Any ideas?

[pam]

Other than keepin the grass and weeds down and choppin em into little pieces does anybody have any hints for keepin copperheads away from the house? I just killed another one and it was a baby so there's more of the little buggers out there. that makes 3 this year, 2 bigs ones and the little one. This one was under the horse tank. Reached under and grabbed ahold and turned it over and there the little bugger was.

That makes 6 or 7 I've killed since we moved out here.

[frawin]

Pam, there is a spray or powder, I can't remember which that Lowe's used to have to keep snakes away. My youngest son was a Lowe's store mamager and I asked him if it worked and he said he had several people tell him it kept snakes away. It is probably worth checking on. Get more cats, that might help,most cats can't resist messing with a snake.

[frawin]

Pam, Google "Snake Repellent", several results.

[pam]

Thanks Frank, I worry about the grankids runnin around.........

[frawin]

Pam, Copperheads like cool, dark and damp places. Try to keep the weeds, shrubs, undergrowth cut and cleaned out  as much as possiible, don't give them a place to hide out of the Sun close to the house and outbuildings.

[flo]

There were copperheads where you grew up, Pam, but snakes will not survive where there are pigs, so you might think about a couple of them. 

[flo]

will add this P.S.

Just talked to Marvin.  He said if you could get a couple black snakes or bull snakes, they will keep copperheads and rattlers away.  Know Billie had a big black snake and her carpenters killed it, next thing she knew there was a rattler on her back step.  Jr. came up with a couple more black snakes and have had no more rattler problems.  Marvin also mentioned the powder or granuals of some kind that you can sprinkle around the yard.

[W. Gray]

Naphthalene--moth balls--is described as a deterrent for copperheads and cottonmouths on one web site.

[pam]

Thanks everybody

yeah Ma, that's what I was tellin Joe about hogs. We're lookin at gettin a couple. I didn't know that about black snakes tho. I haven't seen any out here, just garter snakes and copperheads for the most part. I try to keep everything trimmed around the house, guess it's just cause the woods are so close that we have so many.

Try to keep cats around but between the owls hawks eagles and coyotes their life expectancy ain't too long around here lol.

[dnalexander]

This thread brings back my childhood growin up on a lake in Missouri where copperheads, rattlers, and cottonmouths were everywhere. My suggestions a little snake education for what to do when encountering snakes for the kids Give the snake a way to escape. Be alert for snakes. Leave them alone. Wear proper clothes when in snake habitat Know that while few people die from snake bites in the US it is a medical emergency. Know how to treat a snake bite. Much of this can be learned from the Boy Scout handbook.

I thought you might be interested in our local "pest" problem beyond our ever present rattlesnakes. During the last month we have had 3 Mt. Lions spotted near  schools in a 5 mile radius of my home. This time of year they are very active. Attacks are rare, but when they do happen they are serious. Same rules pretty much apply. I like having the snakes and Mt. Lions around.

David