"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.

Not many people enjoy snakes more than I do, but I have to say, even I would not be happy to have one fall on me out of nowhere before I knew what it was. My story along those lines involves a cat house we built on the back of our home years ago, with a kitty door going out to it. A little verandah for our indoor cats, so they could lay on the cat shelves out there and enjoy the fresh air. Unfortunately, it wasn't screened in, but rather, enclosed with a wide mesh wire fencing. This meant that lizards and snakes and many other creepy crawlies could take short cuts right through it. (Though why anything would WANT to cut through a small enclosed area with three large cats hanging out in it is beyond me.) Suffice it to say, many snakes were cat nabbed and carried proudly back through the cat doors over the years. My husband at the time had a phobia about them, and would end up standing on the chairs or the sofa hollering at me to come get the snake (which was almost NEVER injured in any visible way) and take it outside. It was a funny sight. But he got the last laugh. I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night once and stepped right on top of a black racer in my bedroom...in my bare feet...in the dark! There was MUCH screaming and hollering and hopping about coming from ME that time! This one was injured, but definitely still thrashing about. *shiver* THAT will wake you up right quick! Marcia

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.

Thanks to everyone! It's probably a ground-dwelling wasp or bee, since there's nothing around the holes. I tend to leave wasp nests and bee hives alone unless they are directly next to a door to the house. My mother painted the eaves of our house one summer, painting around the wasp nests and talking to them (telling them that she wasn't going to hurt them) and didn't get stung. I helped with my church's youth mission trip to the Appalachian Mountains this summer. My group helped to replace the tin roof for a WWII vet. He has wasp nests in the walls of the house and some under the roof. The wasps left us alone until we came WAY too close to their nests and they may have still left us alone but the kids attacked with wasp spray. With that history, I'm leaving the wasps and bees alone if at all possible!