Steal my eggs; go to prison.

Well, our little thief has returned. Jen was on the phone with her mom and looking out the window, when she noticed the mama duck bolt frantically from the nest. She shouted at me that the snake was probably back, and sure enough he was at the nest again. All eggs were still there.

       I went out with my trusty snake stick and snatched him up. You're going to prison bud. 

Luckily I already had a spare tank, already wired up for heat, sharing the thermostat with the cage above where Kiwi (my Mexican black king snake) dwells. Kiwi got excited with all the commotion. She is a snake eater (among other things) by nature, wonder if she smelled the new one? He's much bigger than her at any rate, but every snake lives solo around here. I only plan to keep him till the baby ducks are big enough that he won't be a threat anymore. And I have a CA fishing license so I'm legal to grab one from the wild. (I know it sounds funny that it would be a fishing license that you require, but it is! I even have a 'bag limit' that I'll never get near to reaching.) 

In order for this to work out though, I'll need to see if he'll eat in captivity. I thawed some mice (Kiwi's feed, I have about a hundred or so in the deep freeze) and decided to give it a try. 

Boy did he ever! This is one hungry snake. I guess he was likely going after the eggs in desperation. I gave him two more mice and he swallowed them without hesitation. That's a relief. If he wasn't going to be a successful captive, I was going to have to start looking around for another home for him. I'd be bummed not to have him on the property anymore. This snake is one of three regular gophersnakes that we see every spring and summer. I don't want to be short any gopher killers..

Here's a few more feeding pictures: He (or she) is a really pretty example of the species in my opinion. Lots of rosy/coral pink colors mixed with the black and tan pattern you usually see. After he has settled in some and digested this meal, I'll try and get some better pictures.

And not to leave Kiwi out. She is a permanent pet here- captive bred and been with us since she was only weeks old. Sorry the picture is not so great, I don't dare mess with her too much while she's feeding. She gets a little 'snappy' when she can smell mice, and she does NOT let go. 

One more of him curled up and full! Don't worry buddy, your 'sentence' won't be long.

Even when predators interfere, we think it's important to remember that they are worth saving. After all, I've almost lost an embryonic duck or two, but this guy didn't get this big from eating ducks (I would have noticed). Even while he doesn't see eye to eye with us regarding our livestock, he does his share of work around here by keeping the gopher, ground squirrel and black rat populations down. I feel the same way about the coyotes, the hawks, the owls, and all the other potential threats to my flock. I'm not saying I wouldn't ever resort to killing a predator, but honestly, I would do just about all I could to not have to ever do that. After all, wildlife is a big part of the reason we wanted to live out here in the first place, and life without them here would be a sad trade-off for that little bit of comfort. As of now, I've managed to lose not a single animal to predators, and I've never yet had to reach for the gun either to keep it that way. That's just the way we like it.