Animals in the house

[Gary Fowler]

My brother in law came over yesterday(he lives just across the bass pond from me) and said "come see what I found in my back bedroom". I went outside and in the back of his JD Gator he had some 5 gallon buckets. Inside one was about a 2 foot long water moccasin. Last week we had some summer like days and he has a habit of leaving his patio door open on nice days so the dogs can come and go as they please plus freshen the air inside. Well the last two days have been in the high 30's at night. He was cleaning up a bit around the house yesterday as it was a bit chilly outside to be working and he noticed what looked like a big rubber snake (his eyesight is not that great but he wont wear his glasses). He said just to be on the safe side though he poked at it with a broom handle and it struck at it. Well luckily for him and everything else in the house, the snake had crawled up on a large glue trap that his wife had put under the bed and became stuck so he couldn't crawl away but his head was still free to move. That snake had came in the patio door, crawled thru the kitchen/dining/ living room open area, down an T shaped hall way and into a back bedroom. I guess he was lucky that the snake took a right down that hall way to the spare bedrooms rather than a left to the master bedroom.
His patio porch is maybe 40 feet from the waters edge while mine is about 200 feet. I have never found a snake anywhere around my house, while he has had several encounters with them. Last year they killed one that had came into the garage and coiled up by the door to the house. Luckily that they came in from the roll up door and saw him rather than coming from the house man-door as they would likely have stepped on it from that direction. Several times the dogs have bayed a snake coming up from the pond while still out in the grass.
Anyone know of a good snake repellant and please don't say mothballs, BTDT and it doesn't work.

 

[Bladehauler]

God I HATE snakes !!! I've got a pond about a 100 feet from my back door and so far haven't seen any around the house. The only snake repellant that I know of is a 410 ! Watch your step Gary !!

 

[kneedeep]

Snakes are a big problem in south Texas, they have lots of ways to deal with them. A place I hunted used a Snake fence around the owners house after her dog was killed by a big rattler in the yard. Looked like a 12" net fence that was electrified and would knock the s*1t out of any thing that touched it. Easy to step over and also keep rats and mice away as that seemed to be a snake attractant.

Just a thought if there is a reoccuring problem.

 

[jerrybob]

Anybody ever use this stuff??

http://www.serpentguard.com/

 

[creekbend]

Anybody ever use this stuff??

Serpent Guard | Natural Snake Repellent

Your Link is the first time that I have heard of this product. It seems a tad bit pricey to me, considering the area covered. Just my thoughts.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Your Link is the first time that I have heard of this product. It seems a tad bit pricey to me, considering the area covered. Just my thoughts.

Same here, $47 for one application to a small city sized lot. Between me and BIL yard size is about 600 feet x 400 or more. Attached is a winter photo of the yard and pond area between us.

 

[kneedeep]

I always heard if you keep it clean and short grass around the house or pond, it helps to keep rodents and snakes down since they like cover and its easier for raptors to get them in the open.
The yard and pond look real clean and maintained, I wonder if there is a den site on the other side that snakes are using for winter?

Just a thought-

 

[srs]

he has a habit of leaving his patio door open on nice days so the dogs can come and go

Tell him to keep the door closed. God only knows what else could enter besides snakes; flies, bugs, birds, small rodents, etc.

 

[PsRumors]

How big is the pond? A friend of mine "shocks" his pond just like one would shock a pool. He says the fish swim a little funny for a couple days but recover well, it seems to keep snakes out of their swimming pond.

 

[Gary Fowler]

The pond is about 400 feet long by 250 wide. Much too large to chlorine shock. We put some Blue Bayou in it to turn the water blue in summer to help control the algae growth. I do a search and destroy around it often with shotgun to kill any snakes that I see, so far nothing this year, but we find some small ones occasionally so they are breeding and raising young somewhere.

 

[jerrybob]

Same here, $47 for one application to a small city sized lot. Between me and BIL yard size is about 600 feet x 400 or more. Attached is a winter photo of the yard and pond area between us.

Yea...I agree.....there are some other products out there as well.....not sure of price. I was just wondering if anybody has used these types of products.....I wonder how effective???

 

[orezok]

;

I always heard if you keep it clean and short grass around the house or pond, it helps to keep rodents and snakes down since they like cover and its easier for raptors to get them in the open.

If that worked, I don't think we would have any snakes out there in the desert!

 

[Lou66]

A young female spaded cat,, I find little dead copper heads snakes laying on the driveway all the time.. 8 to 10 inches long that she kills,, also squirrels,, its not my cat belongs to a little boy next door.. she also kicks the poodle bootie on the other side.. I think this cat don't like snakes, squirrels or poodles.. Lou

 

[rd_macgregor]

I'm guessing a pet mongoose is out of the question?

 

[Car Doc]

Glad he saw the snake first that could have been a disaster!!! My outside cats are deadly on snakes but we only have non venomous variety's. I dont know if they are immune to venomous ones or not but probably not. I know a guy with a Jack Russel terrier and he was naturally deadly on everything that moves in his yard up until a rattler killed him.

Moral of the story I guess is if it can kill you it can kill an animal so Id use a mechanical method to slow them down.