My New Kitchen Mate -- A Snake...

[mario299]

Every arch of the roof tiles along the wall is just an open passageway to the outside. I want to fill all these in. .

Most supply houses carry "bird-block" coverers for the roof tiles, and they usually can be installed pretty easily from either inside or outside after the roofing tiles have been installed. They are usually done when the roofing is done, but I have done them "retro-fit" with a little bit of firring and fiddling to make it work properly. The roof tiles probably are identified on the inside of each tile so you can identify the proper bird-blocks, and if there is no gutter installed on the outside you can probably pretty easily install them from the outside. Hope this helps, they aren't expensive.

mario299 :jap:

[wpcoe]

Bird blocks, huh? Thanks! I've already made a bit of a mess trying to fill the open arched areas. Tomorrow I'm going to try to trim/sculpt the hardened foam in the arches I was able to plug to make them more presentable. There were several arches where the foam simply didn't work, so I need to find some supply outfit here in Hua Hin to see if I can get bird blocks.

That said, the area where the snake and the tokay were is not one of the arches. It is a deep gap between the roof frame and the side wall that I couldn't get foam to adhere to. It was like trying to shoot the stuff straight up and it didn't adhere. So the snake's known entrance way is still wide open. I'm going to try to stuff it with crumpled newspaper and rags as a temporary block. There is another area a couple meters long alongside the back wall of the main structure that needs to be addressed, as well.

[wpcoe]

Last night I don't think the previous male tokay crooner was there. Only one time, while I was upstairs at the opposite side of the building, I heard three verses of the F-U. It was too short for me to run downstairs, but it sounded more muffled, possibly outside someplace nearby in the neighborhood. Then again, I did wedge newspapers into the gap where the tokay & snake were, so maybe they just muffled the sound. But, only three verses, and only one time, versus the previous every hour or so each night for over a week. I think the tokay was the snake's brunch yesterday.

I've sealed about 75% of the gaps at the roof/wall seam. Trying to decide what to do with the rest. Most of them are awkward sizes, shapes and/or locations.

[wpcoe]

For the uninitiated, here's a tokay's F-U call:

[Edited: Found a better sounding video]

Edited April 11, 2011 by wpcoe

[Sheryl]

The traditional Thai way to deter snakes is to plant a lot of lemongrass, lemon trees and other citrus around.

It is not 100% but it definitely does have some deterrent effect.

[sbk]

mothballs