Jo,

The short answer is no, there's not much you can do. Snakes will go where they please and snake repellents don't work.

Some people scatter mothballs on the ground and believe they keep snakes away, and I an NOT recommending that. In fact, I thought I'd mention it first and say "don't do it" before someone suggested you give it a try. First of all, mothballs are a registered pesticide and should be used ONLY for the labeled, allowed uses, which do not include scattering them on the ground to repel snakes. In fact, it is illegal to use any registered pesticide in a manner for which it is not labeled to be used. There's a reason for that....it is dangerous to misuse pesticides. Secondly, they are highly toxic and you, your children and your pets can become ill from breathing in their fumes daily in the yard and garden. Cats, in particular, can become quite ill and die after being exposed to mothballs. I know someone who learned this the hard way after putting out mothballs to repel snakes. Her four young (around a year old) cats died over the next few weeks and she still had snakes. Third, the mothballs would degrade into your soil and it wouldn't be safe to eat anything grown in that soil.

I live in snakeland and I hate snakes. I am terrified of them. Rattlesnakes. Coppperheads. Water moccasins. Timber Rattlers (which I put in a class of their own separate from our other rattlers because they are so huge here). Rough green snakes. Striped runner snakes. Glass lizards that look like snakes. Chicken snakes. Rat snakes. Garter snakes. Brown snakes. Pygmy Rattlesnakes (a lot of people mistake them for baby snakes and think, incorrectly, that they aren't very dangerous). I could go on an on forever, but I think you get the picture.

We do what we can to keep snakes away from the house by keeping the grass mowed short and weedeated. We have cats who do their best to control the field mice and vole population around the yard, gardens, house, barn, etc. Still, we're in a rural area with plentiful rodents in pastures all around us and, thus, plentiful snakes.

To stay safe, I always wear sturdy foot wear during snake season, usually black leather work boots with steel toes. Are they attractive? No. But they are good and sturdy and the leather is really thick. Sometimes, if snakes are less likely (they're worse at some times than others) to be around, I wear hiking boots or athletic shoes. I never, ever, ever wear sandals or open-toed or open-heeled anything. I walk looking at the ground all the time. Once you are in the habit of doing that, you'll find yourself scanning the ground for snakes even when you're walking across a concrete parking lot. lol

I never pick up anything off the ground that a snake might be underneath without using a stick (I keep 3' wooden stakes handy here and there for that purpose) to lift it first and make sure no snakes are there.

I never remove compost from my compost pile or even turn over the compost pile between March and December. Since snakes like to hang out in the compost pile, even when I am removing compost in winter to put it in the garden beds, I use a long-handled shovel and watch for hibernating snakes.

In the garden, I am extremely careful about harvesting and watch the ground around my feet and watch where I put my hands. I even watch where I put my hands while picking tomatoes because snakes to climb.

I've had several snake encounters lately. We kill snakes that venture into the mowed lawn area, the vegetable gardens, the fruit orchard, the barn/garage and (especially) the chicken coops. And, no, I am not going to leave a chicken or rat snake in the chicken coop to kill rodents. Some people like doing that but I don't because (a) I hate snakes as much as you do, and (b) those snakes will eat our eggs and baby chicks (even half-grown chickens which some of them wrap themselves around and squeeze to death).

We have 14 acres, and the snakes are free to roam on about 12 of it, but the 2 acres around the house and gardens and such are kept snake-free as much as possible.

If I see a snake, especially a venomous one, I've learned to stand still and phone for help. I learned a long time ago that if I go inside to get a gun, that snake will move while I'm gone and I won't be able to find it again, and then I'll be a nervous wreck because I'm sure it is still 'there' but not sure exactly where. If a family member isn't around, I have several wonderful neighbors who come over and shoot the snakes for me. I have no regrets when I run over a venomous snake with the lawn mower.

In the garden, clearly, I never stick my hand into a spot to pull a weed until I've visually scanned the area and am sure it is snake free. I never stick my hand into or underneath mulch for any reason.

I do everything I can to work safely in an area where there are snakes and always will be snakes. You'll never get rid of all the snakes, nor should you because they perform an important job. However, I think you have a right to keep the areas around your house and garden as snake-free as possible because it is a safety issue--especially with small children around.

Twice in the last 13 or 14 years, a copperhead has bitten a person on the property immediately to our south. At least two other people who live on our road (and it is not a heavily populated area) have been bitten....one by a rattlesnake and the other by a copperhead. Those two folks were bitten in different yards but on the same day. One of our friends who was bitten by a copperhead was in a wheelchair for about a month.

