Getting a snake out of a workshop?

[Firethorn]

The box idea is a good one.  Mom's solution to the snake in a blanket problem was to get us kids to retrieve it.

And yes, you'd want to use a warm blanket when it's colder out. 

[Pb]

Take the skin to a herpetologist at a university.

If it is not venomous, forget about it.

Put out rat bait to reduce its supply of prey also.

[vaskidmark]

Everyone has their fear, and I respect that. I fear communists and hippies, for example, and have a hard time not dousing them with soap or napalm.

Question:

When did we start bathing commies?  Napalming hippies is OK, but bathing (or even hosing down) commies seems to put one a little to close to those progressive cooties.

stay safe.

[Triphammer]

If you dissolve enough soap in your gasoline, you don't have to decide between the two.

[Tallpine]

Take the skin to a herpetologist at a university.

If it is not venomous, forget about it.

Put out rat bait to reduce its supply of prey also.

Yep :)

We rescued a bull snake from an old refrigerator that we were using for outdoor storage on our property 

But rattlesnakes get shot on sight 

[zxcvbob]

Take the skin to a herpetologist at a university.

If it is not venomous, forget about it.

Put out rat bait to reduce its supply of prey also.

A liver specialist??

[41magsnub]

A liver specialist??

No - an STD specialist.  duh.

[MechAg94]

Yep :)

We rescued a bull snake from an old refrigerator that we were using for outdoor storage on our property 

But rattlesnakes get shot on sight 

I have heard decent sized rattlesnake skins can be worth a little money. 

[dogmush]

Do you know anyone named Patrick?

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

Take the skin to a herpetologist at a university.

If it is not venomous, forget about it.

Put out rat bait to reduce its supply of prey also.

The snake has herpes?

[Cliffh]

The snake has herpes?

Now I really don't want it to bite me or mine!

How hot is too hot for a snake?  I can heat that sucker up if need be.

No ideas on how corrosive the ammonia/chlorine gas would be?

[erictank]

Now I really don't want it to bite me or mine!

How hot is too hot for a snake?  I can heat that sucker up if need be.

No ideas on how corrosive the ammonia/chlorine gas would be?

Didn't see till just now.  

Cl gas is ***VERY*** corrosive.  It'll be hell on your tools.  Enough of it might actually render a sheet-steel shed unsafe for use.

When I was at the water plant several years ago, we had an incident (another shift, fortunately - I was out of town for it) where one of our guys mistakenly directed a Polyaluminum Chloride delivery driver to hook up his hose to the inlet for one of our banks of Sodium Hypochlorite storage tanks.  PACl is a mild acid used in water clarification, NaOCl is a mild base used for water disinfection (and is about twice the Cl concentration as household bleach, for the record).  Both are added to the same water, but in low concentrations and at different times.  Here, a few hundred gallons of PACl were batch-added to several thousand gallons of NaOCl before the mistake was caught.  Result - significant heat generation, salts gunking up the three NaOCl tanks on that side, and enough Cl gas to etch and corrode every metal fitting and surface in the room.  Which we were told later was actually a pretty low concentration of Cl gas, considering the amounts of chemicals involved - most of it was contained in the NaOCl tanks.  Total cleanup cost was about $250K.

For this reason among others, don't do it.

(BTW - guy did NOT get fired, although he did lose his new position as a Lead Operator and went back to being a senior worker bee on that shift.  Ended up leaving the company for another water plant with a different company about a year later, IIRC.)

[MechAg94]

Do you know anyone named Patrick?

I know of a couple of Patricks, but I haven't talked to either in a while.

[MechAg94]

I knew a guy who worked at an ammonia plant once.  He said the inspiration for the old video game Q-Bert must have been someone spraying ammonia liquid on a snake.  He said they don't like that at all. 

[Scout26]

I donno.  $400 to make sure Jake Nolegs is gone for good sounds cheap to me....

[Cliffh]

Didn't see till just now. 

Cl gas is ***VERY*** corrosive.  It'll be hell on your tools.  Enough of it might actually render a sheet-steel unsafe for use.

When I was at the water plant several years ago, we had an incident (another shift, fortunately - I was out of town for it) where one of our guys mistakenly directed a Polyaluminum Chloride delivery driver to hook up his hose to the inlet for one of our banks of Sodium Hypochlorite storage tanks.  PACl is a mild acid used in water clarification, NaOCl is a mild base used for water disinfection (and is about twice the Cl concentration as household bleach, for the record).  Both are added to the same water, but in low concentrations and at different times.  Here, a few hundred gallons of PACl were batch-added to several thousand gallons of NaOCl before the mistake was caught.  Result - significant heat generation, salts gunking up the three NaOCl tanks on that side, and enough Cl gas to etch and corrode every metal fitting and surface in the room.  Which we were told later was actually a pretty low concentration of Cl gas, considering the amounts of chemicals involved - most of it was contained in the NaOCl tanks.  Total cleanup cost was about $250K.

