SNAKES problem!

[Qusna]

Last year, the field mice took over. Believe me, their reproduction makes rabbits seem like amateurs! And getting rid of them was akin to making sure the last kernel of corn is popped when you can’t see inside the bag!

Meanwhile - out in the duck enclosure,the eggs were disappearing by the dozen. Finally, I found the culprits - two huge, 6 foot copper heads. One of them lost its head - while the other slivered away during the battle and confusion.

Now, a couple months later, no mice. Not one. Which would be ok except I really, really need to crawl under this place to re-direct the dryer venting to the outside. But I am trembling in my boots when I think about the possibility of encountering that huge serpent - and possibly millions of offspring - under there and in the darkness. Heck, it must 10 or 20 ft long by now! And probably spits venom and fire!

Has any one got some of those “old folk” https://pestkill.org/other/snakes/repellents/ remedies to get rid of snakes under the house?? I heard ‘moth balls’ …but I would have the tendency to put way too many - and then the place would stink for months. I know it is just “fear” pushing me - but I tell you - that snake was HUGE! And - it is a SNAKE!
Opportunity has a shelf life.

[Bluey]

Snake-Away, naphtha crumbles, the same as mothballs:

301418126

The U of Wisconsin I think conducted tests and those crumbles were the most effective.
They interfere with pit viper senses, confuses them and so they leave.

That is what most pour every few months around houses and garages to keep rattlers away.

Also works any other place, just takes more in larger areas and is easier to miss places snakes may get thru.

It is safe for most anything else, nothing likes those and stay away also.

[TMares]

Hardware cloth around the duck enclosure

[RacetrackReject]

So many things wrong here. Firstly, copperheads do not get 6’ long (anything over 3’ is considered large for a copperhead as 3’ is generally their max size) and they like to eat small animals and love cicadas, not eggs, generally. What you killed was most likely a non-venomous rat snake.

There is not a chemical or commercial substance which deters snakes. The mothball and snake away things do not work and only poison the local animals and the environment.

The only things that work in deterring snakes are 1) removing the food source, which has been done, most likely by the snakes, since you said there is a sharp decline in mice and 2) making the habit not attractive to snakes, ie, mow, keep the area clean and free of debris piles, etc and 3) hardware cloth around enclosures with small animals/eggs like TMares suggested.

If you have any photos of the snake, I would gladly ID it for you, to put your mind at ease.

[Bluey]

Sorry, it was the U of Florida who conducted tests on Snake Away:

http://www.pestproducts.com/snakeinfo.htm

I seem to remember the U of Wisconsin also did, but can’t find that source.

Yes, the best is to get rid of what snakes come for, mice and rats and rabbits, etc. and use something to keep them out, like hardware wire, where they may get it.

[chestnutmarebeware]

You could pay for a one-time visit by a pest-control company and send them under the house to scope things out before you venture down. It might be worth it if snakes freak you out that badly (although I imagine they’re probably hibernating by now if you’re in a temperate area).

Please don’t kill snakes unless absolutely necessary— @RacetrackReject 's suggestions for making your farm less attractive to them is the best answer.

[streamline]

Well for starters I’d pee myself.

I 2nd pest control.

We have a ton of prairie rattlers. Like others have said mow mow mow. I think that’s all my FIL does. We have our horses on their land and he’s out mowing or pulling weeds every other day. Mostly to keep the snakes away. We’ve had 3 dogs bit by rattlers.

I’m deathly afraid of all and any snakes. I won’t kill them but I’ll run the other way and not go see the horses for a few days!

[RacetrackReject]

@Bluey

Sorry, it was the U of Florida who conducted tests on Snake Away:

http://www.pestproducts.com/snakeinfo.htm

I seem to remember the U of Wisconsin also did, but can’t find that source.

Yes, the best is to get rid of what snakes come for, mice and rats and rabbits, etc. and use something to keep them out, like hardware wire, where they may get it.

How many registered herpetologists do you want to speak to and I will give you their contact information.

Firstly, you linked to a pest products website.

Secondly, it repeatedly uses the terms Reptology and Reptologists. There is no such thing. The study of snakes and reptiles is Herpetology and those who master these studies are Herpetologists. Reptology is a brand of products for use in snake enclosures.

Thirdly, Dr. Lillywhite is a biologist and is the director of Seahorse Key Marine Laboratory and “has an interest in snakes and tree frogs”. He is not a herpetologist.

