OT: How do you get rid of snakes?

[java]

So how do you keep the guinea hens in your yard? Is it fenced in? Are they a pain to have around? I have heard they are loud is that true? Would they hate my dog?

With the ticks and now the snakes- seems like these might be a good addition to the property. I did just tell dh I wanted a pet of my own....

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

I too think I would have to move!! How the heck could you stand it?AAAGGGHHH!!

I have seen a snake at WDW! I almost fainted! I was just out of high school, so it was a family trip. Mom sympathized with me, the afore mentioned dad didn't overreact, of course. But my grandmother (his mom) was bit by a copperhead when I was young, she was raking the leaves and 'disturbed' it. YIKES!! She said she has never felt such pain and was afraid she was going to die. I don't know what they did at the hospital, I was too young to remember. But the next trip up to their place, guess who found the next one-ME!!!!! I was so terrified, of course all the men went crazy trying to kill it, since they never killed the one that bit her. TRAUMA for me, I'll tell ya!

 

[jocotter]

Like all of you guys, I'm a total snakephobic person! My daughter isn't afraid of snakes and in fact worked with snakes in the lab at college. Her and her husband recently bought a small ranch near here with a house that had not been inhabited for a few years. It was/is full of rattlesnakes. She asked us to come see it and had to have a snake wrangler come catch all the snakes the day before, and yet we still saw one. I ran and got in the truck and couldn't get out. I am so paranoid of seeing one or even thinking that one might be nearby.

Luckily, they have decided to tear down the house and to live in the nearby town for the time being.

 

[BabyTigger99]

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.

Okay, where in Northern Wisconsin are you, and what kind of snakes were you getting? I love going up north, but would FREAK with a snake!

 

[KJF]

Yikes - Totally creeped out now by this thread! I'm so glad I haven't seen one roaming free. Not too many out in my area. I'm actually nervous about seeing them at the Poly or WL when I'm down there.

 

[SalandJeff]

I am the OP and wanted to say thanks to everyone for the advice. I have had a really hard time reading this thread (feet are up off the ground, my stomach is in a knot and the hair on my neck is standing up), but I read the entire thing.

The thing that scares me with the snakeaway is what if you trap one inside the perimeter? How can you possible make sure there are none before you sprinkle it around?

Oh, this whole thing is making me sick. I am going to do the owl thing (even though we have a real owl living in our small wooded area). I really think it is time for dd to get a pet cat too!

 

[Accentuate+]

"The thing that scares me with the snakeaway is what if you trap one inside the perimeter? How can you possible make sure there are none before you sprinkle it around?"

Well, you can't. You can line three sides of the property, wait a while and hope they make a polite exit and then line the fourth but I'm not sure the snake will know the appropriate snakeaway etiquette and leave.

We just ring the whole property, hope for the best and shoot/hoe/pitchfork/shovel/cat any that have the audacity to remain. Or, there's the snake extermination method my grandfather used many, many years ago (I come from a long line of snakephobes). Granddaddy was surprised by one at the woodpile. Scared him so bad he just jumped up and down on it, cursing the entire time. The snake did not survive the encounter.

I feel for those that have stumbled on them in the house. I don't think I would survive that encounter. I'm a sucker with a bleeding heart and an open wallet for animals and animal causes but I just can't handle snakes. I feel bad about it and logically I know that most snakes are harmless and beneficial...but...it's a snake.

But at least there's a halfway rational reason for me to be afraid of snakes, I'm not much better about frogs and a frog never hurt anyone.

 

[tpayne]

I HATE SNAKES! The only good one is a dead one. My daughter had a Boa when she lived in her own apartment (far far away from me). When "nature" called, it looked as though an elephant had left a very large calling card, and smelled even worse. And she (who gagged at every little smell) would clean it up without a word.

 

[kmccain]

Feet up here!

I was so surprised when my Jack Russell had killed one the other day! I am so proud of my little dog!

When DS was little I used to put his rubber boots on him and give a hoe and tell him where it was and he used to kill them for me. Pathetic!

I thought I saw one the other day and was screaming my head off and running until I realized it was the dog leash.

No snake is a good snake because you cannot always tell what kind it is and who wants to take a chance! We don't have a lot because he do population control! The closest I ever got to killing one was chasing it around the lawn with the car!

Good Luck!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

How about getting a Mongoose. They consider almost all snakes a great delicacy.

 

[JuneChickie]

I too Hate snakes,

We live in Minnesota and have a heavily wooded backyard.
We have not seen any type of snake in the 20 years we have lived here.
Maybe our winters have chased them all South or West ! ! !

I grew up in Florida / Virginia and it was just "normal" to see them,
and we always had be aware .

Snakes are creepy , Not sure how to keep them away , they can pretty
much get in anything or anywhere they want.

Its a good thing Snakes can't FLY

 

[Sethsmom]

About 2 weeks ago Dh & DS were looking for an arrow that was lost in the yard. My FIL and friend and her nephew were all over visiting. All of a sudden we all hear get a shovel. Snake!!!! Well no one could find a shovel. We all looked like the 3 stooges running around to find a shovel. Well, we finally found a shovel and DH decides he is going to shoot it. Well the shotguns are locked up in the gun safe and he left his Dad standing guard over the snake while he went after the gun. His dad yelling the whole time, hurry hurry!! Dh finally made it out and shot it in the head. It was a 4 1/2 timber rattler with 14 rattles and a button. Biggest snake I have seen close up. That thing wiggled for quite a while after it was shot.

