn, I guess -- but it was a puny 36 inches or so and not so thick. Still, it was a thrill!

 

[alforddm]

I wish now I had thought to measure it around the middle but I didn't.

 

[FourRingCircus]

I had a 6'2" or so black snake in the chicken coop one time :x That one isn't nearly as slender as the black rat or black racers I see around here, but it could be the nice meal it had throwing the pic off... That's a pretty big snake! It would have been interesting to see the chaos that was that cage!!

 

[tarheel506]

It does look like a rat snake...they get killed a lot around here because people see the pattern on their back and mistake them for copperheads. I don't dislike snakes, and I used to always let the non-venomous snakes live, but now that I have rabbits...they all gotta go! Fortunately I have a barn cat who is great at her job, and I rarely see snakes while my cat-less neighbors seem to have them all the time. I was always told that rat snakes and black snakes leave behind a musk that will attract other snakes, so if you find one you should be on the lookout for others!

 

[SoDak Thriver]

What fun! :shock: A sure cure for a boring chore.

Years ago I would have killed this snake, but I have over-killed the snakes around me (bull snakes and prairie rattlers; we do eat them) and last fall I was over run with rats and mice to point where there was nothing for it but to put out bait stations, which I hate. In retrospect, I should have left the bull snakes and eaten just the rattlers.

 

[TeaTimeBunnies]

Definitely looks like a rat snake. I have gotten good at snake ID from where I grew up, and later joining the ecology club at my University. If you had a picture of the belly scales I could have told you wether it was just a standard grey rat snake or a corn snake. You might want to consider putting moth balls around your rabbit cages to help prevent another snake snatching. We use to use moth balls in our horse barn to keep snakes away (we had a barn cat for mice). Looks like the snake was lucky you found it when you did, that momma rabbit probably would have torn it apart soon :lol:

 

[olafthebunny]

Saw the snake's stomach bulging and almost puked.
Saw the babies and momma, almost cried. How could it eat something so cute?! I could not have had handled that.
Sorry for the loss of the kit Glad the others are fine!

( sorry if i sound ,mean about the snake, just don't like them that's all. Not trying to be mean just upset me a bit )

 

[alforddm]

I'm sorry it upset you Olaf. Snakes have to eat too and they normally eat mice and rats so they do perform a good service. I was a bit worried I would lose some additional kits to stress but it's been several days now and I think they will all be fine.

Nature is often what we consider cruel. Many predators, large cats and wolves included, will begin to eat before an animal is dead. By comparison, snakes are rather "humane".

 

[TeaTimeBunnies]

Just one quick note, if you happen to find a king snake (can be difficult to figure out as they masquerade as other kinds of snakes) keep it around. King snakes often kill and eat venomous snakes. I had one kill a Copperhead that was going after my chickens. We let it stay and we haven't seen another venomous snake. It did snag an egg every​now and again, but we didn't mind since it kept out the venomous ones. And one other point, snakes don't like mint and will avoid it whenever​ possible