"Back to my original concern... has *anyone* had success with snake repellents so I don't have to resort to other means?" As someone who loves snakes and would much rather you resort to other means than killing snakes, I wish I could recommend a good snake repellant. But unfortunately the reality is that products like Snake-a-Way are generally ineffective but highly profitable because it is easy to make big money on the second largest fear (I think fear of flying is first) that people have, because most people are desperate enough to try anything. Folk remedies like mothballs, lime, etc. aren't effective deterrents either. If anyone ever invents a snake deterrent that actually works, the multibillionaire who invents it and patents it will be better known than Bill Gates. Alas Snake-a-way is not that invention. I would also add that killing them individually won't really solve the problem either. If it did you wouldn't still have so many to kill. When you kill several snakes other snakes will move in to take advantage of the habitat niche and the prey supply that is available. As long as you have good habitat and good prey you will have some snakes to contend with. I think the things you have already done with habitat near your house are the best you can do. Snake-a-way is the deterrent I see most often recommended, so if you really want to try a repellant you might give it a go. But I would be prepared for the potential to be disappointed with the results.

I looked into some pretty specific county level snake data and it appears that many of the DC area counties do support a few small isolated copperhead populations, so I retract my skepticism of your neighbor's id of the snakes (Looks like I need to go looking more the next time I'm visiting relatives in Montgomery County) Unfortunately I can't think of any vegetation that won't be a potentially attractive place for snakes. Even if you plant nothing at all, nature holds no guarantees so it's a matter of how important a slight reduction in risk of snakebite from very low to very very low is and how important having an attractive natural yard is.

Paula, I was really shocked that snakes are out already, but even more so that the one Chris saw was out early in the morning after a night that was so cold. I hadn't been worrying too much about snakes, so I've been sticking my hands into places blindly....like to pull winter grass growing under a shrub or whatever. I'll be more careful now. I have a lot of stacked-up hay bales to use for mulch. I was hoping to get most of that hay layered onto the garden beds and the pathways before the snakes were up and moving around too much. It is too early to put heavy mulch on the beds because the mulch would keep them from warming up. Right now I want them to warm up so they are not mulched unless they're already planted with cool-season crops. I am so bummed out by this. We are usually fairly snake-free until April. I feel cheated! We just lost 2 months of being snake-free. I was raking up decomposed mulch today from the pathways and adding it, as compost, to garden beds. Usually I scoop it up with my gloves hands and drop it into the bed right beside the pathway. Since the compost is thick enough that a snake could be in it, I switched from using my hands to using a compost scoop, which seems slower to me. Even all these signs of an early warm-up don't mean we are done with winter. We often have snow in March and seem to always have cranky cold or rainy weather around Easter. Easter cannot get here fast enough for me. Rural gardening with plentiful wildlife around is challenging enough as it is. We don't need snakes out in mid-winter to make it even more of a challenge. Dawn

I would definitely call the local cooperative extension service on that one, just to make sure. The snakes may re-locate themselves, especially if you are a busy family that's always out in the yard. People and pets make too much noise and scare all the prey away. When a Copperhead is feels threatened, it freezes in place. It may shake it's tail, and it uses its bite as a last resort. Depending on how industrious your garden is, they may grow weary of spending all their time sitting totally still, and just give up and go somewhere else. Ask your neighbors if finding Copperheads is a common thing around there. Sometimes they may wander into our living spaces accidentally because they're looking for food there. Copperheads are very successful snakes, so they still might linger in suburban areas. And yes, they really do LIKE viney ground cover. It's perfect for them. Instead of a vinca, I'd try something like a Chameleon flower (Houttuynia cordata). They're absolutely gorgeous and spread like crazy. I've heard warnings of planting them in perennial beds, but I have them in there and I've never had a problem with the roots widing around my other plants.