Mysterious Lack of Snakes This Year

I have lived in this rural area for 17 years and have had a snake problem all summer, every summer from March through September- but not this year!
I usually see 6-12 snakes a week; Western Terrestrial's, Night Snakes, Yellow-Bellied Racers-and I capture/relocate them in an effort to keep them from killing my pond fish.....

This year snakes weren't seen until the 2nd week of May, and by the 3rd week of May I had only captured 5. I haven't seen a single Garter since then.

Our back yard ends in a 20' drop down to a creek. It's perfect habitat, yet they have disappeared! Now, I'm not complaining, but I am wondering! There are fish in the creek, and they seem healthy and abundant, so I doubt it's water-related pollution.

I have researched possible causes, but haven't found anything that would explain this.

I've noticed a decline in bird visits also, that began two summers ago. The hundreds of birds that visit my yard have turned into a handful this year!
Being surrounded by farm fields full of wheat, mustard and canola I figured it might have something to do with Monsanto's Roundup, but that shouldn't affect the snakes.

Garter snakes feed on slugs, and I still have an overabundance of those slimy critters!

I am hoping some of the great ATS minds might be able to suggest some possible causes that I had not thought of. Any ideas?

The fact you've been removing them for 17 years might have something to do with it.

I have no idea about snakes, I only see them every now and then but that's normal for me. Now birds are a different story. We have loads more birds around this year not less. When I drive to works the power lines are covered by them. Enough that it caught my attention.

a reply to: nugget1

None of those snakes you mentioned could eat pond fish, as far as you not seeing or lack there of snakes it depends on where you're relocating them.

Has it been cooler than normal this summer? I has been much cooler here this summer than normal and we haven't seen near the number of rattle snakes.

It's the same in my area, as well...

I have a sneaking suspicion that it is a result of overhunting, here locally.
We have a segment of locals who supplement their income by catching wildlife and selling it to reptile dealers, in the area. Not just snakes, but several species of frogs, lizards and turtles, too. As well as some small mammals, like baby opossums, flying squirrels and raccoons.

I have noticed a significant decrease in all of the above, over the past two decades, or so.

EDIT:

I did see a dead coral snake on the road, down from my house, the other morning! (ran over)
I haven't seen a coral in about 8 years prior... :shrug:

Now that I think about it, there's no turtles this year. I years past, I always see and have to dodge the turtles on the road. Not this year. Not even once.

a reply to: nugget1

The colder winters are killing them in the ground?

Grrr... how is it that I get logged OUT while making this post???
And, why won't this video embed??
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Along with your lack of snakes this year, I had a serious lack of toads this year. I usually start seeing them and hearing their mating calls in Mar-Apr, depending on the weather. This year I didn't even see or hear one toad until May. The video
I embedded is from 5 yrs ago, but is the usual amount of baby toads in my back yard every year for 10 yrs now.
This year the first and only baby toad I saw was mid-Aug. On a normal year, I usually have at least 10 different toads living
in my yard. This year I had only 3. This winter was particularly harsh. My perennial plants suffered and I believe
this is what happened to all the toads and frogs.

How about reading about Colony collapse disorder, then imagine that more than bees are effected. I am worried about the dead dogs that my friends had, all with tumors on tumors.

a reply to: virraszto

Thats a god damn cane toad. Kill it!

a reply to: GoOfYFoOt

You're in Florida. Depending on where ... it might be an explosion of pythons eating some of those critters.

I haven't noticed a lack and neither have my parents. My parents live in the country surrounded by wildlife. In fact, it's normal for them to have snakes in their basement as a matter of course. You can't keep them out! It's natural to have the big black rat snakes down there all winter. My mom and dad aren't find of them, but they're sluggish and stay in the cracks in the walls ... and so long as you have those big black rat snakes, you have a much lower rat population, both regular and pack rat.

We've had plenty of birds in our urban neighborhood. The usual woodpeckers, cardinals, and the like. Even the occasional goldfinch.

You can't drive 10 miles without seeing someone's unintentional deer kill on the side of the road, and there are plenty of 'coon and possum kills, too. We even had a fox in our neighborhood this year.

It wouldn't surprise me if the unusually cold and long winter did keep the reptiles and amphibians down longer than normal. It might also have interfered with the normal breeding cycle, too.

originally posted by: DaRAGE
a reply to: virraszto

Thats a god damn cane toad. Kill it!

There are no cane toads in my state. These are either American or Fowler's toads, but most likely American
toads.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: GoOfYFoOt

You're in Florida. Depending on where ... it might be an explosion of pythons eating some of those critters.

Sorry...Contrary to popular belief, there is NO "explosion of pythons" going on in Florida! And, that is a F.A.C.T!
I have been to the 'Glades (the very Southern part the peninsula) on many an occasion...Even once for the state sponsored "Python Round-up", and there were only a handful caught down there. They simply can not survive our winters, as mild as they are, compared to the rest of the country. The few that make it to breeding size, are what have kept the population going since Andrew, but they inevitably get too large to find a suitable burrow to hole up in, and succumb to the elements.

I'm actually very good friends with the Swamp Brothers, Robbie and Stephen Keszey. And they concur, that the tales of a great constrictor takeover of Southern Florida, is mostly a myth propagated by college Herp depts. looking for funding!

Don't believe the hype....er...I mean, "deny ignorance"!

Down here in Arizona I have seen a large increase in rattlesnakes on my property and have had to kill far more than usual. However, it is the massive increase in bark scorpions, which always get in the house that worries me as well as a spike in ticks. My dogs are protected but they are still covered in them whenever they come in and drop them all over the place. I have also been seeing a lot more black vultures then usual.

Out of the ordinary for sure.

originally posted by: Senators
Down here in Arizona I have seen a large increase in rattlesnakes on my property and have had to kill far more than usual. However, it is the massive increase in bark scorpions, which always get in the house that worries me as well as a spike in ticks. My dogs are protected but they are still covered in them whenever they come in and drop them all over the place. I have also been seeing a lot more black vultures then usual.

Out of the ordinary for sure.

As being a fellow Arizona resident I can agree with you on the snakes, seen much more this year.

Scorpions...not so much up where I live there isn't many up here...thank goodness!

Maybe Fukushima? No idea. Over here we've had lots of snakes, more than usual.

I grew up about 2 miles down the road from Brookhaven National Laboratory and by the mid 90s the number of toads was to a minimum. They were everywhere in the early 90s, the tiny little toads and occasionally the larger ones.

I've noticed up here there's not many bats left. When I moved up here 9 years ago you could watch them on the warm nights flying past the house (illuminated by the back lights). Now, nope. White Nose Syndrome I think.

Nature can only take so much. S + F

a reply to: nugget1

Has anyone in your area been introduced to the recent "Smart grid" power system? Have you had a person install a new digital smart meter on your property?

Maybe they're on a plane to somewhere nice.

.