Ha! do you have a large/outside dog? Gonna get one? How about some 'barn cats'? you need to keep any 'food' away from the snakes, i.e. mice, rabbits, etc. You also need to make certain there is no 'welcome mat for snakes' out there, i.e. no stacks of anything to attract them (wood pile for fireplace, building materials), bushes such as many of the 'grass' type plants; keep any plantings away from the foundation (no place for snakes to hide out).

Encourage the coyotes, foxes, and bobcats to hang around. Plant deer candy, and they will be there, and keep the snakes in check too.

Snakes are your friends. They eat all the mice that want to get in your house. You are living in the middle of their habitat after all.

From a farm girl who lives in a state blessed with all four types of American venomous snakes:

- Yes to dogs and cats. They will keep snakes down. The downside of this: If your dog or cat seems suddenly ill, it's wise to search them for snake bites. A snakebite killed my wonderful Collie.

- Don't hesitate to shoot snakes. They make for excellent target practice.

- When you run them over with your car, put on your brakes as soon as you feel them under your tires -- just running them over doesn't always kill them.

- Running them over with the John Deer is difficult. They tend to feel you coming, and they get out of the way.

- Keep a hoe by the wood pile. Before you load up, hit the pile a few times (to be sure nothing's coming slithering out).

- Seriously, though, if you live on acreage, you will have snakes.

Now, want to talk about coyotes?

I came home to a black snake at my back door this afternoon! There is a robin’s nest on one of my pillars. I’m sure he was looking for lunch! A broom did the trick!

We have 4 1/2 acres. Mostly forest and a weed mess. We have been in our house about 1 1/2 years. We have only seen a snake twice. I'm pretty sure the 2nd snake we saw was the one who came around the first time we saw him. First time we saw him he decided to check out our house. 2nd time he was meandering through the trees. He's harmless and we don't mind having him around.

We live in the country and by the water....we scatter moth balls around our main outdoor areas that we are around daily. After a couple of days the smell subsides. I really believe it helps deter them.

Read this https://www.top5reviewed.com/snake-repellents/

i know the keep down rodents but they scare the devil out of me.

You can also scatter sulfur pellets around the house, it is supposed to be a deterrent to

snakes.

Poke around anything that you need to disturb with a shovel hoe or something similar. Learn to identify venomous snakes.

Tootsie, that’s a heck of a photograph. Impressed you got at snake level for this shot.

I just broomed him off the landing again! I can’t keep it up all night....if the baby robins make it through the night I might try mothballs!

oh. I am going to nightmares tonight

Nope. Nope. Nope. I couldn’t handle finding a garden snake let alone any of the ones in the pics. I would scream and then die!

Dear Lord, both of those black snakes look like they are posing for the camera! That first one looks like he is SMILING, for God’s sake! Terrifying. I know they are harmless, but I just hate the way they move. *shudder*

Mongoose? Or more than one: mongeese?

We have 58 acres.

Shotgun.

Get a donkey.

I live on acreage. I can deal with snakes. Most of ours here are non-venomous, and rattlesnakes will warn.

It's the ticks.

The chickens will eat the ticks, but alas they don't range everywhere here. Seven ticks so far for 2019 - fortunately most hadn't attached.

Seriously, if you don’t like the country, stay in the city. There’s sights, sounds, smells, and all sorts of “unpleasantness” to be encountered every day in the country. Get used to it and get over it. No farmer is going to move his cows to another pasture to not offend your nose. No hunter is not going to have a buck strapped across his tailgate for you to view on the road. No deer are going to respect fence boundaries and not eat your landscaping. No raccoons are not going to turn over your trash and dine. No coyotes are not going to snatch your purse dog left unattended. And no snakes are not going to prey on the rodents living in your woods. And no rodents are going to respect your wall boundaries and not come inside either. It’s one giant system that you are inserting yourself into. Accept it.

Desensitize yourself to them as much as possible. Look at many pictures, learn the ones native to your area. I seriously do not like them and they always startle me, but my rational brain knows they are no threat (unless venomous) and I hate mice almost as much! Don't stick your hands anywhere you cannot see! The dogs also tend to keep them at bay.

Well I spoke too soon. Snake #2 seen this morning. Much smaller than the other snake we saw.

HU-458501810, what species of snake? Venomous? Constrictors?

In Vietnam we had a snake we called Jake Two Steps. If one bit you, you would be dead in two steps. Fortunately, I never personally met one, but did have quite an event very early one morning as we were pooping and snooping in the I Corps mountains.

vinmarks that one picture is great! And I love your hardscaping (what I can see of it!!)

The black snakes are absolutely your friend. We had one that lived in our hay loft when I was younger. We didn't have much rodent problem in our barn!

“How to deter snakes from country living”??? Where do you expect snakes to live then? You are building in THEIR territory, you know.

I saw a snake today and screamed... okay, it was just a string, but I still screamed

I was in the garden of our previous home when I spotted a red-bellied black snake slithering down a hole between tree roots. Now black snakes here are poisonous, and we had a dog, so I filled in that hole with some garden soil. I checked the location later that day, and sure enough, there was a neat, snake-sized circle in the middle of the spot I'd filled in. Presumably, the snake relocated to a new home people where weren't trying to bury him.

