That snake is more afraid of you than you are if it, live in peace.

This pupil is non-poisonous O
This pupil is poisonous ()

The only exception is the coral snake which does have round pupils and red/black bands with thin yellow bands between, and a black nose/head. Don't confuse it with the scarlet king snake...forget the cute sayings, if it's three colors and a black head/nose stay away, or if it has cats-eye pupils it needs to go. Otherwise, let it be.

Tom

If you scroll to the bottom of this website, it shows you how to safely remove a snake - even a poisonous one-from your property.
As the author states,"Most snakes can be safely removed this way , they should never be killed."
This link and others can be found on The Florida Museum of Natural History's website.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Get Along with Snakes

"Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake". W. C. Fields

Sounds like good advice.

Oh yeah, like I'm gonna be sweeping a cottonmouth up. Nuh-uh! Found one on my back swale once after a heavy rain swept him in from somewhere. I went back inside until he left.

The only good cottonmouth is a dead one, flask or no flask. That's the one snake that can be aggressive even if not provoked, if it's nesting...but most snakes are beneficial for us.

Uh Tom, I'm not getting close enough to see it's pupils! I don't want to kill it, just move it somewhere else!

I'm sitting here giggling, thinking about what it would be like to have a staring contest with a snake.

Carol

FWIW, I understand that almost all snakebite emergencies occur because the individual was 'interacting' w/ a snake - that is, trying to kill or capture it.

I'm sure it's much more beneficial than harmful - after all, snakes keep the rodent populations down.

IMPE, the best solution is to pretend (really hard) it's not there - & to also wear gloves & close-toed shoes & socks when working outside...

In Fl you will probably just have to learn to tolerate them. They will come into the yard regardless of how you feel about them. If it isn't poisonous why not just ignore it? I can't stand (really freaked out by) those large roaches that live up in the trees but my yard is full of trees and hopefully they will just all stay up there where I can't see them. If they get on the ground I just call the chickens and guineas and they take care of them in a heartbeat lol.

You should of seen this huge black snake that was in the nestbox eating chicken eggs last summer. It got so fat it could hardly move. We just relocated it to a big oak with a hollow in the center on the other side of the property and it hasn't returned to the hen house.

...speaking of cottonmouth moccasins, here is a true story from my youth. I spent a great deal of time fishing in the lakes around Clearwater. One day, wading in about knee deep water, I heard a splashing sound. It was a cottonmouth coming at me, virtually jumping on top of the water it was moving so fast. I froze as it passed by me, not more than foot from my leg. I wondered for a second what could cause an aggressive snake to do that, then ran from the water. A few seconds later a 6 foot (looked like 12 foot to me) alligator came ashore, with me and the snake running our separate ways.

Seth, my son, said it isn't poisionous, but snakes freak me out! I have lived here 22 years and have only seen one snake in my yard, besides this one.

Get a young, outdoor cat. As much as I feel sorry for those poor little snakes that my three feline children have caught, I must say that garden snakes make a helluva cat toy (and snack)!

Do cats ever get bitten by snakes?

Yes, Cats do get bitten by snakes.

Really, I would learn to live with the snake. Often times you encounter black racers because you're home is in their migration or nesting area and if you shoo this one off, one of its progeny is likely going to fill its place eventually. Keep a soda can filled with coins near to where you see it and if it makes you feel better shake and toss it at the snake (unless you're a good shot, then shake and toss it near the snake). It should take off fairly quickly, you can get back to business, and your yard will be kept pest free.

But we've been here a long time without snakes. I think it's living behind my shed, which is against the house. My son said that's where he saw it. So if I have to go to that side of the house I am looking all around. Last Sunday,when we saw it, I went out later and it wasn't sunning itself. So I thought it was gone. Then I looked to my left and here it came, right at me! Of course I squealed, ran into the house and brought out my son

FWIW, just because you hadn't seen a snake before doesn't mean there weren't any....

Without a doubt they've been there, you just didn't see them. There's hardly a day that goes by that I don't see one somewhere in the garden or yard, and I'm always shooing them out of the pool cage or using the pool net to fish a baby out of the water that's fallen into the pool...they come in through the drain gutter that goes out under the pool cage.

Bill, I was turkey hunting about forty years ago on some private land in the Tsala apopka chain, it was a very wet season and I was wading between two islands when here comes a moccasin running perpendicular to me until it saw me, turned 45 degrees coming right toward me...that was one time I was really happy I had a loaded shotgun in my hands.

Tom

Since there is no more a possibility of convincing a snake-hater not to hate snakes then there is of a roach-hater like me not to hate roaches, my only advice is to either never go outside again or get yourself a fox terrier - no more snakes!

Tom, I have goosebumps. Holy cow.

Rita, do fox terriers ever get bitten by snakes?

Carol

I'm sure they rarely do, but some dogs just have a natural instinct to quickly dispose of snakes. Fox terriers are experts. We had a dog that wasn't a terrier, but she would sniff the crack of the back door before we let her out and that sniff would immediately inform her if a snake was in the back yard and where. By the 5 seconds it took for us to follow her out to wherever she went, the snake was already dead. And according to my parents who had a wire-haired fox terrier, there was no snake in the world that could get her first. It's in their blood to rid the yard of vermin, whether it be snakes, rats, moles, whatever. And anyway, I've heard from the old-timers that if you have black snakes you won't have rattlers.

Bird dogs are notorious for being able to scent rattlesnakes. I grew up in a bird hunting family, dove, quail and turkeys and I can tell you there's nothing more sickening than having a bird dog on point when quail hunting, and NOT flushing any quail...then you SLOWLY start looking for the rattlesnake, and hope you don't get snakebit. Fortunately for us none of us did suffer but we did kill some really BIG rattlesnakes back then. Not much of an issue here in the burbs now, but being on a brackish lake I do get those d**n moccasins and I do remember the time I almost lost a good bird dog to a moccasin strike to the head, unfortunately they don't scent these snakes. It was a really dry year and the moccasins were coming out of the cypress swamps searching for any water to survive....

Tom

I've got a beagle. Mark said to let him get the snake, but to me I don't want to do that.

Julia, you are probably not more afraid of the snakes that I am, lol.
Last time that my brothers were visiting, Willy went to get some things that were high around the bay tree and then we saw a blue snake that was high up and almost bite him.

I went inside the house and let Willy relocate the snake to the trail. I said to him that when he is traveling I can not even call the neighbor, he is also afraid of snakes, lol.

So we read somewhere that you can put mothballs as a repellent but after a rain you have to put it again, we put it around the fence area because I don't want my dogs to be bitten because I know they will go after the snake, especially the little ones.

Let us know if you see the snake again.

Silvia

Bill and Tom

Those are very scary stories about the snakes! I am glad that did not happen to me, I could not run fast enough, lol

Silvia

I would just let the snake be. If it's a black racer and you take one step near it, it will be gone. Black racersare very good at keeping other pests at bay.

The only time I ever saw a snake relocated involved an empty trashcan, a shovel, a rake, a hoe and three people using those tools to guide it into the trashcan. I still have nightmares even though I was standing 30 feet away.

I did not need to read all this before I go to bed LOL nightmare city...
I steped on a pretty good size green one and she wraped herself around my legs and neither one of us seem to be able to get away from each other... Of cource I was was doin the chicken dance for days after that, oh yea and my throat was bleeding from screeming so hard.
My DH enjoyed the scene.
Carmen

I do put allot of moth balls out there and it seems to work well.