Will this snake eat my kits?

[KelleyBee]

I'm pretty certain it's a garter snake. Harmless to me and a friend to have in my garden, but this one has decided to move in under my breeder hutch. I've got 2.5 week old kits, 4 week old kits, 8 week old kits and 4 litters due in 1.5 weeks. Should I be concerned?

 

[Preitler]

This snake looks rather small? Looks smaller than the aesclapian snake I met today (a small one), and although I have a newborne litter I don't worry. Still too small, I think, and mom would sure intervene.
I like those snakes around my house, they keep mice and rats under control.

 

[MaggieJ]

It's a bit difficult to tell how big it is, but it would take a very large one to take a kit. It's probably after mice or even insects. I wouldn't worry, but why not just pick it up and carry it a few hundred feet away? I had to deport one like that from my kitchen yesterday morning. They come up from the dungeon - er- cellar in spring as they leave their winter torpor. I've had to catch and release at least half a dozen this past month or so -- ribbon snakes, milk snakes, and red-bellied snakes. They're all harmless and even beneficial.

 

[Cosima]

I have a snake like that.

 

[hotzcatz]

If it can eat a mouse, it can eat a baby bunny. Is the breeding hutch snake proof? We have to make ours rat proof since they will eat baby bunnies, too. Can the snake fit through the hutch wire?

 

[KelleyBee]

If it can eat a mouse, it can eat a baby bunny. Is the breeding hutch snake proof? We have to make ours rat proof since they will eat baby bunnies, too. Can the snake fit through the hutch wire?

Yep, that little snake would fit thru.

 

[KelleyBee]

It's a bit difficult to tell how big it is, but it would take a very large one to take a kit. It's probably after mice or even insects. I wouldn't worry, but why not just pick it up and carry it a few hundred feet away? I had to deport one like that from my kitchen yesterday morning. They come up from the dungeon - er- cellar in spring as they leave their winter torpor. I've had to catch and release at least half a dozen this past month or so -- ribbon snakes, milk snakes, and red-bellied snakes. They're all harmless and even beneficial.

She’s about as thick as a man’s thumb, I’d say. She’s not full grown. I love these snakes. Just Monday as I was working in my garden, I heard the faint cries of a small animal and discovered a toad about the size of my palm with its hind leg firmly fixed within the jaws of a snake exactly like the one shown in my photos, size, too. since I want the toad and the snake in my garden I decided to rescue the toad. So I simply picked up the snake and held it until it finally released the toad. Replaced the snake to the ground, picked up the dazed toad and moved it to a different location in the garden. This could be the same snake or a totally different one. I live in a rural setting, so there surely are numerous beneficial snakes. I just don’t want them stealing my dinner, nor eating the beneficial toads. I told the snake to stick to rodents, moles, chipmunks, etc., but I don’t know if it will heed my request.

 

[ladysown]

garter snakes (we own one) can only eat pinky rabbits. They will not actively seek them out as they have plenty of other smaller, less difficult prey to catch. They will be great for clearing out pinky and small mice!

 

[KelleyBee]

garter snakes (we own one) can only eat pinky rabbits. They will not actively seek them out as they have plenty of other smaller, less difficult prey to catch. They will be great for clearing out pinky and small mice!

By "pinky" do you mean small, sickly rabbits? I am a little confused as I have never heard the term before.

 

[Preitler]

I think it means newborns that don't have any fur to speak of.

Seeing how my Chantal defends her nest against the other, 5 week old litter in the same hutch complex I have no doubt that a snake would have a very bad day.

 

[ladysown]

My garter snake will eat the smallest non-furred rabbit babies from my dwarf and holland lops. She will not take the ones from the meat rabbits. She is my "peanut" disposal.

 

[MaggieJ]

By "pinky" do you mean small, sickly rabbits? I am a little confused as I have never heard the term before.

Newborn, still hairless rabbit kits are sometimes called pinkies. White rabbit kits tend to be quite pink until their fur starts to come in.

@ladysown How large is your garter snake?

 

[ladysown]

She's a big girl, we've had her about 7 years now.. came as a sickly little thing my son nursed back to health and then we felt compelled to keep her as we didn't feed her any toads so she didn't build up any immunity to their toxins. They do eat alot of toads in the wild apparently.

 

[MaggieJ]

She's a big girl, we've had her about 7 years now.. came as a sickly little thing my son nursed back to health and then we felt compelled to keep her as we didn't feed her any toads so she didn't build up any immunity to their toxins. They do eat alot of toads in the wild apparently.

Interesting! I didn't know they had to build up a resistance to toad toxins. I just figured the toxins didn't affect snakes. Thanks for the information ... I like to know about the critters I encounter.

 

[KelleyBee]

Newborn, still hairless rabbit kits are sometimes called pinkies. White rabbit kits tend to be quite pink until their fur starts to come in.

@ladysown How large is your garter snake?

It's perhaps 18 inches long, thickness of a grown man's thumb.