I have been afraid to go out in the yard since. The snake was near our deck not far at all from the house.

I had an encounter with a snake at the Disney World campground when I was about 12. My sister and I were in a canoe and a snake swam up beside us and we paddled as fast as we could. I quess we paddled a little too fast because the next thing that you know we ran right into one of the pylons holding up one of the foot bridges. Well it turned the canoe over and we ended up in the water with the snake. You talk about getting out of the water quick, it was the fastest I ever ran in water.

If I see any more, I will be getting some snake-a-way.

 

[mickey mouse lover]

OMG!!! I know I'll have bad dreams tonight. I hate snakes, I hate snakes, I hate snakes.

 

[Mellie2162]

I had an encounter with a snake at the Disney World campground when I was about 12. My sister and I were in a canoe and a snake swam up beside us and we paddled as fast as we could. I quess we paddled a little too fast because the next thing that you know we ran right into one of the pylons holding up one of the foot bridges. Well it turned the canoe over and we ended up in the water with the snake. You talk about getting out of the water quick, it was the fastest I ever ran in water

OMG you just reminded me of a snake incident. My DH likes them and is not bothered by them at all, however, he knows better than to take the side of a snake over my family. Once he and my brother were out fishing on my brothers boat. They both were having a nice day and had their lines out when all of a sudden here comes this snake (according to my DH very innocently) swimming by them. Well DH notices it but brother doesnt, so DH (very stupidly) says hey Leonard look at that snake swimming over there. Well the next thing you know brother had pulled in his line, dropped the motor and was heading out of there while DH still had his line out..lol..Dh told him to wait a minute so he could get his line in but brother was out of there!

My entire side of my family HATES snakes with a passion and they seem to keep finding us. We were in town once going to the movies and waiting to get out in traffic and I looked over and there on the median is a snake sitting up looking at me. Im convinced they were put on this earth to hunt my family down and scare the bejeebers out of us.

Yesterday my sister tried to kill one with a weed whacker...bad idea..she killed it but it flipped through the air and landed on her... and thats what she looked like afterwards.

 

[Nynaeve]

Yesterday my sister tried to kill one with a weed whacker...bad idea..she killed it but it flipped through the air and landed on her... and thats what she looked like afterwards.

OMG, I would have hit the ceiling!!

This thread is funny and creepy at the same time. I don't like snakes, but am not totally terrified of them. Then again, I have not seen a live on outside the zoo. My dad has a run down property out in the country in IL for storage, and he killed one with a shovel one day when he was clearing brush. Was really nasty even though I only saw it dead, and I was watching where I walked really close after that.
I'm really scared of bugs though, and so is DD. One night a cockroach was in her bathroom, and she was screaming bloody murder. Scared me to death, I thought something had happened to her. I was relieved until I realized that I had to kill it.

 

[Ratpack]

I had an encounter with a snake at the Disney World campground when I was about 12. My sister and I were in a canoe and a snake swam up beside us and we paddled as fast as we could. I quess we paddled a little too fast because the next thing that you know we ran right into one of the pylons holding up one of the foot bridges. Well it turned the canoe over and we ended up in the water with the snake. You talk about getting out of the water quick, it was the fastest I ever ran in water.

If I see any more, I will be getting some snake-a-way.

This reminds me of a time when I was younger and swimming in a stream in the mountains. We used to camp quite a bit when I was a kid. I was swimming in the stream next to the campground with my brother and our friends when here came Mr Snake swimming casually by. I was about chest deep, so I figured there was no way I could get away fast enough, so I stayed still and he just swam on by, about 3 feet away.

 

[JuneChickie]

This reminds me of a time when I was younger and swimming in a stream in the mountains. We used to camp quite a bit when I was a kid. I was swimming in the stream next to the campground with my brother and our friends when here came Mr Snake swimming casually by. I was about chest deep, so I figured there was no way I could get away fast enough, so I stayed still and he just swam on by, about 3 feet away.

"heart attack right there"

 

[NewCrew42]

One of our neighbors told us to put a ring of lime around the property. That snakes do not like to crawl across it.

It sounds similar to the snake away method.

Last year we put lime down and didn't see a snake. First year since we have lived here.

We need to do it this season but I forgot since we haven't seen a snake.

 

[Gizmo1951]

We are in Northern Wisconsin in Wausaukee

Mostly Pine and garter and grass snakes
Very few but on occasion rattlesnakes

Okay, where in Northern Wisconsin are you, and what kind of snakes were you getting? I love going up north, but would FREAK with a snake!

 

[Gizmo1951]

Our yard is not fenced as it is about 7 acres-We have a small building they go in by themselfs each night at dusk and we let them out each day. When they are young they needed to be kept in the building for 6 weeks and that trained them to return each night
(on occasion the local wildlife has kept some from returning permanently)
The are very funny to watch-Yes they can be loud-especially the females and when strangers come in the yard or strange animals-They also kill mice.

Many people eat the eggs they lay-they are just like chicken eggs but smaller
They is a site that can give you all sorts of information on them.
I am not sure if I can post it. If not please delete.

Hope this helps.

http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/

So how do you keep the guinea hens in your yard? Is it fenced in? Are they a pain to have around? I have heard they are loud is that true? Would they hate my dog?

With the ticks and now the snakes- seems like these might be a good addition to the property. I did just tell dh I wanted a pet of my own....