Snake Advice!

[HelloGoodbye]

Hello all!  So I'm pretty sure that at least a couple of you own/ have experience with snakes so I was wondering if you guys could help me out.

Today when my Mom (who is petrified of snakes) was going into the basement to put some laundry in the washer, she found a snake at the bottom of the stairs.  Since snakes scare her, she screamed really loudly and spooked it and now it's hiding in the basement somewhere.  I am not personally bothered by snakes, so I poked around trying to find it to get a look at it if not catch it.  We don't really have poisonous snakes in my area, just garter snakes, but my mom said this was definitely not a garter snake so I'm not going to swoop in and grab it without knowing what it is first.  I couldn't find it, though.  Based on where it was, my Mom suspects that it got in through the crawl space, but it also could have come in through the bulkhead as it was damaged in all the snow this winter and there's a gap we need to fix.   

Obviously we don't want it to stay in the basement because we don't want it to starve or anything, and it's probably too dark and chilly for a cold blooded animal down there, not to mention the fact that my mom is terrified of it and is worried about being down there with it, or it somehow finding its way into the house.

So I guess my question is, if we leave the bulkhead of the basement open, will it be able to get up a fairly steep stair case by itself and leave?  Will it even know/want to leave? If not, what are some ways I can try to lure it out from hiding and try and capture it and bring it out.  If I have any doubts about the species and if it is poisonous or not I'll just put a box over it and call animal control.  On the other hand, if I know what it is I've caught enough garter snakes in my day that I'm confident that I could catch it and carry it outside my self.

Any advice is much appreciated!  (also mods, I didn't know if WYP was a better place for this, so feel free to move it if it is!!)

[melodys_angel]

Where are you from? Id try to get an id on it before doing anything in the event its venomous.

[HelloGoodbye]

In our state there are only a few poisonous snakes, and based on what my mom said about it, the snake wasn't any of those.  From what she's described it sounds like a Milk Snake to me and those aren't poisonous to people.  I think the only way it could be a poisonous species is if it is a pet that someone irresponsibly freed into the wild and that's probably unlikely.  If I have even the slightest doubt, I will definitely call animal control because I definitely want to make sure I don't mess with anything that could hurt me! 

I'm really kind of hoping it's just a garter snake or very clearly a milk snake upon closer inspection because I would not be too eager to mess around with a snake I'm unfamiliar with, just in case.

[Princess Lala]

 

Snakes are my life! Venomous and non-venomous! All of those scale butts are sooooooooooo CUTE!

*ahem* Now to business! The best thing to do is to give the snake plenty of space. Give them more space, they will be less threatened, they wont bite. IF you can get a good picture of it I could identify it for you and even sex it if you can give me a ballpark on how long it is in inches/feet or compare it to an object.

It may not be able to climb the stairs, but it will try to get to warmth and light. If it were me I would just go down and try to catch it in a bucket regardless of venom or not but thats just me xD

You sound like you have the snakes best interest in mind! : but I have to tell everyone I meet trying to catch snakes DO. NOT. KILL. IT. I cannot stress this enough! To be honest its a common thing to run into snakes in the basement! It probably got in your basement to eat mice, its doing you a favor! Snakes are extememly important to our envoirmnent. Its actually illegal in a few states to kill snakes as well- especially Indiana! I lived there 13 years and people i know have gone to jail because of killing cornsnakes thwy clamed were 'rattlesnakes'....

If you are certain the snake is nonvenomous (thats a VERY good thing if it not!) xD try to get it to go into a large container such as an empty trashcan or box. Remember the space rule. Dont try to scare the poor guy (or girl!) and if ypu guide it into a container you can release it back outside the wild so it can eat more pests trying to get into your house!

***What colors are it? There are several species or garter snakes and they range in colors! We also have ribbons, wild corn snakes, blue racers, many species of rat snakes, and  hognoses (my personal favorite!) all non-treatning to humans. All very common snakes!

[HelloGoodbye]

Thanks for the advice, PrincessLala!  If I can manage to spot the snake, I'll definitely take a picture to show you so you can tell us more about him.  My Mom said black, red, and yellow were the colors of the snake, and we're located in the North East United States, so it could be a Milk Snake, but I don't know that much about snakes so I'm not sure.

I have another question, is he safe in the basement?  If we can't manage to wrangle him and get him outside, is it alright if he lives down there?  I just don't want any harm to come to him living in an environment that he doesn't really belong in.  I like snakes a lot so I just want to make sure he's alright!  If he can live a happy and healthy life in the basement, that's fine for him to stay there.  Of course, my Mom would prefer him out of the basement, but she says that if he's living a good life down there she can learn to coexist with him.

[ringwraith10]

Okay, if you think it's a milk snake, that could be a problem. Milk snakes are the ones that look exactly like coral snakes but with the colors in different orders (red touches black, friend of jack, red touches yellow, kill a fellow -- something like that). So if you live in the south and there's a possibility that it could be a coral snake, be careful. But coral snakes only live in the southernmost parts of the US (where most of the venomous snakes live anyway), so unless it was somehow introduced into your area, if you say there aren't venomous snakes there it's probably okay.

Here's what I would suggest: the snake has probably already been there for a while. It was probably hibernating in the crawl space in your basement over the winter. Does the crawl space connect to the outside (even if it's only through dirt)? Chances are good that your snake burrowed a little cave through the dirt into your crawl space to hibernate, and ended up coming out of it the wrong way.

Milk snakes are also very, very small snakes, and do not eat large animals like rats. If you have anything like crickets or cockroaches in your basement, your little friend will probably take care of those for you! The biggest thing a milk snake will usually eat is a baby mouse (a pinky). 