Fourthly, while there are “poisonous” snakes, none of them are native. Snakes are venomous.

That site is a complete farce. UF did run the EPA Testing and Protocols, but that’s about the only truth on that page.

[Bluey]

@RacetrackReject

How many registered herpetologists do you want to speak to and I will give you their contact information.

Firstly, you linked to a pest products website.

Secondly, it repeatedly uses the terms Reptology and Reptologists. There is no such thing. The study of snakes and reptiles is Herpetology and those who master these studies are Herpetologists. Reptology is a brand of products for use in snake enclosures.

Thirdly, Dr. Lillywhite is a biologist and is the director of Seahorse Key Marine Laboratory and “has an interest in snakes and tree frogs”. He is not a herpetologist.

That site is a complete farce. UF did run the EPA Testing and Protocols, but that’s about the only truth on that page.

Who else do you expect to be reporting on tests but those that are selling the product?
That is why they are first hit on google and good enough to report on tests.

Test were conducted, showing there was some effect, the only such product that does.
At the time those news came out in farm magazines, the U of Wisconsin followed thru and also found that product worked, only one such to do so, best I remember the stories.
Our county agent is who presented that information and had people here using it.

Don’t use it if you don’t like it.

[Cynical25]

It is scientifically proven that “snake away” products do NOT work - the link posted is total BS. Eliminating food sources and hiding places are your only recourse. Hardware mesh set into the ground will help deter (not completely prevent) snakes and other critters from tunneling in. Also, the bulk of snake bites occur because people are trying to kill said snakes - spraying with a water hose will safely send them along.

[Bluey]

@Cynical25

It is scientifically proven that “snake away” products do NOT work - the link posted is total BS. Eliminating food sources and hiding places are your only recourse. Hardware mesh set into the ground will help deter (not completely prevent) snakes and other critters from tunneling in. Also, the bulk of snake bites occur because people are trying to kill said snakes - spraying with a water hose will safely send them along.

Ok, so those products don’t work.

As for running snakes away, really?

Do you want to live where you have rattlers running around your kids, pets, horses in the barn and expect someone, some time, not get bitten?
Snakes don’t know to go away.
Snakes go wherever snakes go and if it is around your house and barn, you won’t be running them off with a water hose, not very far.

Common sense will tell you, that also doesn’t work.

[RacetrackReject]

@Bluey

Who else do you expect to be reporting on tests but those that are selling the product?
That is why they are first hit on google and good enough to report on tests.

Test were conducted, showing there was some effect, the only such product that does.
At the time those news came out in farm magazines, the U of Wisconsin followed thru and also found that product worked, only one such to do so, best I remember the stories.
Our county agent is who presented that information and had people here using it.

Don’t use it if you don’t like it.

Typically, if someone does a study/testing, they are the one that releases/publishes the documentation. They didn’t, so what does that say?

What tests? There was no report or tests shown. They just said that reports said, but no actual report or testing published. They PAY to put those articles in your farm magazines.

I dated our county agent, they aren’t any more educated than any other person, trust me. .

I don’t use it because it doesn’t work and only poisons other species of animals.

I expect unbiased reporting on supposed testing and effectiveness to be provided by the unbiased group that conducted the test, not some completely ignorant rambling of a for-profit site about what a report supposedly said without linking to the completed reported and methodologies. They don’t even know the difference between poisonous and venomous or what the studies of reptiles is called, so how is anyone supposed to take them seriously?

Again, how many people who actually study snakes and snake behavior would you like to speak to about this? I can send over plenty of contacts, even ones in your area.

And yes, spraying with a water hose is the safest way to get a snake to move along.

[Bluey]

@RacetrackReject

Typically, if someone does a study/testing, they are the one that releases/publishes the documentation. They didn’t, so what does that say?

What tests? There was no report or tests shown. They just said that reports said, but no actual report or testing published. They PAY to put those articles in your farm magazines.

I dated our county agent, they aren’t any more educated than any other person, trust me. .

I don’t use it because it doesn’t work and only poisons other species of animals.

I expect unbiased reporting on supposed testing and effectiveness to be provided by the unbiased group that conducted the test, not some completely ignorant rambling of a for-profit site about what a report supposedly said without linking to the completed reported and methodologies. They don’t even know the difference between poisonous and venomous or what the studies of reptiles is called, so how is anyone supposed to take them seriously?

