The Conservative Cave
Interests => Around the House & In the Garage => Topic started by: longview on April 24, 2012, 09:03:46 PM
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Any tips on getting rid of them?
A fellow in my department is fairly inundated by them in his several acre yard. He and his girlfriend aren't up to taking gardening implements and doing away with the varmints. I'm too busy to sit in their yard and wait for snakes.
I did run out to their place and didn't see the usual long grass, piles of branches, etc. I did suggest that they get steel wool and plug every available crack and crevice around baseboards and around drains before trying to exterminate the snakes chemically. He's afraid they have nested in the crawl space under the house. The house had been empty for a while before they moved in during the past winter, so I guess that could have happened.
It's only been going on for about a week, so I also suggested that the snakes are migrating through his area. And/or since garter snakes mate at this time of year kind of orgy style, his yard is the equivalent of a decadent spring break for garter snakes.
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I chase them down with the lawn mower when I see them. It leaves a crazy pattern in the yard sometimes, though. Our Beagle caught one last fall that I had to take from her.
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Cats are good.
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Just keep the yard cut and get rid of any brush piles.
Garter snakes ain't looking for people to snuggle up to.
I don't really understand the urge to get rid of them though, it's not like they are any kind of danger at all.
In fact they are quite useful, unless of course you would like to replace them with the pests they remove.
The last house I lived in had a sump that ran out to a drainage easment, it allowed things to get in. Things like silverfish and I guess one anole type lizard.
My ex saw it first and freaked right the heck out. She demanded that I crush the life out of it.
I tried to catch it...never did, I did see it once though.
Metalic blue, very handsome.
I guess they are kinda smelly if you pick them up, garters that is.
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Why would you want to? They're part of the Eco system. They eat bugs. Isn't that a good thing?
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They don't bite.
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Cats are good.
This is also a good idea. A barn cat is awesome. My estranged wife's grandfather has one. No snakes, no mice.
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Garter snakes = no little varmints. I'd take all you have if there was a way, and then I'd have no chipmunk problems. Even if they can't eat the critters, varmints are scared to death of them.
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Garter snakes = no little varmints. I'd take all you have if there was a way, and then I'd have no chipmunk problems. Even if they can't eat the critters, varmints are scared to death of them.
So are females. Hmm... ;-)
I have no problem with rat snakes, king snakes, or garter snakes. ...and I hate f'n snakes as well as spiders. They all have a purpose. I'd say all God's creatures had a purpose if he'd reveal to me the the purpose a common house fly, a gnat, a chigger(red bug), and a mosquito have.
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Why would anyone want to kill garter snakes?? Leave them alone. Even in town, I've found them curled under rocks I moved, and even once inside a wall I was fixing. I sometimes catch them and bring them to show the kids, but then we let them go. They're harmless, even beneficial.
In our area, all poisonous snakes have the triangular head, so I've taught my kids which ones to kill.
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They don't bite.
They will piss on you. Don't ask.....
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They don't bite.
They can and do bite, but it doesn't hurt much.
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They can and do bite, but it doesn't hurt much.
They don't hurt at all. We used to let'em dangle from our fingertips.
Wineslob is correct. Don't know what it is, but they piss on you almost every time you pick'em up.
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Now, as harmless as they are, you don't want to get popped by a 4' King snake. Doesn't really hurt but it'll shock the hell out of you. You have to really piss off a King to get it to do it. They normally don't go around trying to mess with humans. Oh, and they kill and eat poisonous snakes. Check mark in that column.
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They don't hurt at all. We used to let'em dangle from our fingertips.
Wineslob is correct. Don't know what it is, but they piss on you almost every time you pick'em up.
I don't remember ever having one piss on me. I've had lots of toads and frogs do that though.
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I don't remember ever having one piss on me. I've had lots of toads and frogs do that though.
They have a strong scent they emit from a liquid they expel. I don't know if it's piss, but that's as as a term as any.
QUESTION: Do snakes piss?
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They have a strong scent they emit from a liquid they expel. I don't know if it's piss, but that's as as a term as any.
