>snakes & gophers..how do they catch them< The balance of nature..well depends on the balance of nature. If we kill the snakes & drive away the coyotes for example, then the ground squirrel , gopher & general rodent populations grow out of control unchecked & destroy the plants by undermining them ..then contribubuting to erosion of the soil & leave less flowering plants for the bees who fertilize many trees & plants. If we kill off too many gophers/burrowing creatures, then we have less aeration of the soil etc, etc. Human intervention by deciding which species is offensive/inconvenient to them impacts so many things we can't even conceive of .
All that being said, I will try to relocate first & then dispatch if all else fails any creature in the most humane way possible that threatens the safety of my family (which includes my animals). This is why I am vigilant about holes in the paddocks..I don't want a broken bone for me or my horses. As to how snakes hunt, they wait until they see the type of prey they can easily catch & is the right size & grab them, quickly dispatch them by first paralysing them (if they are lucky) by grabbing the prey behind the neck, coil around them to suffocate them & then swallow them. The snake in your garage may have been lying in wait for a tasty little mouse or rat..or just seeking shade. I'm not for having a too close encounter with a poisonous snake, but the non-poisonous ones can do no harm to me or my animals because around here they are just too small to pose any threat. My rescue boas I've had for 17 years (both about 9'/30 lbs), could possibly go after a very small kitten or small chihuahua puppy if they escaped & were very hungry. But they are very docile & are physically incapable of swallowing anything larger than the above. They certainly would not/could not hurt any human unless the human was stupid enough to allow a snake of that size to coil around their neck & the snake lost it's balance. Even then it would be a stabilizing protection (hanging on for dear life) against a fall rather than to try to intentially kill. If a snake falls & breaks ribs, they can not ptoentially hunt & eat, so they instinctually like horse do anything to avoid falling. Snakes will strike /bite in self defense if cornered & perceive there is no way out, not try to strangle you!! They only do that to eat. Now a 60lb+ Burmese python or one of the other more agressive eater giant snakes, you might have to be more careful with small pets & potentially a baby human. Kaaren
