Rattlesnakes

[npalen]

I recall one incident as a teenager out in the pasture at a junkpile taking a headlight off of an old ford so I could mount it on our RD6 Cat to plow at night with a 6-volt battery riding on the tractor fender. I kept hearing a buzzing sound and wrote it off as a locust or something but eventually looked down and saw that I was standing on a rattlesnake. You never saw me move so fast!

Our cats would kill rattlesnakes and then drag them into the barn. This was in the early to mid 50's but years later we saw no rattlesnakes on our farm or nearby. I've always wondered if it was the result of farmers injecting anhydrous ammonia into the fields as a fertilizer.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Cleaning up the brush and debris and KEEPING YOUR YARD MOWED AND THE PERIMETER OF HOUSE AND OUTBUILDINGS CLEAN AND TRIMMED is what I've found that works well.

As or turkeys, I had a flock of hens in my yard one Summer day, and they were being stalked by a feral cat. When the cat got too close, they attacked the cat with a vengeance...and he took off for tall timber!

 

[Jchonline]

Physical barrier. Put up a wire fence with small enough mesh the bottom 3 feet that a rattler cant get through.

 

[bcp]

Physical barrier. Put up a wire fence with small enough mesh the bottom 3 feet that a rattler cant get through.

The snake will follow the fence to a gate, so you need to snakeproof the gates, too.

Bruce

 

[Hughman]

So, how would you keep rattlesnakes out of the yard?

I prefer to keep them out in the yard. When the come around the house or into the basement, that's when the 22 snake shot comes out.

 

[Alan W.]

Our area was well know for many large diamondbacks. Its rare to see one now. The only thing that has changed is the turkeys and coyotes are in abundance.
My cat was playing with a small rat snake tonight about 1 1/2 foot.

 

[ponytug]

OK. Here's a real poblem.....A friend lives on a property quite a way from us - over on the eastern foothills of the Rockies and situated next to a whole valley of sage and puckerbrush. Lots of small - and large - game of all kinds, and unfortunately lots of snakes too. She likes most critters including all the harmless bullsnakes and similar, but would really like to keep the rattlesnakes away from the house and garden and her small kids. The snakes feel otherwise. They like it there too. Especially tool sheds, or under the porch, or around any brush pile. She and her husband probably removed a dozen just last year. She lost a dog recently to a rattlesnake bite, and I'll admit that it puts a whole new dimension on doing gardening and yard work.

So, how would you keep rattlesnakes out of the yard?

rScotty

Cats!

We like to keep a pair around. They keep the pressure up on rodents and lizards, so there is no incentive for rattlesnakes to come in. We had one cat that loved to hunt rattlesnakes, and then play with them. She was a wonderful Maine Coon cat that would follow us around doing chores to keep an eye on things.

Cleaning up the yard, and generally not having habitat for animals near the house I think is rural home ownership 101. Either seal up the underside of the porch, or open it up so it isn't a good refuge for animals. No brush piles anywhere around an house, and varmit proof tool sheds. Pull any shrubs by the house, and keep the flower beds, if any, open.

Also get SnakeBite911 on their phone; it is quick access to which hospitals stock antivenin. Small kids and venomous snakes are not a good combination and time will be of the essence.

We have both western diamondbacks and mohave rattlesnakes, the latter have both a blood venom like other rattlesnakes, and also a potent neurotoxin.

All the best,

Peter

 

[scootr]

I have some not so common 40 caliber snake shot and some common 20g snake shot

 

[ponytug]

If I am close enough for snake shot, I just use a shovel, so I guess that makes me a lousy shot, or handy with a shovel.

I had a friend who routinely grabbed the rattlesnakes by the tail, and had this way of snapping his wrist to snap the rattlesnake like a whip that always broken its neck. He had painfully slow reflexes, but had no trouble killing rattlesnakes.

It was a skill I never tried to learn for some reason...

 

[orezok]

Here in the Mojave, the Mojave Green is somewhat common. The Mojave Rattlesnake is considered to possess the most potent venom among all the rattlesnake species, making it one of the deadliest snakes in the world.

I kill one every year or so.

 

[deserteagle71]

Also get SnakeBite911 on their phone; it is quick access to which hospitals stock antivenin. Small kids and venomous snakes are not a good combination and time will be of the essence.

Happened about 2 miles from my house. Family walking on a dirt road up a canyon and the little one was just being a kid, running here and there, when she got too close to a rattler crossing the road. Local hospital DID have antivenom but did not administer it. Apparently the emergency room doc decided she'd recover just fine without the antivenom...until it was too late. (This is a screenshot of the photo and headline from the local paper.)

They are everywhere around here. This one I shot on my steps:

Alongside a nearby road:

Came back from a hike and found this one had taken shelter from the desert sun in the shade of my Yamaha Kodiak:

 

[beowulf]

1) Don't give them places to hide and wait for their food. As many have said, no lumber, debris, and whatever.
2) Keep the weeds down - we have goats. Two reasons: I don't think they will be as likely to travel where there is no cover, and if they do travel you can see them. And raptors can see them and take them. I have seen a hawk with a snake in its talons, and an eagle with a snake as well. I could not tell if they were rattlers though.
3) When you are walking where they could be, make noise. They warn you - you need to warn them to move on, or at least to warn you in return. When the granddaughters are here we tell them to not go running around until we have gone there first - we are very cautious about that and they are not left out alone to just roam around.
4) Snake shot works, or a hoe or shovel - keep those things where you know where they can be quickly retrieved.
5) Learn to be wary. Especially when stepping from light to dark, into an outbuilding, around a corner. I have been surprised many times - always scares the h##l out of me.
6) Cats will keep the mice population down so that will help as well.