We've lost several cats to snakebites over the years, and we've had some cats survive snakebites. One cat survived being bitten twice, with the bites coming about a year apart. The vet thought the second bite likely would kill her, but she survived. Recently, Yellow Cat, our old yellow tabby who was feral for about 10 years before we 'tamed' him, was bitten by a snake and his head and neck were swelling and I thought I 'd lose him. I gave him liquid children's Benadryl, which I keep on hand for just such occasions, and he improved drastically in just a few minutes time and survived. I was so relieved. Vets, by the way, don't do a lot for snakebites here. Mostly they just treat with an antihistamine if a limb is swelling (because the swelling can interfere with the blood supply to that limb). Antivenin generally is not used on animals, so the animal has to survive on its own. We've only had one dog bitten by a snake, but it was bitten by a timber rattler and we almost lost that dog.

Usually if a snake sees you first, it will do whatever it can to get away from you, but a cornered snake or a startled snake will strike. Our son stepped out of his car once when he was about 19 and stepped on a copperhead. We had company over that night and we all were sitting around outside and he hollered 'hey, I stepped on a copperhead' and got back into his car. My DH and his best friend followed the copperhead while I fetched the gun and then they shot it. DS was lucky he wasn't bitten that night.

Believe me, I hate snakes and running into them upsets me terribly. They like to be out in the cool morning air and the cool evening air at this time of year, which is unfortunately the same time I like to be outside too. I just try to be as careful as possible. The snakes will be here long after we're gone.

Some of the country women here who've lived here all their lives are not big fraidy cats like me, and they'll take a hoe and just chop a snake to death. I can't do that. The city girl in me will never be able to do that.

How bad are snakes here? There is an old farm between our back property line and the Red River. Because the river and its wild areas are so close to that farm, it has snakes, especially copperheads, all over the place. The guy who owns that place lives in Texas during the week and stays on his place up here on weekends. He sits on his front porch at twilight and shoots copperheads. He shoots and shoots and shoots and shoots. He told me he can sit there in the dark and shine a flashlight out into the yard and see snake eyes everywhere. (I'd be a basket case back there!) We'll hear the shooting at night now and then and say "Riley's up for the weekend'"

Although we have a beautiful woodland, we stay out of it during snake season because there are so many snakes in there.

You have my sympathy. I hate snakes, but I know we'll always have them around so all I can do is follow practices to keep myself and, especially, our granddaughter, as safe as possible.

Dawn

Hey you all

I have 7 acres of rocks and black gumbo, which is home to some copperheads and very large rattlesnakes which end up in my yard. I was raised in this area and snakes have been a way of life, no big deal. Come on down and I will take you on a midnight tour!!!!!!

Charlie

OH. MY. GOD. Jo, if you see me gardening in a bullet-proof hazmat suit from now on, you know why. I am petrified of snakes. Absolutely petrified.

I was watering my vegetables (for TWO HOURS) this morning wearing Crocs. Every time a piece of straw poked through one of the holes, I almost wet myself.

Dawn, I think I will have to get some work boots. Crocs are so convenient for in and out of the house, but I think I will feel much safer with boots on.

The guy on your back property line sounds like he is living my worst nightmare. I am going to have bad dreams about flashlights and snake eyes.

I think we may need a gun just in case. The only time I think I'd be able to hoe a snake to death is if it was near my kids. Then I'd go apesh*t on it, and have nightmares later.

The last snake I *think* I saw was in Kelley's yard during a BBQ. My kids saw it, it started to climb a TREE (EEK), and one of the neighbors grabbed something (I think it was a shovel, but I am too tramatized to remember details) and killed it. At the time, someone thought they saw the head/eyes common of a venomous snake. Later on, Kelley went on the internet and identified it as something else. I forget what. I blocked it out.

I say I *think*, because the other day I was in my garden and saw a VERY large worm. Huge. It was in the path and I said to myself "I need to throw that into one of the beds where it can give me some nice worm poop". I tried to grab it and it fought like crazy. Thrashing around. Totally un-worm-like. IME, usually they just try to escape by digging/burying themselves. I got ahold of it and threw it in a bed. The next day, I stumble across info on Worm Snakes! YIKES, when they are small they look just like worms! I have no idea if I grabbed a worm or a snake.

