Depends on what kind of snake, some do. Some just come to drink and cool down.

Hi Catherine,
Yes!! Water snakes will eat fish, frogs, anything they can catch. They have even been known to eat small birds & small mammals. I don't know what kind of water snakes you have, most likely Northern water snake, but here in TX we have Cotton Mouth Water Moccasins, & they are also poisonous. Have you ever identified what kind of snakes you have?
Here is a site with a lot of info.
Regards
Dianne

Here is a link that might be useful: Animal Diversity Web

Any snake will eat fish, even garter snakes if the fish are small enough. All snakes can swim, and hunt in your pond.
I would make sure you have plenty of hiding places for them, it's really all you can do.

Thanks for that link Dianne,
Yes, we have the northern water snake. I think it would be pretty scary living where there are poisonous ones. I think I'd always want to carry around some anti venom!

Hi Catherine, Yes, or a gun! Water Moccasins are aggressive & will actually climb in your boat & have been known to steal fish off a stringer. I REALLY don't like them! I have never seen one in my yard (I live in the Burbs) but they are prevalent in our lakes. As long as they leave me alone I will do the same. We have Rat Snakes that visit from time to time & I just DO NOT care for snakes!! Or BIG Spiders,LOL, but that is another story. Have a good day.
Dianne

My grandmother was bitten by a Cotton Mouth Moccasin and she was very sick for a long time. Their mouths are so terribly dirty that the bite site will rot. And it keeps just rotting and rotting. Takes a long time to get it under control. Of course they didn't have the antibiotics back then they have now. Still if I had a snake in my pond he would have to go one way or another. Glenda

I have to say I definitely wouldn't tolerate a poisonous snake in my pond! I try to live and let-live with most other things, but not things that will harm me and mine.
I had just read how full of bacteria the cotton-mouth's mouth is. It must get systemic and cause the worse problems throughout the whole body. Seems like over-kill to me (as far as the snake's defenses are concerned). I'm sure the snake doesn't feel the same though.

This is making me worry! I was digging around the garden and found 6 tiny 1/2 inch white rubbery eggs buried in the ground. I am hoping they are lizards as I have tons running around the yard, but could they possibly be snakes??? If so, I might have to get rid of them.

I live in Houston, TX in the burbs, and I had cotton mouths in all of my ponds until I rebuilt my new one above ground. That is the main reason I did that, to keep the darn cotton mouths out. They are vicious suckers. I personally have killed 3. I typically let snakes go in a nearby creek when I find them, but moccasins, I KILL!!! They are too risky. They strike even if you try to leave them alone. I used to find them in my garage too. Ever since I put my pond above ground, I have not seen one.

Catherine....As mentioned above...any snake will eat your fish if it can catch them....it will stretch it's mouth to fit them in. I would get a decoy rubber snake...fairly large and put it in there. I have heard that helps...never tried it. Decoy alligators are supposed to work too. Pulling the snakes out does not help...they always come back.

Amanda

Thanks Amanda,
Gee, aren't you constantly afraid of accidentally reaching into something, and getting bitten?? Seems like everyone should have their own anti venom at home!
A few years ago, I was talking to a woman from the Ozarks. Her son got bit my a copperhead. She took him to their podunk ER and they only gave him tylenol and sent him home.
Needless to say.........things didn't go well for him. I'm not sure he even has use of his hand, and he developed some sort of systemic problems later on. So sad. She was too timid to sue the pants off that ER. :(
How do you deal with the risk of poisonous snakes always being around? I wonder if lots of people in your area choose not to have ponds because of them. I don't know if ER's around here even have anti venom. Surely they would.
Do ambulances carry it in TX? Is that old wives tale of sucking out the venom totally wrong? What can you do if you get bit? So scary!
I've noticed that the snakes here are never in my above-ground stocktanks either..........which is one reason I keep them. I figure they can be a safe house for the frogs!
Although I don't always understand frogs. They can be sitting right next to a snake. Maybe they're too scared to move??

I think most of the ERs here have anti-venom because of the amount poisonous snakes we have. We have a lot of rattle snakes here too...not sure if all of them are poisonous though. If you know they are there and you are cautious, you usually don't get bit. It is people who are not from around here and don't know to watch out for them who are in danger. I know to never go in water here, and never walk in high grass...and never reach under a storage shed or deck....the places to find either a mocassin or a rattler...I teach my kids that too. Of course when I was a kid, I used to purposefully go to those places just to find the snakes and get their eggs. It is amazing I am still alive. Honestly they do not scare me anymore, it's when you surprise them and yourself that you are in danger. The most common way to get bit is to step on one under a pile of leaves...the rattlers love to hide under leaves.

LOL at the sucking venom! I have always heard that too....always wonder if it would work. From my understanding it is not recommended since you get the venom in you mouth that way. I know when I got bit by a spider once, they cut open the bite area and popped the venom pockets and suctioned it out...then they stuffed it with gauze to absorb any left over venom...spider venom makes honeycombs and spreads slowly. Snake venom travels much faster, so I do not think the sucking would work all that well.

Amanda

Like I said-Venomous Snake=Gun. I wouldn't want to get that close to chop it with a hoe like my Mom used to do!! Yes here in TX we have more than enough venomous snakes, we have the cotton mouth, rattler, copperhead, coral snake & probably a few more. Those are the ones I have come across. Still, as long as they don't come in my yard or bother me they're safe.

LOL txgdnr! I do not own a gun, so I use a hoe like your Mom. The first couple of times it was scarey, now it is a bit of a thrill rush. So sad...I am an animal lover, but for some reason, I feel no remorse for the venomous snakes...it is not their fault they were born that way. Maybe if there is a such thing as reincarnation, I will come back as a venomous snake, and stumble into the water garden of a fierce owner like us...will be my punishment. HeHe!

One more reason to have a good outdoor cat. When I came home after my son was born, our cat presented me with a cottonmouth he had caught. He had bitten it behind the neck so it was dying and had no body control but it was still trying to thrash around. Sandy

Their venom kills animals too, right?
asun.........I feel the same way about anything I kill.....like ticks. They can't help it if they spread Lyme.....but its a self preservation thing and we gotta do what we gotta do. Now killing non-poisonous or non disease spreading things bothers me.....but the others.....well, its them or us. I can't think about it too much or I go into an existential crises!