Need help with keeping copperheads away from the house

Ok I need some help, copperheads scare the crap out of me because of my children, 3 and 5 years old. They both love snakes and its hard to explain to a small child that not all snakes are good and I don't want to put a fear in them of all snakes like my dad did to me.

So here is the problem, we have 6 acres with a creek running through the back 4 or so of all woods. Only 1.5 is grass and still has large wooded areas.

The copperheads seem to come in the most when we have the tornado warnings like yesterday and lots of rain and they get in the basement. I have found several down there and 1 in a clothes basket as I went to put clothes in the washer, so I of coarse freaked and the kids were with me in the basement. They are just around alot, we found a "nest" of babies under a rail road tie in the front when we went to make the driveway wider last week and just left to move later it until they went away.

I had a neighbor tell me to put moth ball flakes all around the house 3 - 4 feet out from the house and that would keep them out, another said to use lime and another said don't go in the basement or outside lol

I don't want to hurt them, I just don't want them OUT of the basment and this house is old, there is really no way to keep it sealed up tight around the garrage doors and all to keep them out.

Any suggestions will help a ton! (Oh except for catching them to relocate them, had that one and Im not going to do that, too scared)

There really is no 100% way to keep them out of your yard but, as you already know, you can keep them out of the house. You're going to have to seal every single teeny, weeny spot where they could possibly get in. I know it'll be hard but it's worth it.

As for the yard, there are lots of things you can do to help deter them from coming there. Make it uninhabitable for a snake i.e. get rid of anything they can hide under. Brush piles, piles of tin, piles of wood, etc. To a snake those are the best condos you could have. Keep the grass mowed short, trim bushes, etc. Get rid of any potential food items that may attract rodents i.e. bird feeders, cat/dog food, etc. The snakes are there because the food and hiding areas are there.

Other than that, buy a snake hook or tongs and a 5 gallon bucket to place the snakes in so you can relocate them. I've relocated 20 or so this year that had invaded houses, garages and workshops. You don't have to touch them to do it and it's fairly safe with a 4' snake hook.

Good luck on detering the little buggers. If they weren't venomous, I'd have a few of them in my collection because I think they're one of the prettiest snakes alive.

Thanks Karen, I may just have to live with them to some point, this house is soo old, we had a few contractors come out to look at really getting everyting in the back with the garage doors sealed good and tight but it is way out of our budget for a long while.

We did cut all of the shrubs out and the azeleas and the monkey grass are gone as we had all the pine trees within 20 yards of the house cut down and the mess under them cleaned out, just killed it all really, the yard is boring and ugly now but I feel safer with the kids running and digging under and at everything.

Ill get a snake hook, the last one I had to get out I used the dogs pooper scooper and ran fast, the one in the clothes basket I just ran and when I went back the next morning it was gone.

They are pretty, and Im sure it wouldn't kill me to be bitten but they could be deadly to one of my children.

Do you have any outside pets? I have cats and I think they deter snakes.

I don't see snakes around here and I love snakes. I'd love it if I had copperheads in my yard.

You'd die if you saw my flower beds and "yard". I say yard in quotes because I don't have the typical green grass yard. Where I live it is all sand, rocks & woods. I have huge trees all around my house. There is a state park about 20 minutes from my house called Elephant Rocks State Park. My yard is like that, elephant rocks everywhere. My elephant rocks aren't as large as the ones in the park but you certainly aren't gonna get a lawn mower over them. I even have a tree that has it's base growing over one of the rocks. It makes the base of the tree about 6' wide even though the tree is only about 30 years old.

If your kids are old enough to comprehend what you're telling them, I'd show them what a copperhead looks like and tell them it will make them have to go to the hospital and get lots and lots of shots. Or just tell them not to touch the wild snakes because they are not tame pets and will bite them. Maybe that's better. Good luck anyway.

Karen already offered some excellent advice in her first post. I would teach your children never to touch any snake they see in the wild unless they can make a positive ID or you are present. Moth balls will be useless but as Karen mentioned, removing brush or trash piles from around the house could definitely be useful.

