• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Nancy Reading
  • Carla Burke
  • r ranson
  • John F Dean
  • paul wheaton
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • Jay Angler
  • Liv Smith
  • Leigh Tate
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Maieshe Ljin

prairie dog removal?

 
Posts: 84
37
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Wondering if anyone out there has tried to use fresh "very large" snake poop dropped down active holes? Snakes are listed as a natural predators for the burrowing bunch...? I am thinking that if I were a prairie dog and a pile of python poop suddenly popped up in my plucky parlor...I would be packing my prairie ars pretty quick. Any thoughts on this approach?
 
pollinator
Posts: 5347
Location: Bendigo , Australia
477
plumbing earthworks bee building homestead greening the desert
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
What is the issue with such dogs?
 
steward
Posts: 16058
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4272
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
How do you find snake poop to begin with?

I have seen large rattlesnake dens full of discarded skins though I have never seen snake poop.

Crawling into a den to look for poop does not sound too appealing.

I would rather drop a snake into the prairie dog holes or better yet a dead snake.
 
pollinator
Posts: 1455
Location: BC Interior, Zone 6-7
511
forest garden tiny house books
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
John, prairie dogs are big burrowing rodents.

Prairie dogs are keystone animals and some species are threatened, so I'd keep that in mind.

I doubt dropping snake poop in their holes would do anything, but my battles with northern pocket gophers have left me rather despondent.

We have yellow bellied marmots here, and they don't seem to care what humans do to mess with their homes. If anything they just move to another burrow right next door.

A lot of these burrowing rodents end up sharing burrows with certain types of snakes, so I'd go with dog poop. That might be a little more alarming. I've put lots of dog poop in gopher holes and it didn't bother them one bit, though.
 
jackie woolston
Posts: 84
37
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Good question, John...Why are Prairie dogs a problem? Broken bones and diseases!...Live stock generally can avoid the holes...but when they don't it is deadly. I have seen broken legs...for large stock this is a death sentence, broken horns that won't stop gushing blood, (animal trips and does a head plant...then birds of prey and carrion eaters won't leave the bleeding , broken horn site alone, eventually pecking out the animals eyes...this happened to one of my oxen, broken shoulders in horses, happened to my neighbor's horse, we had to shoot him for her...very sad! etc. I have seen holes that drop straight down for over 3 feet. Not to mention the destruction of crop land and pasture. I personally have a dog village on a little hill side. Here in New Mexico these cute little critters occasionally have been linked to Bubonic plague and HantaVirus deaths in people. This is where the  cheeky expression in New Mexico..."Home of the FLEA and Land of the PLAGUE"...comes from. Most people want to shoot or poison them, I just want to "encourage them to go somewhere else".
 
jackie woolston
Posts: 84
37
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Dear Anne Miller, I have given the "where to find snake poop" some thought...crawling into a snake den...nope. Thinking...Craigs List...? In our region, there are several folks around that have/sell Pythons. I think they feed rodents to these big snakes. Fresh poo laced with rodent parts??
 
Don't listen to Steve. Just read this tiny ad:
2024 Permaculture Adventure Bundle
https://permies.com/w/bundle
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic