Managing Rattlesnakes?

[GoldCountryGal]

Hi All,

We have just recently purchased a place in the California Foothills. We are part-timing there, while fixing it up... It is a few acres with an established house on it but it borders BLM land - so we face out on a lot of undeveloped acreage. Pretty - but it does invite it's share of critters - wild turkeys, lots of deer, foxes, hawks, who-knows what, and snakes. This is rattlesnake country. Hoping there might be some folks who have snake experience and can provide some advice. Is there any natural way to reduce or inhibit the snakes from coming around close to the house? Previous owner states that one time she found a rattler sunning on the back porch

What should we be doing to the property to help reduce the snake population on our land? We basically have fenced fields with oak, fruit, walnut trees... all of which have been untended for quite a while.

What danger do rattlers pose to domestic animals? We have a cat, and are thinking about a dog. Is it safe to let the cat outside of the house? knowing cats, I would guess chasing a snake would be loads of fun - would a rattler bite kill a cat? or a dog?

I appreciate any thoughts on this.

[cowgirlone]

I live in rattlesnake country too.
If you have room, get some guineas. They will let you know when snakes are in the yard.
Lots of activity seems to keep them at bay, dogs, chickens, etc. in the yard.
Of course that doesn't work at night when everyone is sleeping.

We've lost a large buck meat rabbit to a rattler, it climbed up into it's hutch.
One colt (bitten on the throat).
Haven't lost any cats or dogs.
Keep any brush piles, wood piles, junk piles picked up. If you have to store something, try to store it off the ground. Reduces nesting areas.

Last September we had 8 baby rattlers in the house. I went from freaking out to spanking them with a fly swatter and taking them outside for disposal.


Wear foot protection, boots... I don't wear sandals anymore....we also have cactus.

I'm sure I will think of other things I forgot to tell you! LOL!

Snake lovers, do not read next part........

They are tasty and make nice belts and hat bands.

[Micahn]

If I remember right Moth balls will keep them away.
Rattlers can kill a dog or cat. But people let their animals run out side all of the time in places with them without a problem. Animals are smarter then people think at times. They know when a snake or what ever can kill them and stay away.
Here in Florida we have the eastern (the largest of the rattlers) and the pigmy that only get maybe 2 feet at the most. I know of only one dog that got hit by one and that was by a pigmy. It did not die but got really sick for a while.
A friend of mine in high school got hit by a eastern, He as well lived but wished he was dead for a while.

[deaconjim]

Getting the rodent population to a minimum would help. A good shotgun is helpful as well.

[ninny]

Learn how to scream, really loud and run, really fast...

.

[mtc]

Hello,

I used to do animal control in So.Cal and part of my job was rattlesnake removal.

1st: Snakes love concrete. They do like to sun themselves on your driveway. If they decide that they're going to cozy up to your house that's one of the places you'll find them.

2nd: Snakes love hidey places. Clear away brush piles. Take care around woodstacks. Don't let rubbish accumulate.

3rd: Snakes love rodents. They're useful critters in that respect. I cleared a rattlesnake out of someone's livingroom once because it had followed a small furry in through a dryer vent. Make sure yours are properly screened with wire. Also, if you do rodent abatement around your house, you shouldn't have much of a problem with snakes.

4th: If you do find you need to dispatch a snake a long handled shovel with a sharp blade will both kill the snake and make it simple to dispose of it by placing it a garbage bag. Never handle a snake head. Not only are they germy things, but if there's a post death muscle contraction they can still spew venom.

5th: Medical people are still going round and round on which is more dangerous, the venom or the bacteria in a snake bite. However they do agree, if you are bitten: stay calm, get to medical help as soon as possible and if you can take the snake with you.

6th: Pets. I've seen a couple of dog v snake incidents. The big dog lived. The schnauzer didn't make it. It depends on how much venom the dog takes on and how quickly they get medical attention. If your dog comes in with a rapidly swelling puncture wound get to the vet ASAP. See 5 above it applies to animals too.

If you exercise basic common sense i.e. don't stick your hands in dark holes, if you hear a rattle backtrack calmly but quickly etc, you should co exist quite nicely with your new serpent neighbors.

[freeinalaska]

I spent over a decade in Northern California rattlesnake country. Though they were always present keeping scrap wood piles and other debris from under the house helped. Rattlesnake does make a fine soup.

[CGUARDSMAN]

get some snake repellent and put around area you want them to stay out of and if you have pets make sure you have plenty of benedryl on hand incase they get bit. we have pygmy ratllers around here and my fox terrier was bit after taking a benedryl and a baby asprin every four hours for 2 days he was good as new. the top picture is after being bit on the nose and the bottom is normal.

[suburbanite]

A lot of rattlesnake bites are 'dry'--no venom or little venom injected.

