OT: How do you get rid of snakes?

[Free4Life11]

First of all let me tell you a story. We moved to the country 3 years ago. Well the first year was just aweful!!!! I had a 8 ft. BLACK SNAKE come out from behind my stove!!!!

Oh. My. GOD! I would have moved.



I am deathly afraid of snakes.

 

[loveabargin]

GET A CAT!

Seriously, last year a lot of my neighbors had snakes in their yards...we never saw one. Big Boy (our cat) takes care of all of that for us!

 

[Zoesmama03]

Birds maybe. Make your yard a habitat birds will enjoy and hopefully the predator ones will come and eat them.

I've seen recent stuff on Animal Planet about designing yards to be habitat for wildlife maybe you can find info there.

Otherwise be thankful they are not harmful snakes. I'm not so much afraid of snakes in general but very much afraid of running into a rattlesnake which thank GOD I have not ran into one in my 13 years out here in the desert atleast not one that wasn't caged. Black snakes are good they eat the others. HEHE but I guess not so good for someone that afraid of snakes.

I dunno about the sulfur maybe. My dads house always has a sulfur smell maybe one of the neighbors was practicing that method but he had saw a few even though he heard a rattlesnake in the field way behind. Which reminds me that a well cut grass helps too.

 

[Zoesmama03]

Wait, if you try to kill them with anything. Wont they attack you with those fierce fangs. How in the heck do you kill them with swinging a bat?? Geez, I am glad I dont have to deal with them. Like you all do. I have an acre, of land. And my husband is snakephobic. So, I would have to get rid of it. But,I dont mind them. Just scared to be bit. I hate needles, and those fangs look like they would give me two good deep punctures.

I guess that depends on the kind of snake it is.

I don't know everything about snakes other than coral and rattlesnakes. Two of the harmful ones. I've handled many a gartner snakes in my past(I probably wouldn't come with in 5 feet of one now) and never got bit. My step brother did once but he wouldn't stop pestering the thing. He said it didn't hurt. Most are generally happy to run including the harmful ones.

I just don't think your ordinary garden snake would lurch at you to bit you unless you missed and stayed close enough to let it react that way but mostly the will try to escape.


I guess I'm pretty fortunate to never see them around here. They are around I just haven't seen any in a LONG time and I of course like it that way.

Now scorpions talk about irrational fear. EEEEEEK put me with in 10 ft of one and I'm heebie jebbied out for a week atleast.

 

[swilshire]

We live in the country and get one in the house once in a while. I am SO terrified of them. My husband won't let us hurt them because they're usually black snakes and he says those eat the bad snakes along with the mice.

I went to sit down at the computer one afternoon and there was one coiled right where my feet would have gone. I screamed so loudly that I scared the poor snake and it took off, making it hard for the boys to find it to take it outside.

Someday I'm going to see one snake too many and move out!

Sheila

 

[meandtheguys2]

When Dh was 9 he was jumping out of the hay loft into bales of hay and a Copperhead bit him. Sent him to the hospital, for his parents to be told he was not going to live. Took him to another hospital and they cut his arm from his wrist all the way to his elbow and let his arm lay open for days to air out. He had months of physical therapy after that to regain use of his arm. Apparently he weighed about 70 lbs and they gave him enough anti-venom for a 300lb. man. The dr. said if he is ever bit by another snake he will not live..I dunno

SOOOOOO.. Snakes are not welcome here and we live on 5 acres and we see them often. We have used snake away and it works OK, but they still come around because we have field mice. He shot a black snake in the head with his 9 mm last summer, and I have already stepped on a corn snake this year. (Scared the living SH$T out of me).. .I got the shovel and killed it as well. We have spread moth balls all in our basement and our yard yet they still come around. There is a 2 ft. long skin in my front yard right now. I am ready to MOVE!!!!!

Well, now I really have to move. I came home last evening and my husband (and boys) told me that they found and killed a baby copperhead in my garage. I was trying to keep up a good front, but I think your post pushed me over the edge!

 

[kismet1003]

OMG!! I feel just the same as you. I never even though of snakes in Jersey until I moved to the house I'm at now. I'm not even in the woods, we're in a suburban neighborhood and we had 3 last year and just had a 5 ft one last week. I have made my husband kill them all after I can't breath and have a panic attack. I would die if one was in my house, I would never stay here again!!

