War

It's been a couple of days without the menacing army of rat snakes bogging me down. Their slithery bodies and red-eyed round faces consuming my feathered friends and work. Last week I lost a total of 6 birds, not including the ones that were just strangled and left in their nest boxes face down, such that it looked like they were getting ready to be processed. It was not a pleasant thought. The quail headquarters is my sanctuary. I go in there in times of stress and sorrow. The image of dead bodies, not even consumed, just wasted, just did not glorify the mess. I would just relocate the snakes I found, but I just got fed up.

A year ago, I had the same problem outdoors but with racoons and opposums. I had my quail outside. At the time I had 41 bobwhite quail in a "predator proof" chick n hutch and pen ordered through Murry Mcmurray which had in their description that it was predator proof. The Japanese Coturnix were housed in similar models. The bobwhites were first to go. One by one, I woke up to headless quail... Ha! Predator Proof! eventually Mr. Bob was left. Mr. Bob now resides on the porch with Mrs. Bob, a female a friend gave to me. My new stock of bobwhites are in the garage. The same thing happened to the coturnix. But I saved Stella and the others by moving EVERYONE indoors. That is why the quail headquarters is in the garage. This is why I am upset I am having the snake problem. I solved the Opossum and Raccoon problem, never thought snakes would be a problem...

Back to the snakes, I got fed up. I set traps everywhere..I have caught 15-20 snakes in the past 2 days alone. This is not acceptable to me. I am waiting on some cages to arrive from my dear friend Jodi McDonald. She and her husband Bruce has designed an excellent cage for Chinese Blue Breasted Quail (Button Quail). They are VERY sturdy and they are the best in my opinion since the birds are MONOGAMOUS in nature and should be housed in pairs in captivity.

I admit, I haven't gotten any sleep. These birds are in my hands. I am their caretaker and I shall not allow them to be in harms path. Like I said, no deaths in two days. This is not the end, however. This is still war.