Rat Snakes & Mice in Texas

 Report courtesy of Kathie, Sherman-Howe Area, Texas

Edited by Jerry Cates

Kathie Wrote:

"Hi--I found your site while trying to find a source that will tell me how to solve my problem. First off I am TERRIFIED of snakes. We have a 2 story house in north Texas (Sherman-Howe area) About a week or so ago I was coming out of a room on the second floor and a rat snake (I was told what it was later) was slithering across the carpet. When I screamed it coiled up and lunged at me. I ran down the front steps since it decided to slither down the back ones and I pinned it with a shovel. Fortunately a friend was at my husband’s office and came to my rescue. He told me it was a rat snake.  It was about 2 feet long. I finally stopped wearing boots in the house and last night another one got caught on some glue traps I put around for a mouse in the house right at the door to my bedroom.

Now I’ve read all your postings about how rat snakes are good but I’m sorry NO snake is good in my house!  We have the grass cut around the house, I know we are in farm country but I can only accept that explanation OUTSIDE of my home. Please can you tell me what to do to get them out of the house? I have been told they travel in two’s so not to worry, I have been told that them being in the house means there is a poisonous snake in the house because that’s the only reason they will come indoors, I have been told that they come in the same way the mice do (if I’d have figured out that route I wouldn’t have mice either!)

I have kids in the house and for their sake and my blood pressure’s sake, I really need help not Texas tales. Please can you help me.  Thanks--Kathie"

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My Reply: 

Kathie--You are right.  What you need is help, not tall tales.  And yes, I will do my best to help without throwing in a few clinkers, though I'll have to put my sense of humor aside in the process. I can do that, methinks. Your assertions and questions will be answered in the order you posted them:

"Now I’ve read all your postings about how rat snakes are good but I’m sorry NO snake is good in my house!" 

OK.  That means you are fairly normal.  My wife, the love of my life, feels the same way, and she lets me know how she feels when I have active terrariums in the house with snakes in them. 

It doesn't matter if the snakes are poisonous or not--for the record, I never keep poisonous snakes in the house--regardless, snakes of every stripe are unwelcome.  Yet, my appreciation for snakes has not harmed our marriage, despite the fact that I still keep snakes in my in-house lab for study from time to time. That gives me hope that your fear of snakes won't lead to a hypertensive crisis.  Please take a deep breath and read on...

"We have the grass cut around the house, I know we are in farm country but I can only accept that explanation OUTSIDE of my home."

By "explanation" I presume you are referring to someone's suggestion that since you are in the country, you will just have to learn to live with snakes in your house.  That isn't necessarily so.  But it may be so unless you are willing and able to take certain steps to make your house less inviting to your ophidian friends.  I use the expression "ophidian friend" intentionally. Regardless of your feelings about them, rat snakes are not your enemies. They are not in your house to harm you.  They have one purpose--to find and make food out of your mice (sometimes other animals, such as lizards, geckos, etc., will also attract snakes), and mice and rats are definitely your enemies. It isn't much of a stretch to say that anyone who devours your enemies is your friend...

"Please can you tell me what to do to get them out of the house?"

I think you are really asking if I can help you keep them out of your house, and yes, I think I can do that. Two things, in my judgment, need to be done:

First, drive to the store, or use a Google search on the Internet, and get your hands on some snake repellent.  Several different kinds are available, and they all work.  Pick one you like, read and follow the label directions, and--in most cases--voila! no more snakes in your home.  Don't skimp, don't overdo, and make sure to replenish the repellent when it rains or enough time has passed to render it ineffective (the label should tell you answers to the obvious questions on that score). Once in a very blue moon, a snake may get in via the sewer system, or aerially, from a tree near the house, but those should be the only exceptions.

Second, and not necessarily with any less priority than the first step we just discussed, do something about your mouse problem.  Since that is the real source of your rat-snake-problem it only makes sense to fix it at the same time.  If you don't, and you let your guard down for an instant on the snake repellent business, voila! snakes again.  Don't let that happen. Get rid of your mice.