I have killed a few dozen rattlesnakes. Shovels, hoes, - whatever is handy. And a few with snake shot, and a few with a .22 which is a miracle as I am not a good shot but manage to hit them in the head. I have wondered it they are themselves lining up their head to the end of my gun. Don't know, but I should not have hit some of them.

I leave the other snakes alone.

 

[fuchifarm]

My turkeys have killed a few timber rattlers here before I finished clearing out the woods. Also lost a hen to one of those kills. She killed it but got bit in process. After I got the woods pushed back to the property lines the rattlers also stopped showing up. Now I just see the occasional cotton mouth near the pond / drainage ditches. Key to not seeing snakes is to get rid of there preferred habitats and there preferred food sources.

I'd also suggest carrying a small pistol with snakeshot. I carry a small 9mm while out on my property on foot and have a 12g with buckshot on the tractor with me. We have a bad stray dog and coyote problem around here. So being prepared for self defense is a must. I've warned my neighbors to be careful but it wasn't till my neighbor watched as a pack of coyotes took down an adult white tail buck in his backyard that they paid attention. Our coyotes around here aren't the little 30lb coyotes that I grew up seeing in TN but 60-75lb killing machines the size of german shepherds. Thankfully they seem to respect the electric fence and stay out of the fields for the most part.

 

[MTGreen]

From my time in Southeastern Arizona where snakes and rattlesnakes especially are extremely common, people make what's called a snake wall which is basically a 18-24" rock wall all the way around the yard play area starting and ending at the house. It's usually made out of the local rock with vertical sides and mortar in between. There are typically several places where there are a couple of steep steps cut in so you can walk over but not compromise the effectiveness of the wall. The snakes can't climb the wall and you can generally make a snake free area for the kids. It works pretty well so long as you intelligently plan for drainage and the area is not so big that you can't check for animal holes periodically.

The locals train their new/young dogs to stay away from snakes by catching a gopher/bull snake and forcing the dog to play with it or at least forcing it into close proximity to it until the dog is bitten a time or two by the snake. It's probably not the most humane way to train but the locals swear by it.

Sure is a lot more humane than having your beloved dog die of rattlesnake toxin though.

 

[jyoutz]

OK. Here's a real poblem.....A friend lives on a property quite a way from us - over on the eastern foothills of the Rockies and situated next to a whole valley of sage and puckerbrush. Lots of small - and large - game of all kinds, and unfortunately lots of snakes too. She likes most critters including all the harmless bullsnakes and similar, but would really like to keep the rattlesnakes away from the house and garden and her small kids. The snakes feel otherwise. They like it there too. Especially tool sheds, or under the porch, or around any brush pile. She and her husband probably removed a dozen just last year. She lost a dog recently to a rattlesnake bite, and I'll admit that it puts a whole new dimension on doing gardening and yard work.

So, how would you keep rattlesnakes out of the yard?

rScotty

A couple of things can be done to reduce prairie rattler populations around buildings, but the most important is killing the mouse population. Those small prairie rattlers aren’t taking large prey, mostly mice and small rats. Removing junk and excess vegetation and mowing around buildings and trapping and baiting rodents makes a big difference. Snakes will move away to areas with better foods sources. Also, we get the dogs vaccinated at the vet every spring with rattlesnake shots. The vet says that a vaccinated dog may get sick, but will likely survive a snake bite.

 

[jyoutz]

I’d be thinking a sidearm with .22LR snake shot.
They are one miserable creature.

I used to carry a .357 with snake shot cartridges, but now just keep shovels near the house and outbuildings. They are just as effective at dispatching rattlers. I usually kill 1 or two a season. But we only have small prairie rattlers. I wouldn’t want to tackle a large diamondback with a shovel.

 

[MTGreen]

I used to carry a .357 with snake shot cartridges, but now just keep shovels near the house and outbuildings. They are just as effective at dispatching rattlers. But we only have small prairie rattlers. I wouldn’t want to tackle a large diamondback with a shovel.

The diamondbacks can be fatter especially the older ones but the striking distance or vertebrae strength isn't substantially different. Shovels work just fine for big rattlesnakes just as they do for little rattlesnakes

 

[jyoutz]

wow snake shot... interesting didn't even know that was a thing... I like...

The fear of snake is ingrain in us from the beginning of time I am glad we don't have any where I am from.

Somewhere I’m on TSA’s watch list because of snake shot cartridges. Several years ago I was hurriedly loading my .357 with snake shot cartridges to go get the rattler I saw behind the barn. I dropped 3 of those shells in my travel bag accidentally. A few days later, I was at the airport with the travel bag. After passing though security, I was pulled away by TSA agents to a room. They had found those three shells in my bag and asked me what they were. With a straight face, I replied “snake shot.” I was then asked why I had them. I replied “they are for shooting snakes.” They sent me on my way with my bag, minus the snake shot. I asked for them back, but the agents weren’t amused.

 

[jyoutz]

We have rattlesnakes here in the desert, but we have many more Roadrunners. I have actually seen one killing a rattlesnake. They grab it and slam it on the ground until it doesn’t move.

Yeah, the road runners are pretty tough on snakes. We have them also on the high plains. Red tailed and Cooper’s hawks are also hell on snakes.

 

[Spike56]

Yeah, the road runners are pretty tough on snakes. We have them also on the high plains. Red tailed and Cooper’s hawks are also hell on snakes.

Big believer in road runners. We used to have many, but do not see many anymore. Wish I could get Parks and Wildlife or some organization to repopulate them. Unsure if its coyotes or fireants or why there is not many around anymore.