Rural Southern Guys And Snakes.

[Stimw]

I just killed cotton mouths (water moccasins) with a long handle shovel. No testosterone involved.
Killed a rattler with a 7' scraper blade, no contest there either.
The trick with any snake is to get it before it can get away.

 

[ustmd]

I am in Central TX, so I feel your pain.

You are on the right track about eliminating the habitat to cut down on the population.

When we first move to our place 17 years ago, the people we bought from had piles of "stuff" and were inconsistent about keeping the place mowed. They were having regular encounters with rattlesnakes. After cleaning up, keeping the place mowed and eliminating the habitat we rarely encounter one now. Rattlesnakes are generally pretty shy. If you keep a lot of activity (i.e. regular mowing) they will move on. Coral Snakes are aggressive and mean.

For your dogs, there is a vaccination you can get for rattlesnake bites (maybe one for coral as well). It is a serious of two shots. It does not give them immunity to the venom, but it does reduce the reaction to the bite--several people I know have had dogs bitten after getting the vaccine and they didn't even have to go to the vet.

Also, if your dog does get bit and survives the immediate bite, don't get the anti-venom shot--the shots only have a 50/50 chance of saving the dog and cost $400-800 a shot. The dog has just as good of a chance to survive if you does it with liquid Benadryl to stop the histamine reaction.

 

[atsah]

I am in Central TX, so I feel your pain.

You are on the right track about eliminating the habitat to cut down on the population.

When we first move to our place 17 years ago, the people we bought from had piles of "stuff" and were inconsistent about keeping the place mowed. They were having regular encounters with rattlesnakes. After cleaning up, keeping the place mowed and eliminating the habitat we rarely encounter one now. Rattlesnakes are generally pretty shy. If you keep a lot of activity (i.e. regular mowing) they will move on. Coral Snakes are aggressive and mean.

For your dogs, there is a vaccination you can get for rattlesnake bites (maybe one for coral as well). It is a serious of two shots. It does not give them immunity to the venom, but it does reduce the reaction to the bite--several people I know have had dogs bitten after getting the vaccine and they didn't even have to go to the vet.

Also, if your dog does get bit and survives the immediate bite, don't get the anti-venom shot--the shots only have a 50/50 chance of saving the dog and cost $400-800 a shot. The dog has just as good of a chance to survive if you does it with liquid Benadryl to stop the histamine reaction.

Thanks I didn't know any of what you posted. I am wondering if my sister knows anything about it, I'll ask her. The shots sound like a no brainer to me if you live in snake country.

I would rather rid the place of were a snake would want to be rather shooting them all. I wonder if there are any king or indigo snakes around, they might take care of some of the nasty ones.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm in East Texas and over run with Cotton Mouths and Copper Heads, along with rat snakes and a few other non toxic snakes. Two years ago, they where everywhere. I killed over 20, my wife got a dozen, my mom got almost as many, and one of my dogs was bit two different times by copper heads. I saw the first time it happened, and we found the body of the second, along with where it got her. We also found a couple of dead rat snakes in the dogs yard, and one small copper head near the wood pile that either chickens or guineas killed. Last year we put mothballs everywhere. We bought boxes and boxes of them from Walmart and the Dollar Store. All last year, I only killed three snakes and that was the grand total for all of us. Another thing that we did was get some cats. We have chickens, which means we have lots of food for mice. That really bad year was also a bad year for mice. Last year, the mice where severely reduced thanks to the cats and dozens of mouse traps. Chickens love to eat dead mice!!!! Once it warms up again this year, we will be putting out moth balls again. They stink, but that's probably a big part of what the snakes don't like. We are also looking for more cats. I've come to the realization that crazy cat people are on to something!!!

 

[atsah]

I'm in East Texas and over run with Cotton Mouths and Copper Heads, along with rat snakes and a few other non toxic snakes. Two years ago, they where everywhere. I killed over 20, my wife got a dozen, my mom got almost as many, and one of my dogs was bit two different times by copper heads. I saw the first time it happened, and we found the body of the second, along with where it got her. We also found a couple of dead rat snakes in the dogs yard, and one small copper head near the wood pile that either chickens or guineas killed. Last year we put mothballs everywhere. We bought boxes and boxes of them from Walmart and the Dollar Store. All last year, I only killed three snakes and that was the grand total for all of us. Another thing that we did was get some cats. We have chickens, which means we have lots of food for mice. That really bad year was also a bad year for mice. Last year, the mice where severely reduced thanks to the cats and dozens of mouse traps. Chickens love to eat dead mice!!!! Once it warms up again this year, we will be putting out moth balls again. They stink, but that's probably a big part of what the snakes don't like. We are also looking for more cats. I've come to the realization that crazy cat people are on to something!!!

