Tell them not to even step out without a flashlight and look down where you step. It is good to be a little scared and careful. Copperheads just lie still and let you step on them. Do you have a porch light or outside light on? They come to bugs and love cicadas. I spray part of my yard with Sevin in early July. I used to use the tick granuals but lately have been buying the red bottle with the hose connection because it is so easy. I don't spray my whole yard just under the tree where the cicadas attract copperheads. I mowed yesterday in that area just around dark to see if I could scare up a little movement. It is time to get some hoes in places where I can find them. Copperheads are hiding under things in daytime but will only come out in the evening in this heat.

We have lots of copperheads here in southern OK, and some years we see a lot, but every now and then we don't see many at all. It kind of cycles up and down.

Our neighbor whose place is between our back property line and the Red River can sit on his porch at night, shine a flashlight out into the darkness and see lots of copperhead eyes looking back at him. He just sits on the porch and shoots them. He is a part-time resident though, so when he isn't around, they kind of take over the place.

We've never had a human at our place bitten by one, but have lost cats to copperhead bites (though we also have had several cats survive their bites over the years). We've never lost a dog to a copperhead bite. Our neighbors have had two people bitten by copperheads in their yard. The bite is very painful and recovery can take a while, but it almost never is deadly to humans.

Copperheads are less aggressive than most of the other venomous snakes we see here. Our son stepped on one when he was a teenager, but it didn't even bite him. Still, we shoot them when we see them in the yard around the house or garden. They can roam freely on most of our acreage, but we don't tolerate them up around the house, yard, garage, or garden where a person or pet could be bitten.

We don't go out in the dark without a flash light ever, ever, ever because we also have several other kinds of venomous snakes on our property, including timber rattlers and western diamondback rattle snakes.

I get snakes in my veggie garden fairly frequently, though most of the time it is nonvenomous ones in there, not venomous ones.

They say that the copperheads are really bad in Texas this year, and lots of people have lost dogs to copperhead bites. If they are as bad in our part of OK as they are in TX, I haven'[t noticed....but it sounds like they are pretty bad up there near Stillwater.

As Helen said, it is likely the copperheads are looking for something to eat--we often have them congregate near our outdoor security light, where I am sure they are looking for cicadas or something else to eat. They also eat rodents, which actually is a plus. When you live in a rural area, if you don't have snakes around, you'll be overrrun with field mice, woods mice, voles, etc.

Dawn

Cant imagine that many! We have them here but no where near as bad as you guys. Or I dont see them that often anyway. I got bit by one 20 years ago on the 4th of July. I had a pug having pups and was carrying them inside and didnt see the darn thing. He got me twice on the foot but one fang wasnt good so didnt inject as much with the bad fang. Burns like fire. My husband had burned some stuff on the ground that day and I thought I had stuck my foot with something he didnt get put out. Made me go to the hospital gave me a tetnus and some demerol (NEVER Again) and sent me home. I was so mad they didnt save me any home made ice cream!!! Just swelled some but definiitely hurts. We have water moccasins but have never seen rattlers near here thank goodness!! Love good snakes!! Good luck with the coppers!!!

Thanks everyone. 2 more tonight. Up to 7 now in 4 nights. Going to be a long summer at this rate.

How are you killing them? If they aren't all chopped up, get a sharp razor and split one open lengthwise. You will see what they are eating. I have more in July and then not so many; they are eating bugs here. I haven't seen one this year yet and don't want to. Before I started spraying the cicadas, I had six in one night once. One time one came in the back door.

Borderokie, Demerol makes me throw up like crazy. Like you, I hate the stuff and won't take it now that I know it has that effect on me.

Our friend who was bitten by a copperhead on her ankle was in a wheelchair for about a month in order to keep her badly swollen leg elevated---she went to work and worked that way. I'd never seen anyone as badly affected by a copperhead bite before as she was.

Water moccasins are a whole different kettle of fish. Did y'all see the finger of the Okie noodler who was bitten by a water moccasin while noodling at McGee Creek Lake? I'll try and find and link it. He's lucky to be alive. I think the news guy said they had to use 14 vials of anti-venin on him, and he is lucky he didn't have an allergic reaction to the anti-venin and die. That's why they don't use anti-venin if they can avoid it.

OK-Hicks, I am sorry they are giving you so much trouble. Watch for babies in August or even in late July. One snake can give birth to up to 20 of them. Possums, by the way, kill and eat venomous snakes so if you see a possum around, feed it food scraps and try to train it to come visit your property every night.

