I was able to catch the remaining birds, then carried the cage outside, and by this time, the snake had decided he'd had about enough of me. I usually hate killing anything, but I was so upset at the fact he had eaten three of my babies. I finally managed to kill it (a normally harmless Texas rat snake); it was even striking at me. I measured it later, and it was a full 3 feet long, which really isn't big for a rat snake, but big enough.
Not knowing if there were more snakes around, I had to make new arrangements really fast. I live in a small house with 4 cats and 2 dogs, so keeping the birds in my house wouldn't work very well. I do have a small room off the back porch, and that will be my new bird room. It does need some work, but for now it will do. At least it has a cement floor and is more predator proof.
Now, the cages I have are the standard 30x36x18 economy cages, with 1/2" spacing on the bars. What I realized is that these bars are fairly flimsy, and the snake was able to easily push thru the bars to enter the cage. So if anyone has this type cage, and they are kept anywhere a snake might be able to get in the building, beware!
Once again, I had to learn something the hard way.
Maybe this should have gone under Housing. If so, and the mods can move it, maybe that is where it should be.
