I wound up my garden hoses and put them in the shed awhile ago expecting a hard early winter this year. To my surprise today something else thinks I’m right and is also preparing for a hard long winter! Did not know anything could eat poke berries and live but obviously pack rats are immune! Suspect I have a neighbor wondering where his coffee cup went! Note the nest has upgrades! Yes that’s a thorny blackberry cane. Rascals !
Since I know they are building their nest I figured they would be back soon. Bought a case of these in preparation for winter.
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OMG, Clark. That’s a BIG nest. Glad you found it now. Egad.
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I’m not sure why a styrofoam coffee cup is a prized possession to them or a spool of garden hose is a good nest location. The location has plentiful food since it’s centrally located in between my orchard and gardens.
A couple of years ago when it was cold outside, I was preparing to get an early start on some pool cleaning. I set the filter to rinse out the pipes and turned on the pump. It labored sluggishly, but I could tell from the sound that it had pressure building and that water should soon start coming out at a normal rate instead of the trickle that was draining. It finally belched out an enormous surge of water as it cleared a major clog. A huge blacksnake had slithered into the drain pipe to shelter from the cold. If I hadn’t been so fascinated by the surprise, I might have jumped or even squealed when that thing was spit out at my feet. It appeared much larger than the apparent amount of space available. I suppose it must have curled up inside the fat pipe. The water inundating him was very cold, and not exactly conducive to him making a quick getaway. I’m sure he didn’t appreciate the rude awakening from his winter nap even less than I appreciated him declaring squatter’s rights in my filter drain pipes…
I didn’t kill it. I just carried it out to the woods so that we’d be less likely to unexpectedly confront each other in the near future.
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Styrofoam cap is great insulator. Many creatures learned to use human trash in their lives. I saw bird nests covered with plastic from plastic bag on outside of the nest, I saw rabbit nests with pieces of house insulation between the fur they usually use, so I am not too surprised to see styrofoam cap as sleeping quarters. Nature is smart.
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Looks like poor Feng Shui so I think they may rearrange those trap placements. 
Seriously, they don’t look baited. Have you placed any at the entrance?
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Yes I put out 12 total traps with peanut butter on them now. Last night I did not bait them at all. Placed them in the nest thinking they would rearrange them. They walked around them. Have a feeling it’s going to get ugly tonight!
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Blacksnake is a good guy - preys on rodents
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I wish I had 50 of them. The hawks like snake supper around here. Rodents are eaten by hawks to there are just more of them.
Right. They also eat birds and their eggs, which is okay with me. I consider all the snakes native to this country to be “good guys”. However, the venomous ones aren’t appropriate around human and domesticated animal populations.
Had to step up my pack rat hunting a little, they have been licking the peanut butter off my traps so I used tomcats this time. These are expensive traps and I already lost one this year! <img src="/uploads/default/original/2X/4/43609f53b2cb1277b0f7acaa35f67fe39e4d8017.jpg" width=“690” height="923>
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It’s hard to beat cheap peanut butter for getting the job done. Works spread on bread for raccoons in the cage traps too. Time to place mouse poisons in my garage or they are going to nest in my truck’s airbox again.
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It is better to get help from any wildlife control services.Speaking of winter there are actually various tips to winterize your fruit trees in the garden.Wrapping the tree trunk is a good idea to protect it from the cold and harsh winds,preferably a vinyl tree wrap.Winter can be hard time not only for our gardens but our homes as well.Here is a blog I found from canglow windows and doors that mentions some tips on how to save on your utility bills this winter . Reducing the amount of hot water and turning down the heater at night are some of the ways to save on utility bills.
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