does my woodpile attract vermin?

[Bob95065]

I had what looked like a salamander to this midwesterner in my woodpile. I showed it to my wife who is a biologist and California native. It turns out it was an alligator lizard. She said the alligator part of thier name comes from thier bite - they have teeth. I left him in the pile because I figured he woudl eat any bugs in there. I found another alligator lizard in the yard while I was doing yardwork. I got him on a board and put him in the woodpile too. I wonder of they will fight?

 

[TonyK]

I know my woodpile has snakes because when I find them in the yard I catch them and put them in it. It really cuts down on the mice and bugs.

 

[upsnake]

Box elder bugs, ick. The occasion daring chipmonk, and lots of garter snakes live in my wood pile. A couple of times so far i have been trying to stack wood and have to shoo the snake off the piece of wood that i want to stack. I is kinda funny.

Found a couple of snake skins out there today as well.

 

[qweesdraw]

I get lot's of mice- rats in my wood.
Most snakes are welcome except rattlers.
One of my lab's got bit by a rattler a few weeks ago.(her leg swelled up like a ham),i am surprised she made it @11 years old.
Mouse and rat feces = hantavirus that can kill you so the snakes stay!
I am not fond of snakes at all,i kill rattlers all the time here.
i use one of these for mice.
‪Bucket Mouse Trap - In Action‬‏ - YouTube
Mark

 

[GrizzlyAdams86]

Found out what a milk sanke was the fun way splitting wood from a pile of cull logs and butt cuts over on a neighbor's land. We do have rattlers, and they'll meet Mr. Mossberg or Mr. Remington if I see one. Also have garner snakes, too. The vermin popluation has gone up since our cats died about 2 years ago. Rabbits and woodchucks are comming around again, giving the Savage .22 a workout.

 

[johnha]

I usually find at least one snake skin in each woodpile every year. Seems like the mice take all of about ten minutes to discover a wood pile and start a nest.

Sounds like a grumpy neighbor.

 

[trailmaker]

I had what looked like a salamander to this midwesterner in my woodpile. I showed it to my wife who is a biologist and California native. It turns out it was an alligator lizard. She said the alligator part of thier name comes from thier bite - they have teeth. I left him in the pile because I figured he woudl eat any bugs in there. I found another alligator lizard in the yard while I was doing yardwork. I got him on a board and put him in the woodpile too. I wonder of they will fight?

I have the occasional alligator lizard as well, but mostly I have "Blue Belly" lizards, also called Western Fence Lizards. I must have hundreds just in my wood piles but they seem to be all over my property. They have a protein in their blood that kills the bacteria in ticks that cause Lyme disease, so I'm glad to have them around. That's one of the main reason Lyme disease is so much less common on the West coast. Nymph stage ticks feed on the lizards and the protein from the lizard blood gets into the tick gut and kills the Lyme causing bacteria.

 

[Richard Dupp]

I'd rather have one black snake in the barn than three cats. They are not vermin, they control vermin. If they get to close to the house, I simply relocate them.