Snake & Bird Caught in the Bird Netting!!!

[MattyB]

I was already about at my patience limit with the stupid bird netting that we're trying to put over the fruit trees, but now this pushes me over the edge. Last night I was waking around the garden and I heard a strange rustling sound in the peach tree. There was a small bird stuck in the bird netting. As I started to attempt to free it I saw a strange tubular thing all rolled up in the bird netting.

"What the heck? Is that a snake?"

It sure was. I thought it was dead, but I touched it and I could feel that the muscles tense up. So Jen and I freed the bird and started the process of cutting the snake out of the netting. Both were ok and have gone on their merry way. I absolutely hate that bird netting now.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Was the snake trying to eat the bird? It looks like a garter snake that I thought pretty much stayed on the ground.

[MattyB]

It's a California Striped Racer, and like their name suggests, they are very fast. I've never seen one in a tree before, but I would assume that it was trying to get the bird that was caught up in the netting.

[tropicbreeze]

Bird netting has to be very taut to prevent birds from getting trapped in it. Snakes will always get caught unless they're too big. I freed a number of snakes from mine but sometimes they get damaged by the net cutting into them as they struggle. This can still cause death in the long run. When I finally found a dead snake in mine I pulled it down and haven't used it again.

[Jeff Searle]

I threatened to use it on my wife when she dosen't let me plant another palm. It's worked pretty well, but once we got into it together.

[BigFrond]

I threatened to use it on my wife when she dosen't let me plant another palm. It's worked pretty well, but once we got into it together.

..ahem... revealing some kinki stuff eh...

[DoomsDave]

Hmm.

I've seen some coarser netting which is supposed to cure that tangling problem.

[monkeyranch]

Last year the deer plowed through a temporary fence of the lightweight netting which ended up on the ground. When I saw it in the morning a large gopher snake was trapped in it. I had to be to work so left it in shade to untangle the snake later. When I got home a second gopher snake had crawled into the netting trying to mate with the first. The small mesh made it difficult but I got them out. A few weeks ago I replaced the netting with heavier grade fencing putting the shredded netting next to the trashcan. Later the cats had that cautious and alarmed look on their furry faces while they surrounded the trash can area. Upon a closer look the hissing faucet noise began. Seriously ticked off 4 foot rattlesnake caught in the netting. Both gopher and rattlesnakes are valuable rodent predators and I normally leave them alone. I couldn't risk a bite to free this one so he got the "shovel chop". Gopher snakes look very similar to rattlesnakes and people often kill them by mistake. More toubling though is that rattlesnakes are evolving to be quieter. The ones most prone to warning rattles tend to get killed and the elusive silent ones survive to spread their dna. It has been observed that some populations have progressively smaller rattles and may lose them over future generations. Great, now we'll have a silent pit-vipers similar to bushmaster or fer-de-lance.