Charlie, thanks for the tour invite. I am busy washing my hair, but Kelley says she'dlove to come. ;)

Jo

When I worked at Tinker and had a very tiring job, I just wanted to be away from people for an hour and re-group. With a husband and a house full of kids, that just doesn't always work, but the kids had horses and goats and homework and things to take care of when they came home from school, and I had an escape. We leased a house that had 36 acres and a small pond. We had ducks on the pond and lots of snakes. I had a folding lawn chair hanging in the tree at the edge of the pond, and after work I would slip down there with my 22 pistol and shoot snakes. The kids always joked and said they knew when I had a rough day. By the time we moved, I had reduced the snake population. (That's right Paula, just a couple of miles from your house). LOL

Jo, Our neighbor grew up here (in fact, on that very property) and he can handle it. lol Part of his snake problem is that he's a part-time resident, so the snakes can roam at will when he is down in Texas. He
has kids and grandkids, though, so he doesn't let the snakes roam freely because of the danger someone will be bitten by a snake.

I love Crocs and will wear them if I am walking somewhere 'simple' like from the house to the detached garage or the chicken coop or the mailbox in broad daylight. Stepping into the garden or into any flower bed, though, requires sturdy shoes. Walking outside at night requires a flashlight. I never step foot in the garden after dark once snake season has started.

I forgot to mention snake chaps. One of my neighbors has them and wears them when he weedeats the fenceline and the bar ditch area. The snake chaps give your legs extra protection. There also are boots, mostly made for hunters, that are either snake-resistant or snakeproof. You get them at places like Cabela's or maybe Bass Pro Shop.

We used to try to remove rat snakes and chicken snakes and from the chicken coops and send them on their way. Then, in one day, a black rat snake squeezed 4 half-grown guinea keats to death and ate 3 of them. I caught him wrapped around the 4th. Since that time, we have a 'kill' policy....if they are in our chicken coops, they're dead.

Depending on how tame or how wild your area is, you may see snakes a lot or only on very rare occasions. It is important to always be aware of them and of the possibility that they may be around. Watching for them and doing what you can to avoid them is the most important thing you can do for yourself and your family.

You have to think like a snake too. Once it is very, very hot, they want the same thing we want....heat relief. When it suddenly got hot here overnight in May, everyone had trouble with snakes coming into their garages, barns and other farm buildings, sheds, etc. to get in out of the heat. We even had a snake seeking shelter in our fire station. So, around here, we're careful to close building doors so the snakes cannot easily find a way in.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Snake Gaiters At Cabela

My wife and daughters are enamored with their cowboy boots, for this very reason. Someday, maybe, I'll get a pair. But I've tried twice in my life time and not found a pair I can comfortably walk in. Still, like Dawn says, it would be crazy to go out there in open shoes. Those are for the shower and pool, not the field. Joellenh, I don't have snake-o-phobia. But my wife sure does. Lately we've had chicken snakes in the chicken coop, and one even killed an adult hen. I was barely hobbling around at the time, but thanks to my Lee Valley Collinear hoe, I managed to hobble out to the coop, a couple times, before the sun came up or after it went down. If I'd found one, however, I was not allowed to wield my hoe, or shovel, to kill it. I was going to have to hold it until Jerreth came to dispatch it! She was grateful I didn't find one until allowed to wield my weapon of choice.

Keep the weeds down in your garden. Maybe you might get a fox terrier, or some other terrier type which could be encouraged to kill snakes. But then, there's the possibility it could get bitten by a poisonous one. I have a friend who used to have a border collie who was bitten by a rattlesnake. The dog crawled off into the woods, apparently to die. After a week, it came back, and it did recover. But from that day on, whenever it found a snake it would KILL IT. He told me that one day the dog came upon a large rattlesnake in his back yard. The dog grabbed it and shook it so hard that PIECES of the snake landed up on the roof! My wife would love to have a dog like that.

George
Tahlequah, OK

George,

Your story about your dog reminded me of my neighbor's little dog, Rascal. I'm not sure what kind of dog Rascal was, but I believe he was a rat terrier or had a lot of rat terrier in him. When he saw a snake, he'd kill it, skin it and eat it. Rascal disappeared a few years ago and no one knew what became of him, but his family enjoyed his wonderful company and his snake-killing ability for about 18 years. He was a great little dog.

Dawn

I heard very loud gunshots next door a few days ago and figured somebody had found a snake.

Tim just came in from chatting with the next door neighbor....to tell me the rest of the story.

It turns out that our neighbor and his adult daughter who was in town visiting were outside and saw a copperhead in the yard. He stayed to watch the snake and she ran to the house to get the gun....which is when they found the second snake on the porch steps. I'm sure she screamed, but their house is too far away for me to hear the screams. (Bless her heart. I don't want to think about what she had to do to get into the house to get the gun.) Anyway, two copperheads in the yard at the same time.....two gunshots, two dead snakes.

