Snake repellant question

[Jeff R]

We're having a problem with snakes around the home Von and I bought last year. Not a lot of snakes but enough - and they've been copperheads. Killed this juvenile this week while I was cutting my grass.

Our back yard is adjacent to an empty lot hosting a large bamboo thicket that looks like ideal snake habitat. Our city's public works department is coming out to determine whose property it is and whose responsibility it would be to remove or at least tame it to city codes since it's an empty lot. I've also been diligent about getting rid of leaf accumulations and stuff around the house, in the flower beds, etc. The snake above came from the front flower bed approximately four feet from our front door.

In the meantime, some of Von's co-workers recommended a granular product called "Snake Away" that's available at Lowe's and Home Depot. I've read user reviews and they appear to be split down the middle on just how effective the stuff is. Many also said the odor is very strong (think strong mothballs) for a few days after application and that reapplication is recommended after heavy rainy periods. I live in south Louisiana so heavy rains are a way of life during the hotter months. The stuff ain't cheap so I'd probably be spending a fortune on a powder that makes my yard stink like shit.

Any one have any feedback with the Snake Away stuff, or any other snake repellants that are out there? I'm not scared of snakes and I know how to approach them and handle them (see photos above) but my fear is we have three Chihuahuas and little kids that love to run barefoot around the house. I'd like to be as precautious and proactive as possible.

[Ting Ho Dung]

Thorn! The man!

Thanks for filling in all the technical gaps.

If only I could get my neighbors to stop killing the freaking kingsnakes! Wonderful animals and so helpful!

They always call me after they kill them: "issat poisonous?"

"No, that's not venomous, it's a kingsnake. They eat venomous snakes and should under no circumstances be killed."

"Oh." [lather, rinse, repeat]

Maybe you could pack up a few and send them to Jeff R. I'd be happy to tell you how to ship if you can do it. Eastern chains are in your area aren't they? I know milk snakes are but those don't come this far south.

[velorush]

Yes, eastern chain is what we see here, well, what my neighbors see. I work out of town, so I generally get back to the house after the snake panic / slaughter has taken place. They almost always find them before me. Even so, kingsnakes aren't very common. We more often see rat snakes (known around here as "chicken snakes") and varieties of water snakes, some of which can get extremely large. My son spotted a garter snake last week - though non-venomous, every one I've encountered has been extremely aggressive (the opposite of the kingsnake)!

I was running the string trimmer one afternoon and spooked a beautiful young milk snake (about 10") up onto the drive way. He was about two feet away from my feet and my wife saw (big mistake) and screamed, "Snake! Snake! Kill it! Kill it!" So I walked into the garage, got the shovel (he was way too agitated for me to handle) and very gently scooped him up and walked him over to the fence row on the back lot line. He was glad to be rid of me as he shot into the brush. I'd guess, if he wasn't eaten by something lurking in the honeysuckle, he's killed his weight twenty times over in mice and other vermin! I took grief for about a month for that "ridiculousness."

We've lived in this little subdivision (eight houses surrounded by pasture and woods and next to a 3 acre pond) for fifteen years. My neighbors have killed countless snakes - never a single venomous snake. Not one!

I didn't realize, but there appears to be quite a developed market for kingsnakes. Very interesting.

Hope this isn't a hijack. I have always been fascinated by snakes and also by the incredible fear they pose in most of those around me (I once 'housed' my parents as a kid when I brought a rat snake up to the house out of the woods - they refused to come out until it was gone! I do think the kingsnake route is the way to go. Copperheads are dangerous creatures. Best to let nature take care of nature.

[Ting Ho Dung]

They are known as chicken snakes because way back when, when everyone had a chicken coop the snakes would wind up in one and eat an egg or two. Or a baby chick but usually eggs since that's what chicken coops are for. But there is the red rat, the yellow rat and the black rat snake. The black rat and yellow rat are basically the same as there are intergrades in GA known as green rats (not to be confused with Senticolis in AZ). Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta is the black rat. E.o. quadrivittata is the yellow. But you see, they are only designated as ssp so intergrades happen between geographic lines. (I assume that quadrivittata has something to do with the 4 stripes the yellow form has.obsoleta is obviously dark.) But no matter where you go, these are known as chicken snakes even though they look totally different. This is where I'm going with this. Even the red rat snake is known as a chicken snake. It is separated as full species, E. guttata guttata. As far as I know, they don't eat eggs. When I was a young boy I had an Everglades rat snake, E. o. rossalleni. that would only eat eggs. I couldn't get him to eat a rat, mouse or chick. Just eggs. Now, for those of you who are following along carefully, E. o. rossalleni is named after famed Florida naturalist, Ross Allen. This is called the Everglades rat because it is found there. It's just a color mutation though as the one I had as a boy I found near Orlando. (for note, any time you see a latin name end with an "i" it is named after a person, i.e. conanti, brooksi, murkati, etc.) Ross Allen wanted a snake named after him so there you have it. And he should. But it is odd that the indigenous people, which are fewer here, all know them as chicken snakes. If you showed a picture of a black rat around here they would not recognize it as a chicken snake. But you show them a yellow rat or red and they would call it. In PA those things get over 8 feet long too. I'd love to find one of those some day.

Just like letting loose a 10k lot of lady bugs to fight aphids is better than spraying diazinon on a crop, Jeff R could let go a king snake or two a year, hopefully some more expensive females too, It's odd that he's mowing copperheads over as I've had friends make road trips up there year after year to find the elusive Florida Copperhead and come home empty. But maybe pissing will work. I piss in my pool and we haven't had anyone wanting to swim in it in a while.

[Boomerang~Junkie]

DANG - Thorn brought his "A" game . . . . . .

[tomteriffic]

King snake and summa ds

http://www.cabelas.com/product/CCI-Pistol-Shotshell-Ammunition/741172.uts