For this reason among others, don't do it.

(BTW - guy did NOT get fired, although he did lose his new position as a Lead Operator and went back to being a senior worker bee on that shift.  Ended up leaving the company for another water plant with a different company about a year later, IIRC.)

Well.... damn.  Something had told me it'd most likely be corrosive, but I never thought it'd be that bad.  Thank you for saving my tools, and possibly the entire workshop.

The $400 is only good for up to 90 days, that's as long as the repellant lasts, then he'd have to come out again to lay down more.

Instead, I'll be closing the access points and setting my own traps baited with some of the many, many frogs that have appeared this year.  A bunch of glue traps surrounding a bowl of water with a screen cover & a frog in it, rat traps here & there, glue traps spread along the walls, on the shelves and under the equipment will at least bring me some peace of mind.  I may even make a low door (short enough to step over) to cover the doorway while the actual door is open - the door's open most every day I'm working outside. 

I'd have preferred a quick & dirty solution instead of dragging it out over days/weeks but one's gotta do what one's gotta do.

[Frank Castle]

 Snake-A-Way Repellent Granules

We where in field and the tent we where using had a 4 foot rattlesnake in it. We put some Snake-A-Way Repellent Granules around the tent walls and the snake went for the door later that night. I help him out the door with a broom.

I don't care about snake normal , but i was sleeping in that tent and didn't want company in my sleeping bag. lol

[vaskidmark]

Would putting a new rope lasso around the shed while the snake was still inside keep the creature from leaving?  Don't want to suggest the tried and true cowboy deterrent until you are sure the snake is gone.

stay safe.

[Scout26]

$400 to give you 90 days to snake-proof your shed and then lay down your own repellant (probably available at your local Wal-mart  ) and you can be sure that it's not you having to deal with Jakie Noshoulders.

Sounds cheaper then the recreation of WWI in your shed (and shifting winds could be a bad, bad, bad thing.) and having to deal with a extremely pissed off, (and glued to board) possibly venomous, snake.

 

[dogmush]

having to deal with a extremely pissed off, (and glued to board) possibly venomous, snake.

 

I can think of a couple cool things to do in this situation.  At least three involve the guy with the subwoofers that works late shift.

[Cliffh]

Since the snake shed measured a max of 35" the glue traps will be attached to stout sticks at least 48" long, except for those placed out in the open.  Those will be staked to the dirt floor.  I'm going to assume a 3' snake is fairly powerful, and I have a tendency to over-engineer things, so the stakes and sticks will be strong.

I'm not sure if snakes can dig or not (thinking not) but even if they do I'm not concerned about the dirt floor.  Previously I added some length to the walls taking them at least 12" below grade.  It hasn't been long enough for the galvanized steel to deteriorate to a significant degree.

I can think of a couple cool things to do in this situation.  At least three involve the guy with the subwoofers that works late shift.

There are a few on my "list", but none near by have done anything bad enough to rate something along those lines.*

I haven't read a lot on repellants but with the exception of ads most everything says that the commercially available repellants don't work.  Supposedly there are some available to the pros that are effective.  I may give some a try though, just 'cause.

*There are some on the list who're lucky enough to live too far away.

[MechAg94]

If half the snakes body is stuck to a glue trap, he won't be able to move well.  Sort of gets in the way of the normal locomotion.  However, I have seen mice halfway stuck to the smaller traps drag them across the room.  They still can't go anywhere.  Just watch where you are putting your feet until you check all the traps.  I assume you are doing that now anyway out of concern the snake is right under your work bench. 

[GigaBuist]

I hate snakes.  I f*cking hate snakes.  Working in a pond 3-4 weeks ago that I knew had water snakes in it and I probably saw a piece of wood floating but I couldn't do it.  I had to get out of there because it looked a bit like a snake.

That said the active ingredient in every snake repellent I've seen is sulfur.  Smells like rotten eggs but apparently it works.  Save the $400 and buy some yourself.

Now as to firearms, and keep in mind I'm admitting I'm a totally irrational fellow when it comes to snakes... them #12 shot in .38 spl or .44 mag or other such revolver cartridges aren't a horrible idea.  I forgot about them until just now.  I might dig them out and bring some to work.  I f*cking hate snakes!

[Cliffh]

Yeah, I figure if he's got a glue trap stuck on he's gonna be "unhappy".  Might even be a bit snappy.

Earlier this year I did a little searching for the .38 snake shot, couldn't find any.  If you run across a supplier it'd be nice to know who they are.

Looks like sulfur is easy to get.  Might have to get a pound or two & dust it around the inside.  Ought to smell real good with the mothballs.

[MechAg94]

There isn't much you can do with a snake where it won't be snappy if it isn't dead.  the glue trap does the job of immobilizing the snake so you don't have to get in a hurry killing it. 

But repellent is good.  I would still put glue traps or other stuff down to catch mice or whatever is bring in the snake.