Was it a venomous string??

"How to deter snakes from country living?"

Tell them about how great living in the city is, museums, public transportation, restaurants, theater.

Seriously, you are invading their home.

The traditional African method to keep snakes away from a house is to establish a hardpacked, bare, frequently swept dirt (or paving) zone all around the house. The wider, the better. It both discourages snakes, and makes it easier to see the ones that persist.

There are two chicks in the nest that was under attack by the black rat snake I swept off my landing...twice!

Tooties I think our black rat snake was trying to get at our bird feeder. He got himself up on a table we had outside and was trying to get up the post.

The better topic is “How to Deter Entitled City Slickers From Ruining The Country”. If the answer is snakes, you can bet the locals will start raising them in droves.

Well I completely jinxed myself. We saw the bigger snake this morning and it went under my DH's car and never came back out. I'm pretty sure it is now in the engine. Now I don't know what to do. As much as I don't mind snakes slithering around the yard I'm not going to pick one up out of the engine.

"How to deter snakes from country living"

Introduce them to the dining and entertainment benefits of urban living.

I'll take the suburbs any day.

Cooks Kitchen: Encourage the coyotes, foxes, and bobcats to hang around. Plant deer candy, and keep the snakes in check too.

I don't want anything after my chickens, so I'm especially not encouraging any foxes.

He was in there. We took the car to a part of the neighborhood that is all forest with no houses to get him out. DH tested the antilock brakes a few times and he dropped out. He was stunned at first but slithered away.

I came home to a black snake at my back door this afternoon! There is a robin’s nest on one of my pillars. I’m sure he was looking for lunch! A broom did the trick!

Yes, they love eggs and baby birds. Snakes love hanging around under bird nests because baby birds have a habit of falling out of their nests.

I just broomed him off the landing again!

Consider using a hoe next time. It'll do the job permanently.

The better topic is “How to Deter Entitled City Slickers From Ruining The Country”.

Entitled City Slickers are not a problem in the country. They stay a year, figure out the country isn't the ideal pastoral they'd imagined, then they head back to the city.

We long-term country folks do not dislike city slickers.

Okay, so I'm not a "country girl". But I think you are being very unfair to the OP. When one builds in the country, one accepts many things but I don't think snakes slithering around ones house need to one of them. If one has dogs and cats, snakes can be a real danger to them.

Learning what to keep away from being directly up against the house (a pile of firewood) an other things only makes sense. May who live in the country, fence off a smaller area for their dogs - they don't want them out of sight in the woods for innumerable reasons. There is nothing wrong with this. And there is nothing wrong with trying to snake-proof that area as much as is reasonable.

I remember the Six Flags opened outside of St Louis - it was in what was then (nearly 50 years ago!) a very rural area. Copperheads were a major problem and people who visit theme parks don't expect to encounter them. The local newspaper had articles on all that they did (deep fencing, snake repellent) to keep snakes out of the park. It did not always work, and a child was bitten by a copperhead. He survived but I"m betting there was a huge lawsuit.

Some people just don't like snakes and I'm sure one. Since I was a child, I will NOT sit down on a toilet without first looking in the bowl. Somehow as a very small child, someone must have told me a story about a snake coiled in the toilet biting someone. It's just an image I cannot end. I had a snake in my garden pond a few years ago, and it undid me. I'm not terribly fond of spiders but don't scream. If a mouse startles me, I am "startled" but again, no screams. If I saw a snake in or directly outside my house, for me it would be like that common nightmare where one wants to scream and is too terrified to get out a sound. I'm human - I have my frailties just like everyone else. Mine happens to be snakes.

Some people just don't like snakes and I'm sure one. Since I was a child, I will NOT sit down on a toilet without first looking in the bowl. Somehow as a very small child, someone must have told me a story about a snake coiled in the toilet biting someone.

Anglo, this is me too. I read a story once about a snake getting in through the septic system and I ALWAYS check the toilet before sitting down.

What species are native to your area? King snakes and other non-venomous snakes will help control rodents and they also help keep the venomous ones at bay.

Is your property all woods? Do nearby neighbors have problems with them? Ticks and spiders are far more of a nuisance than snakes will be. However, I have a phobia of snakes and my motto is “the only good kind of snake is a dead one.” Keep sharp hoes and guns nearby.

I also don't like snakes, and I had a farm in a rural area for 20+ years. I learned to live with the garter snakes ... except the one my cat dragged into the house, I used a broom to move it back outside.

Now the milk snakes, those were another matter. While they aren't poisonous, they are quite aggressive. When I found one in my donkeys stall in the barn, I called my neighbor to help. He thought I was being a wuss until the milk snake coiled and tried to strike him. He backed out quickly and went back in with an empty garbage can and a long handled hoe to get the snake in the can. He learned about milk snakes that day!

Snakes in the country are part of country life. As are deer, coyotes & hawks/eagles ... depending on where you live.