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I would be very cautious about using any snake repellent such as mothballs or some of the other marketed products. While they make actually work as intended, any snakes that are on your property currently would stay there.
I would be very cautious about using any snake repellent such as mothballs or some of the other marketed products. While they make actually work as intended, any snakes that are on your property currently would stay there.
I would call an exterminator or other professional. Do you back up to the woods? If you do, putting snake away outside the fence line AFTER the exterminator or other professional rids your property of snakes would be a good idea.
keep a forked stick around, along with hoe s shovels sharp macheties and carry a sharp pocket knife, kill them when ever you can. dont let them get away. kill two prevent 50. keep your land pretty clear. put mothballs under your home if possible. often my neighbors tell me things like it was right there by the gate latch. I use to hall rock out of mountains and creeks. and I got perturbed if one of my hired hands let one slip away.because if you let it live it will get under a rock and get you later. I assume your female and I am too.
Ah, pegotty, I understand your concern, and I guess you'll find little comfort in knowing that snakes generally won't bother you. I'd be less worried about the large copperhead, that I can easily spot (if I am looking for it), and more worried about uncovering a nest of baby copperheads.
Instruct the children to stay away from the undersides of shrubbery, and out of the mulch -- not just snakes, but home to ticks, which I have found much more troublesome. Mothballs sprinkled around the perimeter of the yard is a good bet, and to keep the children out of the mothballs, you can easily spread them on the outside perimeter of the fence, given that the children are in the yard. The Dollar Stores carry boxes of mothballs for $1.
Black snakes, and green garden snakes, are most definitely a homeowner's friend; unfortunately I really don't know how to 'invite' one over. If you are afraid the children will come into contact with it, and you see the copperhead, again, you can take the sharp edge of a shovel and chop off its head -- but you'll need a steady, and good, aim. Even if you just maim it, you can pick it up with two rakes, or the shovel and a rake (think::tongs of a sort) and dispose of the snake.
Sorry you've had such a fright. NC is indigenous to a number of poisonous snakes that you need to learn to recognize. My husband tells me you can separate poisonous from non by the shapes of the head, but sheesh, who often has time to pay that much attention? I look for patterns like stripes and colors, and err on the side of safety.
keep a forked stick around, along with hoe s shovels sharp macheties and carry a sharp pocket knife, kill them when ever you can. dont let them get away. kill two prevent 50. keep your land pretty clear. put mothballs under your home if possible. often my neighbors tell me things like it was right there by the gate latch. I use to hall rock out of mountains and creeks. and I got perturbed if one of my hired hands let one slip away.because if you let it live it will get under a rock and get you later.
I'm not going to judge how things are in Oklahoma - perhaps snakes are a bigger problem there. But I couldn't disagree with your advice more for dealing with such snakes around here, which are really not all that common in most residential areas. Please don't needlessly kill an animal. If at all possible, humanely relocate it to a remote area.
I agree with CH...killing all snakes is like cutting off your nose to spite your face. They help control the rodent population. In my yard, I've found mole king snakes (looks like a copperhead), garter snakes, black snakes and hognose snakes (adults are confused with cottonmouths, juveniles are confused with copperheads). I donated a juvenile hognose snake to an East Cary Middle School teacher, so he could use it in his classroom to help educate his students.
You may also find water snakes (everyone thinks they are cottonmouths...but few if any of those are in the Triangle), and corn snakes, which look a lot like a copperhead. Many non poisonous snakes resemble poisonous snakes, as a defense mechanism. If you aren't 100% sure it's poisonous, killing it may greatly help those families of mice that will come into your home, or those families of moles that will destroy your yard. King snakes help control the snake population too...so if you kill one of those, other snakes will likely feel free to inhabit your space.
from the web - The best way to discourage snakes from being close to your home is to get rid of habitat and food supply as much as possible. Store wood at least 18 inches off the ground. Keep the rodent population down by use of traps. Other than that there is really no good way to do it so it becomes important to teach your children to be cautious around any snake they see and to move away from it as quickly as they can. Use gloves and boots when working with brush and woodpiles, and be alert for movement. Snakes will normally avoid human contact.
Apparently marigolds are natural detterents for snakes so you might think about planting them around areas that you would like the snakes to stay away from.
By allowing snakes to share your environment you can benefit from the natural pest control they provide.
Some strange myths exist about copperhead snakes. One is that black snakes can interbreed with copperheads to make a venomous black snake. Another one is that copperhead snakes smells like cucumber - which is generally not true, as they only secretes and odor resembling the odor of cucumber when they feel threathened. The funniest myth about the copperhead snake is that baby copperhead snakes are more venomous than adults.
Actually, even though the copperhead snake is venomous and its bite very painful, a bite from a copperhead snake is generally not deadly.
Juveniles are not more venomous, but they don't regulate the amount of venom they inject when they bite. You're more likely to receive more venom from a juvenile than an adult, which makes it potentially more dangerous.
Juveniles are not more venomous, but they don't regulate the amount of venom they inject when they bite. You're more likely to receive more venom from a juvenile than an adult, which makes it potentially more dangerous.
Exactly. That's what the emergency room docs at Duke told my brother after he'd been bitten. FTR, he was in a lot of pain and had a lot of swelling, but he's fine now.
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