Why do you have a lot of Cotton mouths? Do you have a lot of water on your property? This is all new to me, Maine has no venomous snakes. I grew up in MA and there are few there, copper head and timber rattles in the rocky outcrops, I lived there for 35 years and spent a lot of time in the woods and saw one rattler and a few copper heads. In Citra FL I saw four bad boys in three days, that's not good and something needs to change.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have two ponds and one of my property lines is a creek. I've seen cotton mouths swimming in the creek, and all over the place on and around my ponds. They also travel away from the water, but most of the time they are within a hundred yards of so of water. The copper heads are just randomly spread out all over the place.

We also have rattle snakes here, but they are very mild mannered. A State Biologist that I bought hay from told me that you pretty much have to pick them up and mess with them to get them to do anything. He made that mistake and was bit on his hand, which almost led to losing his arm, but over time, he recovered. It's been years and he still has issues from the bite. Dogs are not bothered by cotton mouths and copper heads, but rattle snake bites are very bad for them. They can process the venom, and it sort of gels inside of them, and then over a few weeks, it breaks down. There is a lot of swelling, and the place where they are bit loses all the hair and becomes a dark, hard scar.

 

[atsah]

Which snakes do you find to be aggressive?

 

[jaxs]

Which snakes do you find to be aggressive?

Aside to an occasional copperhead,non-venomous snakes are much more aggressive by comparison. The only thing that give's rise to more old wives tales and tall tales in general than coyotes is snakes. The best thing you can do when living with venomous snakes is educate yourself. First priority is lean to identify each venomous snake in your area. Don't even try learning each species of non-venomous,it's a waste of time and require's 100 fold the experience and education required to identify the one's that are venomous. Not trying to discredit you,more so to get your education started. You said you saw a coral on a recent visit. Tell me how you knew for certain that's what is was. It's the easiest of all to identify but 90% of sightings are mistaken identity. We can come back and spend time on identifying all of them if you want to but for now we go to the second best thing for staying safe. Most any naturally aggressive breed of dog can be trained to find and bay snakes. Here's where the decision can get problematic. Eventhough many lap dogs can be trained as great snake finders,I highly recommend starting the relationship from day one looking to the dog as a tool and having it live outdoors when weather allows. Small to medium size terriers excel unless they need to defend against 4 legged intruders. I'd 2 to 1 rather have a small and alert dog that sound's the alarm then let's me handle it than a pit that chew's my long lost friend's leg off before I can stop it. Do those two things plus common sense like mowing and keeping trash to minimun and the odds are stacked overwhelmingly in you favor. I'll be happy to spend all the time you like on this if you ask.

 

[sandman2234]

Which snakes do you find to be aggressive?

Water moccasin, otherwise known as Cotton mouths. I was bleeding brakes on a 1 ton truck and one came from the front of the truck coming right at me! I came out from under that truck QUICKLY! Dang thing stayed there on the warm concrete till I took his head off with a carefully placed .22!
David from jax

 

[txdon]

I am in Central TX, so I feel your pain.

You are on the right track about eliminating the habitat to cut down on the population.

When we first move to our place 17 years ago, the people we bought from had piles of "stuff" and were inconsistent about keeping the place mowed. They were having regular encounters with rattlesnakes. After cleaning up, keeping the place mowed and eliminating the habitat we rarely encounter one now. Rattlesnakes are generally pretty shy. If you keep a lot of activity (i.e. regular mowing) they will move on. Coral Snakes are aggressive and mean.

For your dogs, there is a vaccination you can get for rattlesnake bites (maybe one for coral as well). It is a serious of two shots. It does not give them immunity to the venom, but it does reduce the reaction to the bite--several people I know have had dogs bitten after getting the vaccine and they didn't even have to go to the vet.

Also, if your dog does get bit and survives the immediate bite, don't get the anti-venom shot--the shots only have a 50/50 chance of saving the dog and cost $400-800 a shot. The dog has just as good of a chance to survive if you does it with liquid Benadryl to stop the histamine reaction.

For your dogs:
There are trainers who will train your dog in one day to stay away from poisonous snakes. It involves using a real snake and a shock collar. Prevention is less than treatment.