Deer, Squirrels vs. Fruit Trees... and snakes

We have been making great progress on the homestead.  So far all nine of our fruit trees* are still alive and so are our six blueberry bushes but it hasn't been easy.

The waking of spring is beautiful to behold.  It had been so many years since Chris or I had witnessed spring we were in awe as each new leaf and flower came forth; the kids have joined in our excitement.  As the trees got their foliage the birds doubled in number. When we take a walk around the block its like taking a hike in the woods, half the bird calls I don't ever remember hearing before.  Yesterday, I even got to see a "cute" brown rabbit on my walk with Sarge.

I put "cute" in quotes because I have a hunch my feelings about rabbits may be changing.  My feelings on deer already are.  I still find them beautiful when, like on Saturday, they go leaping silently through our backyard....closely followed by a loose dog.  You see the more they snack on my apple trees the more I see them as stomachs with legs that need to be eliminated....well maybe not eliminated but at least taught some manners.  We have purposely left a large portion of our property natural where we know they like to sleep. It is full of all kinds of plants for them to eat.  I hear they like to eat poison ivy and I encourage them to eat all they want of that.  Seems there must be some way for us all to live together but the more research I do the less hope I have.  We went so far as to looking into electric fences but when Chris heard the were notorious for starting fires that idea went out the window.  We have Irish Spring Soap hanging from all trees, they don't seem to mind too much or maybe they do since they are only doing drive by munches instead of eating my trees to the ground; as I've heard they can do.  I ordered some "stink" that's suppose to keep them away but I think we'll be playing this game as long as we both live here.

Then there's the squirrels.  Watching the antics of the squirrels on the back porch has been a source of great entertainment.  So much so, we were willing to let them have a feeding hour once the birds were finished each day.  Chris loves it when I go outside and announce that they've come too early and must wait, but it generally worked.  The girl was better at chasing them away though than the dog; he's useless in that way.   Then I learned that squirrels can strip a tree of peaches in a day.  So I guess we'll be at war too.  Some say feeding them till they burst with nuts will keep them out of your fruit trees but I don't think I have the budget for that.  So instead I have egg shells and blood meal under my fruiting peach tree and a realistic looking Kingsnake in the tree that I move each morning to keep them guessing.  Which brings me back to snakes, the original purpose of this post.

Generally, I do not mind snakes.  I say generally because there is one group of snakes I feel is best on a belt loop; pit vipers.  Thankfully in our part of the woods only one pit viper exists, the Copperhead and as pit vipers go they are the least venomous.  That's all fine and dandy unless you are the mother of one precocious Titus and a fearless Amber.  Things were cooling down shortly after we moved here so the danger of snakes went away quickly and it gave me the winter to research the best way to keep them away.  The best solution I found was to populate the yard with constrictors; specifically Kingsnakes since they are territorial, immune to Copperhead venom and really like to eat Copperheads.  Next I just needed to figure out how to get them in my yard.  I looked into buying a couple but that was cost prohibitive.  Then realizing many people are afraid of any kind of snake (beneficial or not) I came up with a plan.

I called the local critter control company and asked what they do when they remove snakes from a property; did they dispose of the snakes or relocate them?  When I got the relocate answer I took a deep breath and asked if they took requests for relocation.  Turns out I'm not the only crazy person out there.   The kind lady on the phone said they get a couple people a year who are interested in taking the snakes and that she'd put my info on a sticky note to call when they got a snake. 

That was back in January.  Fast forward to this Tuesday and low and behold they called us and told us they had a snake for us.  Not sure who was more excited when we got the call. Chris was working from home so he took a break and drove up with us to pick-up Otis/Major (kids couldn't agree on name).

Titus really, really wanted to hold the snake (which is why I have to get them, it's really a safety issue).  Thankfully, they have two domesticated corn snakes in the office that they use for school talks, so he and Amber were able to hold and touch a snake.  Yay!  Otis/Major turned out to be a five plus foot long Rat snake.  Not the ultimate Kingsnake but still helpful for the job.  He was very docile when they moved him from their pillow case to ours which was another reason he was a good first snake (I hear Kingsnakes are a bit more aggressive).  

Lance held him in the pillow case in the office.  I held in my lap on the way home, hoping to calm him with the heat of my lap but ended up moving him to the floor since he was squirming around too much.  Then Jared and Amber took turns caring him into the back yard.  Titus insisted on being the one to release him.  As we were expecting heavy storms that day, Chris cut a small entrance hole into one of the old tree pots.  The idea was to put him in that and turn it over on the leaves under the porch.  However, when Titus let him out he stretched most of his length up the side of porch post and high tailed under the porch next to the house.  Once he was there he calmed down again because when Titus (determined to give him his home) climbed under the porch with the pot he didn't move as it was gently placed near him.  

We have not seen him since we let him go, we hope he's under the pot but don't dare look and scare him away.  By the way, I saw my name on the sticky in the office and asked them to keep it there, I'm still hoping for a couple Kingsnakes.  Now fast forward to today....

In my bargain hunting mode I found out I could get rain barrels and a compost bin at cost from the City, so we got both a couple weeks ago.  Lance took out the kitchen scraps to put in the compost bin and then as directed he used the cover to scoop leaves up on top (brown matter to decompose the green).  On his first attempt he accidentally gathered up a large salamander and on the second a snake.  He came running into the house calling for us to come quick.  This is what we saw:

A Brown snake (that's a type of snake, not just a color and it was about full grown).  I went to grab him out of the bin but lost my grip and he wiggled way down.  We tried to find him, moving the compost with a shovel but no luck.  I'm hoping he can wiggle his way out or at least come back to the top so we can try to lift him out again.
 
One thing is for sure I've never been so busy in my life and life has never been so full.

*In case your wondering we planted a Gala Apple, Fuji Apple, Winesap Apple, Orient Pear, Kefir Pear, Belle of Georgia Peach, Russian Pomegranate, Mulberry and Brown Turkey Fig.
**Oh, and I did talk with my neighbors after implementing my plan to educate them on importance of black snakes, so they wouldn't kill any that may happen into their yards.  Once they understood the trade off of black snakes for Copperhead they were all on board with my plan.