Rattlesnakes!!

Well, we appreciate the info. The answers to most things I need to know pop up somewhere on DG...lol... we learn things we didn't even know that we didn't know. So if we have someone who knows snakes, that's cool. You'll find all the answers to gardening here.....
Sherry

Someone linked me to you so I though I'd link you to my thread too.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/856028/ here is a sample pix.

(Mojave greens (rattlers) are more agressive, too, they are more territorial, and have been known to chase intruders.)

Yes, that is what I hear. After church today, we found a snake up over our front door after the baby birds nested up there. OOoooo. We hosed him out and he moved fast out of the down spout into my rose bush, then we chased him out and he went fast into one of my coyote bushes where we hosed him straight into a gopher hole, I am sure, where he belongs eating my gophers. He was a 4 ft. gopher snake. Not what you ever want to see slithering over your front door.

Four feet? He's just a baby - look at this guy. I caught him going into the garage and when I stopped him there, he went to the front door steps. Used a broom to just gently direct him - but he wasn't happy about it. By the bumps and lumps in his body, I think I interrupted his digestion of breakfast!

By the way, our owl box project has been interrupted. A swarm of bees took over the box and we had to have them killed. A real shame, as they were very productive - three combs of honey in a short time - and placid. DH is going to put a pulley system up so if it happens again, they can just relocate the bees rather than kill them.

Kathleen yuck. My nest door neighbor is an exterminator and he says almost all the bees here are Africanized bees now, which I heard on the news too. Please don't try to mess with them on your own, relocate or otherwise disturb them. Unless they are in a real inconvenient place you can not avoid, then seek a professional to kill them. The Department of Agriculture may have helpful ideas or some one to take care of moving them since there is a world wide bee shortage. DO NOT MESS WITH THEM.

I hate snakes. I think he got my baby birds too. I am so mad.

Dawn, I wouldn't think of messing with bees. I called a professional immediately. He was very good and could tell right off they weren't africanized bees. That's why he was so sorry to kill them. They charge the same to kill or relocate, so people don't have to kill them just to save money. He says it just takes more time for him. Then he takes them to a beekeeper. Very few people will do this anymore. I watched him do it and he said afterward that they never even tried to buzz him, they were so calm. He told me if we didn't get rid of them our property would be taken over by August - think of 40,000 bees in your garden! We have a very hospitable environment for them.

Oh you are a smart cookie