George: Up here on the Great American High Desert of Northern Colorado we employee cats and guineas in our snake prevention program. The cats keep the 13 stripe ground squirrels and other rodent populations under control around the house and outbuildings while the guineas patrol the rest of the spread. Amazingly - this course of action has worked to keep us rattle-free the past few years. Prior to that, my shovel earned at least one notch per season and they all had atleast 9 or 10 buttons (that is western vernacular for - darn, big snake). ~ Val Manning Terra Norte' GSD Wellington, CO ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2005. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://www.showgsd.org ============================================================================