I am grateful she was watching where she put her feet! These snakes were very close to the house....the one in the yard was right up against the wall of the house and that second one was on the steps. Just one more reminder...to watch where you put your feet.

The snakes that scare me the most aren't the ones on the ground though...but the ones that I see in a tree or up in the rafters of an outbuilding. I'm always petrified they'll drop down on me.

For some reason, our next-door neighbors have a lot more trouble with copperheads and we see timber rattlers more often. Either way, the women generally do the screaming and the men do the shooting. We're very traditional here. (grin)

Dawn

NO, Jo - we do not want to talk about snakes! Along with several of the others I HATE snakes and if I get the chance it's gonna end up dead - even the ones that I mentally know are not poisonous and may even eat the rats and mice, etc. I prefer the mice and rats - I can poison them and not have a heart attack or wet my pants if I see them. My weapon of choice is a hoe if get close enough - but I have been know to use a shotgun. We used to have a little red heeler that would grab a snake and shake it - she was little but she wasn't afraid of anything - however, you had to keep your distance because she made pieces fly - and I don't want to give anyone bad dreams but imagine an old woman in a nightgown who goes into the garage about midnight to put berries in the freezer and finds a snake - calls the dog and when dog grabs snake the woman is outside on the driveway trying to dodge flying snakeparts - Lord, the neighbors must have died laughing!
After all that - we keep our grass short, DH keeps everything trimmed up and I try not to keep too pots and objects on the porch and patio that would give snakes a place to hide. In the garden I watch beneath straw, low growing plants (especially ones I've just watered), and even in the pots around the bottom of tomatoes. Most of the time you can avoid snakes if you just use a lot of common sense and are vigilant. As said before, wear shoes, don't go out after dark without a light, don't put your hand into an area you can't see first.

joellenh I like snakes except the ones that can hurt me. Kingsnakes will eat other snakes, so don't kill those. I get copperheads when the cicadas emerge. The rest of the year they stay in the long grass and woods. I have been spraying for cicadas the last two years, but I don't spray my whole yard. I just spray under an elm where the cicadas usually come up. The spray I use hooks to the hose and is a systemic spray which I would not normally use at all. Snakes don't just get in straw there has to be something in your yard that they want to eat. I would not want my yard to be that barren of life though.

My dad transplanted king snakes into our yard when I was growing up. He said they would help get rid of the bad snakes. i don't mind having a few snakes as long as they are non poisonous.

I don't know who should get credit for this, but it appeared in my mailbox a couple of days ago. After this thread, I decided to go dig it out of my trash file.

GRASS SNAKES CAN BE DANGEROUS...

Yes, grass snakes, not rattlesnakes. Here's why.

A couple in Sweetwater,Texas had a lot of potted plants. During a recent cold spell, the wife was bringing a lot of them indoors to protect them from a possible freeze.

It turned out that a little green garden grass snake was hidden in one of the plants. When it had warmed up, it slithered out and the wife saw it go under the sofa.

She let out a very loud scream.

The husband (who was taking a shower) ran out into the living room naked to see what the problem was. She told him there was a snake under the sofa.

He got down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for it. About that time the family dog came and cold-nosed him on the behind. He thought the snake had bitten him, so he screamed and fell over on the floor.

His wife thought he had had a heart attack, so she covered him up, told him to lie still and called an ambulance.

The attendants rushed in, would not listen to his protests, loaded him on the stretcher, and started carrying him out.

About that time, the snake came out from under the sofa and the Emergency Medical Technician saw it and dropped his end of the stretcher. That's when the man broke his leg and why he is still in the hospital.

The wife still had the problem of the snake in the house, so she called on a neighbor who volunteered to capture the snake. He armed himself with a rolled-up newspaper and began poking under the couch.. Soon he decided it was gone and told the woman, who sat down on the sofa in relief.

But while relaxing, her hand dangled in between the cushions, where she felt the snake wriggling around. She screamed and fainted, the snake rushed back under the sofa.

The neighbor, seeing her lying there passed out, tried to use CPR to revive her.

The neighbor's wife, who had just returned from shopping at the grocery store, saw her husband's mouth on the woman's mouth and slammed her husband in the back of the head with a bag of canned goods, knocking him out and cutting his scalp to a point where it needed stitches.

The noise woke the woman from her dead faint and she saw her neighbor lying on the floor with his wife bending over him, so she assumed that the snake had bitten him. She went to the kitchen and got a small bottle of whiskey, and began pouring it down the man's throat.

By now, the police had arrived.
Breathe here...

