Snakes? Yikes!

We had John, a snake expert from Midatlantic Wildlife Control come to the house today to evaluate our situation.  I learned so much today!  He looked at the skins we found and determined that they belong to a Black Rat snake, one of which is 5-7 feet long.  He said we probably have 1 or 2 of them in the house.  Just great.  He was incredibly helpful to us, though.  He said when he first saw the house he thought we would have a major infestation since it's an old 1920s farmhouse, so he was surprised that we don't.  He told us that everyone in that area has snakes in the house being by the river.  We are also surrounded by fields.

He saw no evidence of snake feces and couldn't find any snake, but he told us where it would be if it is still in the house.  He thinks that either the construction noise has scared it away or it is in the wall hibernating.  He doesn't think at this point that we need to set humane snake traps or worry about repellant (he recommends Snake Scram--funny name LOL), at least not until they emerge from hibernation after March.  It's an uneasy feeling to know that there may or may not be a huge snake in my house!  I love snakes, but I don't want to live with them.  He said that we live in the "Ground Zero" for poisonous snakes in Maryland.  He also said that he often gets calls for people finding them in their bed.  THAT CANNOT HAPPEN! 

He said that we should take measures to protect the bunnies just in case, so I suppose we will be putting snake proof wire in their pen.  Especially for Humphrey since he is a dwarf and would be a likely target.  That would just break my heart:-( 

John said that the dog would scare snakes off too.  Apparently snakes hate dogs.  Maybe I will adopt a pack of 'em ;-)  Until then, Comet will just have to evict them.

He also gave us some wonderful advice on order of the renovations we have planned and gave us an estimate on sealing the areas where snakes could get into the house.  He spent a lot of time with us and was very reasonable.  I would recommend him to anyone--especially since they are humane and relocate any wildlife caught.  I love that!  I wouldn't have it any other way.