How to repel snakes

Just reminding you: It's just a phase. Once you come back to the dark side, a steak will be waiting.

 

Ah ... just remembered a walk I was on earlier this year.
Had a chat with a fisherman who let me photograph his eel.


Age 11, I got the opportunity to handle a lot of pythons and boa constrictors. This kind of 'set my flag' to like snakes. I know to be careful, though. I'm sorry I have no thoughts about repelling them except to make sure to keep grass short and walk a bit thumpily.

 

Suggestion: stop hating snakes.

The vast majority (depending on where you live) are perfectly harmless and would much prefer just to be left alone.

It's also unlikely that this 'problem' has a real solution, unless you feel like setting off explosives every couple of hours.

 

If it is any consolation, the snakes have usually bugged out once they hear you coming. They are way more scared of you (well, most of the really poisonous ones anyway).

 

I have no suggestions, just reminds me of my daughter when she was about 7years old. Running into the house with a 2 foot long black gardener snake in her hands.
Look what I found mama!
Yes I freaked out and was so afraid I could not take it out of her hands. I told her to hold it tight. I didn't know if it was poisonous or not. Made her put it in the tub and called a neigbor.

 

Are any of them poisonous? If you can't tell the difference you should probably educate yourself on what snakes you're likely to encounter in your region. If they're not poisonous, there's no reason to kill them, If they are poisonous, it might be best to alert your local animal control when you see one. They'll respond fairly quickly and remove them from your property without having to kill then.
I don't think it's wise to go after poisonous snakes on your own.

 

I agree with what others have said regarding snakes being beneficial due to them consuming rats/mice and other pests.

That being said I live in Western Washington state where we have no poisonous snakes, only garter snakes. As a child I enjoyed catching them and handling them, I would always release them unharmed. The only negative experience I had is when one crapped all over my hand as a defensive mechanism.

If I lived in the South however where poisonous snakes do exist, I could empathize with the instinct to just dispatch them all.

I have no idea how to keep them away. You mention that you have a creek nearby your house, unfortunately that might attract a lot of the prey species that the snakes hunt (there might be a lot of frogs and other amphibians by the creek in addition to the rodents).

It sounds kind of cliche' but the snakes were probably in that area a long time before your ancestors arrived.

 

I'm not sure the level of poison-ness comes into it (and I live in a country where we have 7 out of the top ten deadliest snakes in the world). In the wild, I've seen Taipans, Dead Adders, various Brown snakes (these can actually be aggressive), but mostly snakes will keep out of your way. I really don't get the "kill them all" mentality.

 

That's because you're not American. We have only have one way of dealing with things. Ya gotta nut up or shut here in the good ole USA !!!

 

You sure don't look afraid holding it there.

So it's a garter snake, and all these years I thought they were called gardners.

 

so if im on a run or hike and a brownie decides to rear its ugly head, am i supposed to just run the other way?

The only consolation right now is that its winter and they're probably not as active here

 

Venomous. Ven-o-mous. Animals that inject venom and thus would cause you concern if they attacked you are venomous. Poisonous animals are only a concern if you're planning on eating them. [/pedantry]

I guess no one in this thread has been the victim of verbal berating at the hands of a herpetology crazed Bio 2 prof. [/emotional scarring]

 

For what reason should a snake have life?

 

Probably for the same reasons as you.

 

a snake is a monster and I am a human... the same reasons cannot apply to us.

You would not want to keep the bubonic plague alive if you had the choice, so why a snake?

 

Because the planet requires biodiversity to remain balanced.

That food web you learned about in primary school? Yeaaah.

You can't get rid of "nuisance" creatures, Mr. Human-Centered.

 

Buddha officially hates you.

No wonder your karma is so bad.

 

As I said Oz has something like 7/10 of the deadliest snakes in the world. Can you guess how many snake fatalities we have?

["According to my research, there have been 41 snakebite deaths since 1980 in Australia. The brown snake is believed to have been involved in 24 of those deaths."]
Australian Snakes and Death: How Many People Die?

24 deaths in 30 years - we have more people die in car crashes every year. By your crazy logic we should ban cars.