They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and assumed that a drunken fight had occurred. They were about to arrest them all, when the women tried to explain how it all happened over a little garden snake!

The police called an ambulance, which took away the neighbor and his sobbing wife.

Now, the little snake again crawled out from under the sofa and one of the policemen drew his gun and fired at it. He missed the snake and hit the leg of the end table. The table fell over, the lamp on it shattered and, as the bulb broke, it started a fire in the drapes.

The other policeman tried to beat out the flames, and fell through the window into the yard on top of the family dog who, startled, jumped out and raced into the street, where an oncoming car swerved to avoid it and smashed into the parked police car.

Meanwhile, neighbors saw the burning drapes and called in the fire department. The firemen had started raising the fire ladder when they were halfway down the street. The rising ladder tore out the overhead wires, put out the power, and disconnected the telephones in a ten-square city block area (but they did get the house fire out).

Time passed! Both men were discharged from the hospital, the house was repaired, the dog came home, the police acquired a new car and all was right with their world.

A while later they were watching TV and the weatherman announced a cold snap for that night. The wife asked her husband if he thought they should bring in their plants for the night.

And that's when he shot her.

I just copied that and sent it to a friend who hates snakes.

I grew up on a ranch and my parents also owned a pet store, so snakes are not something I'm easily afraid of (I used to sleep with a pet boa constrictor when I was a kid - for real.)

I'm the type that's been known to catch and release - found one on the back porch a few years back - was never able to determine if it was poisonous or not - it was young and sometimes that makes it difficult to tell. I got a long pair of grill tongs, grasped it behind it's head, dumped it in a large pickle jar and drove out to the country to let it go. I know - sounds crazy. My husband thought so too.

When I was a girl, we definitely had problems with copperheads and rattlers in the barns - more than once I remember my dad bolting into the house to get a gun to go shoot a snake that had dropped out of the rafters. You keep feed in the barn, the mice and rats come in to get the feed, and the snakes follow them in.

In the neighborhood, I'm the parent that was always catching garden snakes and showing them to the neighborhood kids. The past few years, we've had an abundance of the little brownsnakes living in the compost bin. They are fat and happy little suckers. :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Brownsnakes

I found a tiny one when I moved mulch around a couple days ago. I just tossed it in a different mulched area. :)

But, then I saw a mouse... and I hope, it doesn't have to many family members.

I hate them too.

Moni

EEEUUUUWWWWWW!!!!! Carol - yes, I know - just around the corner from me. We've been really lucky here. In the four years I've lived out here, we've only had one "bull" snake and it was 3 years ago. If you'll remember, we don't have a lot of shade anywhere around the house or the big garden area, but you guys have made me really goosey so I was out tonite pickin' and you should have seen me high-steppin thru the sweet potatoes to pick the purple hulls. AND....several melons and my 4 red okra plants went un-checked.

My in-laws next door have snake issues EVERY year. They have many, many more shade trees and much more "stuff" sitting around for them to hide under. I'm just grateful several acres separate us, for more than one reason!

Paula

I just saw a beautiful garter snake this week, first one I had seen for awhile. It was out on my patio but it is a welcome visitor to my garden! I also have worm snakes in the yard and they too are welcome. The only other snake I have seen in my area are copperheads and believe me, they are NOT WELCOME visitors! Lucky, I haven't seen any copperheads for quite awhile, maybe the cat is earning her keep after all! Plus we have a lot of feral cats in the neighborhood, maybe that helps. Not afraid of snakes, if I see them first so I'm prepared for them that is, but we just don't have a lot here so guess I'm lucky.

My son used to kill every snake he saw and so did my DIL. Finally got him over that, he looks first now before he kills! Not every snake is a bad snake.

I think I need to go take a Xanax. And never read this thread again.

You all would have died if you walked into my chicken coop a few days ago: draped across the nesting boxes was a 7' snake skin that had been shed! It was a bull snake; nothing really to be scared of, but they gobble up eggs like crazy. I do miss my King snake that was hanging around, they kill all other snakes, even venomous ones. It was fine with me if it ate an egg or two. But he/she died by eating one of my artificial eggs. That's when the Bull Snakes appeared.

I am not really scared of snakes, as long as I can identify them. I have seen both my hens and guineas eat small snakes; and I am sure my cats put in their two cents.

A good book to keep around is "A Field Guide to Oklahoma's Amphibians and Reptiles".
Bella

A few years ago I walked accross the yard and came upon a garter snake that had a copperhead half swallowed, I stepped away and let him finish his supper. We need to learn to recognize the good from the bad snakes.

Charlie

thanks bella! tulsa library has several copies and i just reserved one.