7 Comments

1. Amy M on August 26, 2016 at 3:53 pm

   I feel sorry for any snake who makes the mistake of entering the chimps’ territory lol.

   JB — Now that the chimps have more experience dealing with snakes, do you notice any difference in how they handle them now from when they first started encountering them?

   
   
   
   • J.B. on August 29, 2016 at 8:09 am

     Hi Amy – Yes, in fact I wrote about it on the Facebook post but not here. Here it is:

     “When they first arrived at the sanctuary they were terrified of even the tiniest garter snake. They would throw things toward the snake but they were too afraid to approach. Years later, they began to hit the snakes with objects, including pasta spoons and hardcover children’s books. These days, they will flip small snakes with their bare hands until the snakes either play dead or escape under the electric fence. Thankfully, our snake fence deters rattlesnakes that occasionally pass through the property, so the snakes inside the two-acre enclosure are all nonvenomous.”

     
     
     
     • Amy M on August 29, 2016 at 8:23 am

       Thanks, JB!

       
       
       
2. Kathleen on August 26, 2016 at 6:31 pm

   Way to go! At the end of the video, is she trying to toss the snake outside of the fencing? It appears she isn’t trying to harm (or kill!) the snake, only trying to throw it or move it away, right?

   How often do you see rattlesnakes when you (or any of the caregivers) walk on the outside of the chimps enclosure. Eeeeeek! And I had no idea there was a form of special fencing to keep rattlesnakes out of the chimps area. Never knew there was even such a thing. Wow.

   
   
   
   • J.B. on August 29, 2016 at 8:18 am

     I think they prefer to shoo snakes out of the enclosure if possible instead of killing them, but not out of compassion for the snakes – killing them would mean that they’d have to grab or bite them, which means greater risk. They have killed snakes, but usually just the smaller ones.

     We see about one rattlesnake per year on the property. During the first few years, they were getting inside the chimp building, but since we put up the snake fence we’ve only seen them on the gravel road that passes through the property or in our garden at the house. The snake fence is made of hardware cloth – a type of mesh screen that you can get at any hardware store. The trick is to bury it 6-12″ in the ground. Rattlesnakes don’t climb as well as other snakes like racers, so they tend to move along once they bump into the fence. Unfortunately nothing is perfect, and there are by necessity a few gaps here and there around the doorways through the fence. And over time, field mice start to burrow under the fence, which creates a nice little tunnels for rattlesnakes to follow. But some protection is better than none, and it seems to have worked wonderfully so far.

     
     
     
     • Kathleen on August 31, 2016 at 7:20 pm

       Thanks J.B. Add to your “To Do” list adding a rattlesnake fence around your home too. ; )
       Oh, and hardware cloth works wonders when added to a common screen door (replacing the standard screen or being placed over the standard screen) to keep dogs from tearing through! We’ve got in our back door and it work wonders.

       
       
       
3. Peggy S on August 29, 2016 at 8:21 pm

   I enjoyed hearing the story from years ago of their inventive ways in dealing with the snakes. It seems they have come a long way since then. Yelling “Snake!” works for me, too.