Here's a link for ways to safely relocate a venomous snake. Copperheads can be relocated with minimal risk if you're careful and know what to do. If you have a local herp society, there may be venomous snake keepers that would be happy to either remove nuisance snakes or show you how.

http://www.snakegetters.com/snakerescue.html

<img src=http://gila.fieldherpers.com/Photos/coppersign.jpg>

Chris.

That link is dead.

Jim O said:

Chris.

That link is dead.

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Oh no, a copperhead got to it.

If you do end up relocating them make sure you aren't putting someone else in the same position you are now in. Is there any nature park or national parks around you? When I lived in California I caught a monster Diamond Back and I contacted the Angles National Forrest rangers station and the told me where to let it go at within the park.

Karen Hulvey said:

Do you have any outside pets? I have cats and I think they deter snakes.

I don't see snakes around here and I love snakes. I'd love it if I had copperheads in my yard.

You'd die if you saw my flower beds and "yard". I say yard in quotes because I don't have the typical green grass yard. Where I live it is all sand, rocks & woods. I have huge trees all around my house. There is a state park about 20 minutes from my house called Elephant Rocks State Park. My yard is like that, elephant rocks everywhere. My elephant rocks aren't as large as the ones in the park but you certainly aren't gonna get a lawn mower over them. I even have a tree that has it's base growing over one of the rocks. It makes the base of the tree about 6' wide even though the tree is only about 30 years old.

If your kids are old enough to comprehend what you're telling them, I'd show them what a copperhead looks like and tell them it will make them have to go to the hospital and get lots and lots of shots. Or just tell them not to touch the wild snakes because they are not tame pets and will bite them. Maybe that's better. Good luck anyway.

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I do have a cat and I usually have at least 1 dog, sometimes more since I do rescue you neer know but I keep them all in the house for the most part. Come to think of it the enighbor across from me and to the left both have quite a few outside cats and the one to the right has horses, pigs and a lot of dogs, maybe they are dirving all the snakes over here.

We have too much grass, we have a gravel driveway and have to spray it at least 2 times a month to keep the grass from overtaking it.

I think Cody understands, he is 5.5 and has asked even about frogs, mommy can I touch that or is that a bad one but my Emily will be 3 this month and is a wild fire, she will grab anything, thats what really got me worried, we were at my dads the other day when my mom got home from the hospital to help dad help her in and all and there was a black snake about 5' long headed down towards their gully and she just grabbed it and said looky, I gotta snake.

Thank goodneeds it was a black snake and she got it by the tail and I wasn't far away and grabbed her hand and made her drop it, then my dad came over and caught it again and he tried to show/tell her that it was OK but that not all snakes are and she wanted to hold it and keep it. She went in one time and got a toy box, dumped it and begged my dad to put the snake in the box. He finally let it go and she screamed for a while but got over it.

Im just scared that until she can comprehend the danger she could get hurt or worse.

DAND said:

Oh no, a copperhead got to it.

If you do end up relocating them make sure you aren't putting someone else in the same position you are now in. Is there any nature park or national parks around you? When I lived in California I caught a monster Diamond Back and I contacted the Angles National Forrest rangers station and the told me where to let it go at within the park.

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We actually have a nice old park that was for public use for cookouts and had a frisbie park and nature trails but it got so overrun with teens at night after hours parking and other bad stuff that they closed the entire thing down.

When I called animal control last week they said that if I did catch any and wanted to let them out somewhere to take them over to the old park. Too bad they won't do that for me. I don't mind the thought of catching them as much as moving them and letting them out.

Good point, David. I never thought about relocated snakes bothering others. I bring any troublemakers home and release them on my property. I live waaaay out and don't have any close neighbors and my property borders the Mark Twain National Forest so that's no problem.

As for the outside cats, they just show up here. I've gotten all of the females and most of the males fixed so I don't have any population growth. I really should just shoot them because they are wild but I can't do that because I love cats. So I feed them instead. Some of them just disappeaer (I'm sure 'coon & coyotee food) and the pride of cats is dwindling. I really hope no more show up and I can have my outdoors back the way it was before the felines appeared.

That link is dead.

Click to expand...

I tried it and it works for me but I had to copy and paste it to the address bar for it to work for some reason.
Chris

<img src=http://gila.fieldherpers.com/Photos/copcop.jpg>