QUESTION: Do snakes piss?
Sorta
They expell urea which is a combination of fecal material and uric acid.
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I wouldn't have a problem with even half a dozen. I guess they've been seeing 20 or more at the same time. They are worried about the snakes being/denning under the house, but I told them there would be a nasty smell if they were.
I'm with y'all. I'd rather have garter snakes than rodents and insects. These folks are from a midwestern city and other than liking the view, they don't seem to tolerate living at the edge of town very well.
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I wish our little snake problem down here in Jawga was just limited to garter snakes. ;-)
It's the Copperheads, Cottonmouths, Eastern Diamondbacks, and Timber Rattlers that I hate. We have coral snakes, but they're rare and not much of a problem.
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Garter snakes = no little varmints. I'd take all you have if there was a way, and then I'd have no chipmunk problems. Even if they can't eat the critters, varmints are scared to death of them.
Yep! My grandmother used to have my younger brother and I go out into the fields and woods to gather them and bring them back into her garden. Amazing how good her vegetables grew were not ever chewed on by one critter or another. :-)
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I don't remember ever having one piss on me. I've had lots of toads and frogs do that though.
You aren't a licker......are you?
:-)
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Gotta watch out for those camel toads.
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You aren't a licker......are you?
:-)
Nope, I was just a normal kid that had lots of creeks and ponds around where I grew up.
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I wish our little snake problem down here in Jawga was just limited to garter snakes. ;-)
It's the Copperheads, Cottonmouths, Eastern Diamondbacks, and Timber Rattlers that I hate. We have coral snakes, but they're rare and not much of a problem.
I used to make sure we always had a bull snake in the yard/barn area. They keep the prairie rattlers away, or dead. They always got pretty comfortable around us and the kids named them.
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Gotta watch out for those camel toads.
Where did you get that ?
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From Wineslob's inference.
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From Wineslob's inference.
No, where did you first hear about that ?
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I used to make sure we always had a bull snake in the yard/barn area. They keep the prairie rattlers away, or dead. They always got pretty comfortable around us and the kids named them.
Bull snakes are great, unless you have chickens.
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Bull snakes are great, unless you have chickens.
Never kept chickens. Do bull snakes eat them?
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No, where did you first hear about that ?
Google it. It was some letter to, IIRC, Someone like Ann Landers.
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What the hell is a bull snake? Chicken snakes, well, they don't eat chickens, but if you like eggs, keep'em away. I doubt a bull snake eats chickens, but I don't know what it is. It has to be pretty big to eat a full grown chicken. Only snakes native here that can eat'em are Eastern Diamondbacks. ...and they like mammals, not normally of the avian type.
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Never kept chickens. Do bull snakes eat them?
Not the grown ones, but they eat the eggs and the chicks. That's the only reason to kill bull snakes...if you have any type of fowl and want to either gather eggs or raise young. We have a strong "live and let live" attitude toward non-poisonous snakes and spiders. They do much good and little harm, leave them alone.
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What the hell is a bull snake? Chicken snakes, well, they don't eat chickens, but if you like eggs, keep'em away. I doubt a bull snake eats chickens, but I don't know what it is. It has to be pretty big to eat a full grown chicken. Only snakes native here that can eat'em are Eastern Diamondbacks. ...and they like mammals, not normally of the avian type.
Large, nonvenomous, beneficial snake.
BULL SNAKE (http://snr.unl.edu/herpneb/snake/BullSnake.html)
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The guy at work is now worried that all those garter snakes are moving as fast as they can into his house. The temperature has dropped almost 40 degrees between yesterday and today. He asked if they would be looking for somewhere out of the weather and I told him yes. I gave an oversimplified explanation of cold-blooded reptiles and the effect of weather on them. I also told him the snakes really didn't want to be near him and would prefer to be many other places. He asked "Why?" Holy smoly. I don't know if he's going to adapt to the west or at least 'country' living. I'm being nice. His elderly landlady is being nice. He's a great worker and decent enough fellow. I hope he makes it. His girlfriend is less than impressed with Wyoming, though.