Now, I'll let you in on a little secret: glue-boards won't solve a mouse problem.  Here's another: snap-traps won't either.  I once set 100 snap traps out in a restaurant's kitchen (the name of the restaurant doesn't matter--it shut down several months later for some strange reason), every night, for over a week, and--every night--those traps snapped 100 mice out of existence, seemingly without making a dent in the mouse population. That was almost thirty years ago, but it started me on a serious quest for truth about rodent breeding habits.  Here's one of the important things I learned:

In every congregation of mice or rats a small percentage will be too smart to get caught on glue or in a snap-trap. Put just one smart male in the same house with one smart female, and tango! they breed so rapidly that trapping their offspring using any kind of defeatable mechanical contraption is a losing proposition. 

To effectively rid your home of mice you need to do two things:

(1) stop the influx of new rodents by stuffing steel wool [or better yet, copper gauze, the stuff Chore Girl and Chore Boy scouring pads used to be made of, because it works longer] in all the places in your house's exterior "skin" where mice can get in, to keep them out.  One exception--don't put anything in the weep holes around a masonry-veneer exterior wall, as those holes vent the walls to keep mold and fungi in check, and must be left unobstructed.  Otherwise, any hole larger than 1/4th inch in diameter is big enough for a mouse to squeeze through. 

Check all exterior doors for sweep gaps, and all windows for gaps at the sashes, too. Pest management professionals are schooled in this practice, so don't be shy about hiring one to do it for you if the job seems too much to handle. 

Then--  (2) throw some mouse bait in your attic, away from pets and children, where only the mice will find it.  Lots of baits are available. Pelletized baits are my least favorite; paraffin-based 1-ounce blocks are better, for me, but you or your pest management specialist may feel differently. Just be sure to use a bait that poses no secondary-poisoning-hazard to your pets.  Look for that precise statement on the label, and only use one that says it won't harm your pets if they eat a mouse or rat killed by that bait.  Then throw the bait into the attic--again following the exact instructions provided on the label--and sit back and wait for the mice to die. 

Yes, in the attic.  No, you don't need to put the bait anywhere else (though it is always good to check for multiple attics, and to put bait in every one).

"I have been told they travel in two’s so not to worry"

You were told wrong.  Except during mating season, and then only while actually courting and mating, most snake species travel alone.

"I have been told that them being in the house means there is a poisonous snake in the house because that’s the only reason they will come indoors"

Wrong again---for the most part, anyway.  That statement can be partially true, in a very limited sense, for king snakes, because they track other snakes down the way rat snakes track rats and mice.  But even king snakes follow a non-discriminatory food practice--they track and eat non-poisonous snakes with about the same gusto as poisonous ones.

Most of the time, when I investigate the reasons why snakes have taken a fondness for a particular house, I discover a rodent, lizard, or gecko infestation in the house (and nine times out of ten, rodents are the problem). 

"I have been told that they come in the same way the mice do (If I’d have figured out that route I wouldn’t have mice either!)"

True on the first count, and true again on the second.  I should add that snakes are even more adept at getting into a house than mice and rats.  Snakes can climb vertical walls with ease, and glide along slowly looking for any little opening to poke their heads into.  Mice and rats scale walls too, but in a rapid motion that doesn't give much time for careful scrutiny of openings. However, and this is important for your peace of mind, snakes are less likely to search randomly for food, while rodents are, by nature, random foragers. Unless the snake is following a scent trail, it isn't likely to come into your home. One of the great things about repellents is that they mask or obliterate such scent trails.

I hope this helps, Kathie.  Perhaps now you will feel better equipped to tackle solutions to each of your concerns.  Don't hesitate to ask for clarification on anything you have questions about, and yes, my skin is thick enough to withstand a barrage if invective if you disagree with anything I said.  The important thing is to fix the problems, so your blood pressure can slack off a little. Oh, and so the snakes can rest easier, too, in the knowledge that they are no longer threatening your peace of mind---Jerry