And yes, milk snakes are red, black, and yellow. He will probably be fine in your basement, and I suspect he will find his way out through the tunnel he originally made himself. And like I said, if you do have any bugs down there, he's probably super happy to have found a hotel with free food all to himself!

As you can probably tell, I know a lot about snakes... but especially milk snakes! I used to have a milk snake -- he was very sweet, but very shy. Milk snakes tend towards hiding rather than biting. Even if he did bite you, though, his mouth would be so small it wouldn't even be as bad as accidentally cutting yourself with scissors.

[kaoskat]

Looks like you've gotten some good advice. I wish you luck!

[HelloGoodbye]

Thanks, Kaoskat!  Also, thank you for the advice, Ringwraith10!  That's all very good to know!

Our crawlspace is connected to the outside, but the only thing is that it kind of drops down into the basement.  So if he tunneled in from there the poor little guy probably feel about four feet to the basement floor, so I'm not sure that he could get back out that way on his own.  Does that change the situation in any way?

[UrocyonFox]

Ha ha cool stuff that there are so many other help lovers here on the arena, after reading your post I started to comment then scrolled down and found much of the advise I was going to give was already given. *love everyone's venomous not poisonous comments*

Did your mom say how big the snake was? I've only caught 2 corals in the wild and the bigger of the two was just under 12in.

If it was a smaller snake you can purchase mouse glue traps and put them around the room against the walls. Snakes (as well as many other herps) tend to drift or wander, where they head in one direction until they hit an obstacle (like a wall) then drift/wander along that wall. Thats why drift fences and pitfall traps are so great for herp surveying. They hit the fence and follow it until they fall down into the trap. So if it was a smaller snake and he crawls along the wall he'll get stuck in the glue trap. Then you can take the whole trap outside and and pour vegetable oil on him to loosen the glue to where he can slither away.

If its a larger snake the trap will just stick to him and he'll be irritated by a tony glue trap stuck to his body. They sell larger "snake traps" which are nothing more than larger glue boards (They're like the size of a pizza box) Once again it'll stick the snake in that spot them you can pour oil on them to break up the glue.

Keep us posted on your new scaly friend!

[Princess Lala]

Could definetly be in the milksnake/kingsnake family then! :-) I wouldnt worry about it being a coral snake, they live down here and in florida on coastal areas down south.

red to yellow, kills the fellow; red to black, venom lack!

I love those tri-colored milksnakes! <3 they are soooooo CUTE!

Anyways, with him/her being in the basement its kind of in-between. Snakes can live well in certain places fpr a long time as long as there is a heat source and food. If theres little sun or light down there, its best to get him out of there asap! Basements can get pretty cold and dark which would make the snake legarthic. It might help you capture the snakie but its best to get him home outside. See, its actually breeding season for most snakes right now (April-June) so its possible he wandered off looking for a mate or as well as food.  If it is indeed a milksnake they are actually friendly and rarely bite unless threatened! They are pretty shy and might slither off if they see you. At my old job, we had a pet california king snake (white and black stripped) in the Science Center who got out for 3 months. He survived pretty well and when we found him he was about 3ft! We found him by the window, trying to get to the sunlight.

I suppose..... if you have a portable table light, you could leave it out in to try to lure him/her into a spot to get a good look at it? Id also leave a shallow water dish nearby a light as well! This might help you get a good look at the snake and ensure its alright before trying to capture it. If you have an small area that leads to outside (you said you had a crawlspace?) he or she  might be able to get back inside the basement.

Keep us updated and if its possible id love to see pictures! ^W^


Post Merge: May 18, 2015, 12:47:26 AM

ALSO: There is a red banded garter snake, show this to your mom and ask her if this was it! Its also a very common snake in the US, we had them up in MN:
http://wyomingnaturalist.com/images/herps/R_SNAKE_Red-sided_Garter_Snake_76.jpg

The plains garter snake can also have tints of brown-red in them with the yellow stripes!

Rat Snakes. They can be red as well and have blotches of black and yellow!
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3461/3991268557_cbde806fd0_z.jpg

^oooh sooooo cute! (\^w^/)

[freyjaloh]

Red and yellow kill a fellow, Red and black venom lack! This is wat i read. Careful, could a deadly coral snake cos coloring very close to milk snake.

[flyawayraven]

Also if it's any comfort to your mom,  the snake was equally terrified of her!

[ringwraith10]

I am really, really doubting it is a coral snake, since those are almost entirely exclusive to Texas and Florida (in the US, at least -- though I keep hoping to see one where I live in GA!). But yeah, on the one hand, he might feel safe in your basement where there are no predators (like birds of prey, dogs, and especially other king snakes! They have that name for a reason...), but Princess Lala is right -- he might get lethargic in your cold basement. And if you try to lure him out with light, he will definitely "run" away as soon as you reach for him (I am saying "him" in the hopes that it's not a her who is already pregnant, BTW, but if my original theory is true, this snake would have just come out of hibernation).

But also, you don't know how long the snake has already been surviving down there. You only know that he was first spotted recently.

Anyway, good luck! My heart is all a-flutter at the thought of your little snake friend. I wish I lived in a place that would allow me to have another snake. Maybe after I move...

[Princess Lala]

^ come down the block to Texas! We have a TON of wild snake friends to meet as well asbmany pet stores with really cool snakes!  the reptarium has a pet rainbow boa on display!!!! She is soooooo PRETTY! :-3

[flyawayraven]

I'm actually down in San Antonio on business right now. Hoping to bump into some scaly residents!