If you have a fence you thing they are coming over or through, you might trap them with plastic netting. When we built a small potager (called the Peter Rabbit Garden) for our son's girlfriend's daughter a few years ago, the back fence was just a barbed wire fence, although the remaining fence was a white picket fence. To keep the deer from coming through the barbed wire and the rabbits from coming through in between the pickets, we lined the fences with a plastic netting sold as deer netting. It had fairly small squares---maybe 3/4", and every snake that tried to come through that netting got hung up in it and died. While I didn't like finding dead snakes stuck in the fence, it was better than finding live snakes in the garden.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Oklahoma Fisherman Bit By Venomous Snake

Dawn demerol didnt make me throw up but it didnt stop the hurt either. It just disconnected your brain from your mouth enough that you couldnt tell someone or remember if you had told someone about the darn thing hurting. My brain and mouth aren't connected too good to start with I sure dont need any help lookin crazier than I do. I came home took some advil and it felt better than it did the whole time I was at the hospital. Lesson learned.

Sheila,

lol lol lol

All prescription pain killers and anesthetics make me throw up, and I do remember that demerol made me fall asleep in the middle of a sentence, and then I woke up a few minutes later and finished the sentence as if I'd never fallen asleep. My husband and the nurse burst out laughing and then had to explain what was so funny because I surely wasn't laughing and I had no idea why they were.

I kinda like looking crazy. It makes people wonder what I might do next, and I think it keeps them from messing with me. : )

For a long time after we moved here, most of our neighbors thought I was normal. Then, one day while I was working in the garden, the guineas (who were free-ranging and eating grasshoppers in the front pasture) took off walking up the road---about 12-15 of them. Wearing my garden overalls, a big, floppy straw hat and carrying a garden rake, I took off after them, knowing I needed to get them out of the roadway before someone hit them. It was just about the time that the kids would be getting out of school, and for a few minutes our normally quiet rural road would have increased traffic. Unfortunately, the cats followed me and the dogs followed the cats.I had to chase the guineas about a quarter-mile. Once I got them turned around, we headed back home with me herding the guineas, who kept trying to turn around and head back for the freedom of the open road, and the dogs and cats trailing merrily along behind me. It was quite an animal parade, and then all the after-school traffic arrived, and our neighbors and strangers all were treated to the odd sight of a woman (essentially dressed like a scarecrow, if you think about it) herding cats, dogs and guineas up the road. Great merriment ensured, with people honking, laughing, smiling, waving, etc. After that, I knew that they knew that I was crazy beyond the shadow of a doubt.

We had a crime wave once where someone was repeatedly burglarizing homes around us, but not ours. While I gave credit to our dog, Biscuit, who had run off a prospective burglar (the fool talked about it and word got back to us because he was warning other criminals to stay away from our place or our dog would kill them) when he was less than a year old, I did wonder if maybe it was because no one wanted to mess with a obviously deranged woman, following that animal parade.

Dawn

my next door neighbor got bitten by a cooperhead several years ago. she developed RA, and she thinks it was triggered by the snake bite.

lol lol lol. Dawn I remember doing that too. But when I woke up I couldnt remember if I had finished the sentence or not. I can just see the parade going down the road!! We are out herding cows when they get out and I herd darn chickens sometimes when they get out of the pasture. Talk about hard to control. I am sure guineas would be the same way. Pitch fork is a good idea. Cause sometimes when I get mad enough trying to get them back in I could pitch fork them right in the head!!! ;)

Remember back in the 70's and 80's when you had to carry snake bite kits?
My mom was bit by a Copperhead in the early 70's I could never leave the house to roam the land without the snake bite kit.
Or my tiny round disk that turned into a cup.
Or my knife that had a knife,spoon ,and fork.
Or my aluminum disk that could be a pan, pot, and plate cookware.
I grew up on a 3000 acre ranch mostly forest always prepared.
Sorry just remembering the good ol days.
My older brother always said I hope you get bit so I can slice you with the razor and suck out the poison.
Fun times.
never got bit by a snake till 2011.
My giant red tailed boa has the downstairs bed room to her self.I'm guessing in the mood I walked in to water her and a tiny garter snake bit me on the top of my foot and assuming a male.
hurt yea but i laughed grabbed it and took it to the garden.
found 3 little ones in my house that summer. The heat was 120 for almost 2 and a half months straight.
They were hot and needing a big gals company to keep them cool.
Tree

'

Well after a lull, 4 more tonight, 1 well over 2 ft, another avg,and 2 young ones (1 baby). I am now 11-0. All within a 15 ft radius of the den at base of tree.

I saw this in another forum. I think a number of us might waht to get minnow traps!

George

Here is a link that might be useful: catching snakes with a minnow trap

OK-Hicks, That is just a ridiculous number of snakes to have so close to your house. I am glad y'all are being careful. It is much better to find a venomous snake first before it finds you.

I like George's idea of trapping the snakes. For as many as you are seeing and shooting, there's probably more that you aren't seeing unless you're sitting out there with a gun all night long.

George, Thanks for the link. I'm gonna keep my eyes open for a minnow trap, even though we aren't having big snake issues this year, so far. Our cats keep the population of the rodents down around the house, though, so as long as the cats are doing their job, the snakes hang out further away from the house.....like in the gardens or near the chicken coop, or near whichever pond has any water left in it.

Dawn