Anyway...we use Snake Away. We used it last year and never saw any after that, so we'll see if it works this year again. you will have a strong moth ball scent for a few days but it eventually goes away. Also, they have those things you put in the ground that vibrate, I think they are for moles, but are highly recommended by many that I talk to for snakes.

Good luck!! I feel your pain!!

 

[Ratpack]

One more thing that helps keep them away or I should say doesn't attract them is get rid of any pine straw around your house. They love this stuff and builders use it because it is cheap. Every house we have owned, that is one of the first things we do. After we moved in, we started pulling it out and saw little snakes everywhere, since it is gone, we haven't seen any. They love laying under it as it is like a blanket to them. Right now that is my biggest problem since we had some put in on the back of our property. It is great for killing un wanted vegitation but it won't be replaced. As it decays, it will disappear and then I can lower my alert level.

 

[pperfectmom]

In the email was a picture of a copperhead (deadliest snake in SE States). He and my Dd saw one on the road. Creeped out my SIL. DD is terrified of snakes as am I.

.

I'm not trying to pick on you here, but could you find just one instance of a copperhead bite actually killing someone? I'd love to see it. Rattlesnakes are far more dangerous and you never hear of anyone dying from them either. You'll be hard pressed to find evidence of people dying from snakebites in the US unless from an exotic brought in from another country or from people who use them for religious purposes and don't treat the bites.

As for the poster whose son was bitten, the damage was done by the doctor-not the snake. A lot of medical professionals do not even know what to do with a copperhead bite. Most of the people I know that have been bitten(quite a few actually since I was a forest ranger for over 10 years) by copperheads just keep the area clean because they are more afraid of what the doctors would do. The bites are painful, but the only lasting effects are a little numbness in the area. Now if a small child was bitten, I would be more concerned, but we live in the country with tons of snakes and I don't worry at all about my two kids.

I do know from personal experience that cats will keep snakes away from your house. The only problem with that is that they don't differentiate between poisonous snakes, nonpoisonous ones and anything else that moves such as baby bunnies, songbirds, frogs, etc. I'd rather take my chances with snakes than have carnage around the house all the time.

 

[Tinkerbelle32]

My dad lives out on his property with horses,,acreage, etc. Anyway, one day he was out in the horse stables and a rattlesnake bit his arm! He calmly walked up to the house and told Erin, "I think I need to go to the hospital". Well, she zooms him there, and guess what? They are all out of anti-venom. Long story short, he has to drive to Debuque, Iowa. Thank God it turned out to be mainly a dry bite!

Also, we used to be stationed at Lackland AFB in San Antonio. We lived in a subdivision called Big Country. Our property backed up to a empty area. Lots of grass, weeds,etc. We had so many rattlesnakes, scorpions, etc. I would never take the children outside untill hubby came home and checked the yard. One afternoon, they were all playing outside in the yard. I was inside getting the meat ready to grill. I hear my hubby SCREAM at me to run and get his shotgun!! I 'm thinking what in the He@@ is going on. I run and get the gun and then go outside the side gate. I come upon where my hubby is standing and there is my daughter laying on the grass(she had fallen) and a rattlesnake was not 4ft from her. The snake had been sunning itself when my daughter fell. She did not have anyclues what was going on. She stood right up! The snake stood right up!! My hubby reaches out to shove her farther away from the snake. She falls again and then he shot the rattlesnake. It was so scary!! I've never been very religous, but I swear my dd had a guardian angel with her that day!

P.S. My dad has lots of cats now in his barn. He also says sprinkling gas around the area will keep snakes out. They hate the smell.

 

[jeepgirl30]

I could not read all the post because I will have nightmares! I too am a card carrying snakeaphobe. I used to try and hide it and not tell anyone because i was so afraid someone would use it against me as a joke.

We live by a woods and the first year got huge snakes in our yard, massive black snakes. I did all kinds of reseach and found Dr. T's snakeaway. You have to make sure there are no snakes on property first then sprinkle the perimeter. I do it in the spring every year. If we have really bad storms I do it twice! Since I've been using it we've only seen one snake it was under the porch. My neighbor came and put amonia in a hose into the area where the snake was, he said it would either kill it or scare it away.

I would not step foot in my own backyard if it weren't for the snake away! Good luck.

 

[elf]

Egad I wish I didn't see this post. I do not like snakes and have only seen them in the zoo or animal stores. But now I'm moving to North Carolina near Winston Salem it's my first time out of NYC suburb. Dare I ask, but is there a large snake population in that area of NC.