Again, how many people who actually study snakes and snake behavior would you like to speak to about this? I can send over plenty of contacts, even ones in your area.

And yes, spraying with a water hose is the safest way to get a snake to move along.

I wonder how many of those recommendations come from those that live regularly where rattlers live, find them in their garage, in their horse barn, hay barns, around their tractor and implements in the field, their dogs and horses are bitten, even keeping the cleanest, most snake proof environment you may keep?

Run them off with a water hose, where, most places, what water hose?

Most people in rattler country don’t go looking to kill snakes, but when some show up around their house and barns, they rarely go running them off with water hoses.
How far, how long the hose, where would you run them to?

[RacetrackReject]

@Bluey

I wonder how many of those recommendations come from those that live regularly where rattlers live, find them in their garage, in their horse barn, hay barns, around their tractor and implements in the field, their dogs and horses are bitten, even keeping the cleanest, most snake proof environment you may keep?

Run them off with a water hose, where, most places, what water hose?

Most people in rattler country don’t go looking to kill snakes, but when some show up around their house and barns, they rarely go running them off with water hoses.
How far, how long the hose, where would you run them to?

Deflection, but ok. Spraying with the hose is meant to remove snakes that are around your house/barn area that you need to move on immediately so that you can get to the door/car/barn/etc. Most homes and barns have a source of water.

I live in Texas too and we have nice lovely Timber (canebreak) rattlesnakes all around, along with the diamondback version and copperheads, coral snakes, and water mocassins. A venomous snake quintet.

Just because most people don’t do it, doesn’t mean it’s not an effective way to move them along. As I stated above, spraying them with a hose is to move them along immediately from an area. The long term solutions are to remove the food source, remove places for them to hide, and to make entry into small animal/egg enclosures more difficult.

[Bluey]

I talked to a friend just now, let him know how he needs to manage snakes with a water hose.
He has several a week cruising down by his headquarters.

He said they are having a serious problem in town right now, as we do around here, this being a wetter year.
I wonder if they also use a hose and water there, to run them off to, where, the neighbor’s house, the school yard?

Something is not adding here with those recommendations.
Someone is pulling someone’s leg here, or are people that recommend that really that clueless?

[Kmacht]

By the time you buy all these chemicals, hire a pest control company, etc you could have just a handyman for an hour or two to move the dryer line for you…

[Bluey]

@Kmacht

By the time you buy all these chemicals, hire a pest control company, etc you could have just a handyman for an hour or two to move the dryer line for you…

The OP better not waste money on those products, since they say today they don’t work.

If OP is in a rural area, ask the county agent about this, see what they tell you.

[candyappy]

The only old and reliable remedy I know of is a shovel. Any snake (especially a venomous one) has no place cohabitating with me, my family or my animals. They cross the line they are dealt with.

Get someone out to look under the house first, but if it was last year and the mice are long gone the snakes are probably gone too.

[Mango20]

Everyone seems to be overlooking the easiest solution - just hire a local handyman to reroute your dryer vent under the house. Maybe even warn him about the possibility of snakes. Let someone else deal with all the ickyness of whatever is lurking in your crawlspace (snakes, spiders, unidentified gooey stuff, etc), and leave the snakes to continue helping with your mouse problem (but protect the ducks).

[moonlitoaksranch]

RacetrackReject- We found a water moccasin under the fire pit this fall. She had a nice cozy place to winter, since we hadn’t used that pit all summer. She refused to move, or be intimidated in any way, so my husband killed her. I crushed what might have been eggs. We confirmed she was a moccasin. I wish I had known the water hose trick. The hose was right there. I have mixed feelings about running off a known venomous snake as opposed to killing it, though.

The same week, I found a snake curled up in a pot on the front porch one morning. One of our big toads was AWOL. I’m glad I took a picture and looked him up. It was a harmless banded water snake. We sent the picture to a herpetologist that offers to identify snakes for free (he feels equally passionate about preventing unnecessary killings) who seconded the ID. The snake hung around our porch, depleting us of a few toads, before moving on peacefully.

I also saved a corn snake from certain death by a neighbor and released it in our woods.

The thing I always keep in mind is that venomous or non-venomous snakes compete for the same niche. If a harmless snake fills that niche, we’re safer.