 

[hegfam]

As a matter of fact, a college-age daughter of a friend was just recently bitten by a copperhead, here in NC. She and her BF were going fishing, apparently she stepped in the wrong place and it bit her on the foot. She spent two days in the hospital and they basically just watched her to make sure the swelling didn't get really bad. The dr's said giving an anti-venom could actually cause more harm than the snake bite and took a "wait and see" approach. She's out of the hospital now, it hurt for about a week, and is still swollen, which the dr's said could take 5-6 weeks to completely go away.

If there are woods or high grass around, you can expect that there are snakes around too, in this neck of the woods anyway.

 

[annakris1973]

Country girl here...I was always taught to "leave a snake be". They have their place in the ecosystem. However, I hate them. There has been two times in 13 years that we have had a snake in the house though, and we live on 4 acres. Both were harmless snakes, but they signed their death certificate when they came to visit. If it is in your house you have to kill it, because it will continue to come back. We have a cat who is a great hunter, and that helps alot. Yes, I do have to take care of the occasional carnage of birds, squirrels, and chipmunks...but I have not had a snake in the house since we got the cat. I agree with the pp who said to git rid of all pinestraw- snakes love that stuff. Also keep your grass closely mowed. Good luck!

 

[musicdude]

The way gas prices are that could get pretty expensive.
This year we have had a wandering garter snake in the yard. I got the hoe out and a pair of nice work gloves and put him in a bag and relocated him. I felt a little bit like Jeff Corwinrotfl: yea right except I have nightmares about them) Then the next day I found a baby rattlesnake and off with his head. That freaked me out as I was checking the yard for any snakes 3 times a day and had a nice little chat with the kids about playing in the rock areas of our yard. Its been about 2 weeks and no more sightings hopefully for the rest of summer. We have lived here for almost 7 years and this is the 1st year we have seen snakes but there doing alot of excavating in a field adjacent to our property. Heres to a snake-less summer!!!

 

[Ratpack]

Egad I wish I didn't see this post. I do not like snakes and have only seen them in the zoo or animal stores. But now I'm moving to North Carolina near Winston Salem it's my first time out of NYC suburb. Dare I ask, but is there a large snake population in that area of NC.

I grew up in that area, about 15 miles outside W.S. and sorry to tell you that snakes are there. Mostly nonpoisonous but there are poisonous ones, mainly copperheads and water moccasins (cottonmouths) are the two I saw regularly. You have the possibility of rattlesnakes and corals but I never saw either in my 18 years there, but plenty of black snakes and garter snakes.

 

[NATALIEBELLESmom]

I moved here earlier this year and I hate snakes. My neighbors told me that they had a 6ft snake removed from my property last summer. I am so afriad of snakes Our property buts up against a small swamp and it just creeps me out. So far we have not seen any and hope to keep it that way.

 

[java]

SNAKES!!! I am so afraid. And we saw one this morning as we walked back from the bus. It was a tiny one- about a 6 inch long one- stripes- I am hoping it was a garter snake but I am too afraid to look them up to see. Whatever it was it ran away from my boys before they had a chance to grab him

Snakes why did it have to be snakes....
Oh my I think it was a corn snake!! And they eat their prey by biting it squeezing it then swallowing it starting at the head - I think I am going to have to move.

 

[Gizmo1951]

We have two things we use and havent seen a snake in over 3 years and we live in the country were snakes are common

Snakes are afraid of owls so we placed a few plastic owl outdoor ornaments near the house.

I don't know how much this has to do with keeping the snakes away
but our guinea hens (we have about a dozen right now) really hate snakes and will kill any that are around. Plus the fact that the guineas keep down the ticks and other bugs in the yard to almost zero.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Ohhh girls!! I am the most snakaphobic in the world.Did I even spell that right? My stomach is all squeezed up just from reading this. YIKES!!! They are Satan. I mean really, have you ever seen anything so scary and YUCK? I can't even describe how awful they make me feel. If I see one on tv before I can turn away-nightmares for me!!!

Right before my parents divorced, there was a super big one in her laundry room. Well, my dad knows how terrified we are and he wouldn't even go look for it because she was screaming and being too demanding that he stop what he was doing to go kill it!!! I would have killed HIM!! Any way, my grandpa had to come help look for it-didn't find it, so she slept outside in their little camper trailer for about a month. It wasn't long after that she filed for divorce....hmmmm......

I really do abhore them, and bless you to the poor girl who stepped on the corn snake. I would have had an absolute heart attack- that would be the absolute end of me.