Kingsnakes are nontoxic, are immune to rattlesnake toxin, and prefer eating rattlesnakes to eating any other item on the snake-food menu. However their immunity to venom is locality-specific. So you can't just get kingsnakes from anywhere and let them loose, you need to find them yourself from nearby.

If you can find some kingsnakes on the BLM land and relocate them to your land, they will both eat the rattlesnakes directly, and (when rattlesnakes are in less abundance) eat the rodents that attract the rattlesnakes.

There should be two varieties of kingsnake in your area--California Kingsnakes and California Mountain Kingsnakes. The former are dark brown or black and white or cream, in varying proportions. The latter are red white and yellow--but you are not in the range where coral snakes (toxic, with similar color) live so there is no danger of you picking up a coral snake by mistake. You can probably look up their habitat requirements on the web and, while cutting back on general clutter, provide targeted little islands of ideal snake habitat for the kingsnakes to live in.

If the kingsnakes are happy and stay in your area, the rattlesnakes will avoid it.

[GoldCountryGal]

Thank you everyone for all the advice! This is exactly what I needed to know. Getting rid of any debris around the house sounds like my next project. There is a bunch of old construction wood under the deck which seems like probable rattlesnake territory - I am going to tackle that one first. (Being very careful of course!).

I appreciate the description of King Snakes... will probably run across those too. Although I am not sure I am up to relocating them - I may need to cultivate a friend who loves snakes for that project

Thanks!

[clamjane]

After reading your post, I walked out in my yard and stepped on a stick, nearly freaked. LOL

[suburbanite]

lol jane!

[suburbanite]

Here is a good pictorial directory to the snakes of California.

http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/snakespics.html

The *only* snakes poisonous to worry about in your area of California are the rattlesnakes. So everything else you find is harmless or mostly harmless (nightsnakes have a weak venom on the order of bee stings in severity).

[Spinner]

I used to live in an area where we had rattle snakes on one side and copperheads on the other side. I got a big flock of guineas and they cleared out the snakes. They kept the snakes away for several years, until we moved.

[Ford8N]

Originally Posted by GoldCountryGal

Hi All,

We have just recently purchased a place in the California Foothills. We are part-timing there, while fixing it up... It is a few acres with an established house on it but it borders BLM land - so we face out on a lot of undeveloped acreage. Pretty - but it does invite it's share of critters - wild turkeys, lots of deer, foxes, hawks, who-knows what, and snakes. This is rattlesnake country. Hoping there might be some folks who have snake experience and can provide some advice. Is there any natural way to reduce or inhibit the snakes from coming around close to the house? Previous owner states that one time she found a rattler sunning on the back porch

What should we be doing to the property to help reduce the snake population on our land? We basically have fenced fields with oak, fruit, walnut trees... all of which have been untended for quite a while.

What danger do rattlers pose to domestic animals? We have a cat, and are thinking about a dog. Is it safe to let the cat outside of the house? knowing cats, I would guess chasing a snake would be loads of fun - would a rattler bite kill a cat? or a dog?

I appreciate any thoughts on this.

You are showing yourself as a real city girl to be so obsessed with snakes. I spent most of my boyhood in Southern IL running around in the woods and we rarely saw snakes. Let's see in Union County we had Rattlers, Copperheads and Mocassins. The Cottonmouth is the agressor of the three. Most snakes will get out of your way before you see them or know they are there. Use sense and caution in places like woodpiles, downed trees, brush piles and the like and you should be OK. Also, dont kill garter snakes and non-poisonous snakes as they keep the poisonous ones away, that is unless they are near your chickens. Snakes are part of the environment and do more good than harm and help keep vermin down. Leave them alone unless they threaten your livestock or your home.

In the western part of the county where I grew up is Pine Hills State Park overlooking the mighty Mississippi. The state would close the roads in the park in April because that is when the snakes would come out to breed and they didn't want them getting run over by cars. The park is open the rest of the year for recreation and I rarely heard of anyone getting bit. I was always more worried about chiggers than snakes. Thank God we don't have chiggers in Wisconsin.

[vicker]

I spent most of my young life in SC. We had all 4 of the N.American venimous snakes. I was an always outdoors kinda kid and learned to be snake consious. Never put your hands where you can't see. Same goes for feet. If you hve to walk through snakey areas, walk slowly and drag your feet. Snakes are more afraid of you. If you do se a snake, leave it alone. If you don't, you might ---- it off. That is how most snake bites happen.
When I was 35 I moved to down town Boston, Ma.. I was walking downt the side walk on one of my first days there. They were doing some construction and I was looking up at all the tall buildings. Well, there was an air hose connected to a jack hammer that ran across the sidewalk. I was looking up when I step on it and felt it vibrate under my foot. I almost got ran over when I jumped out into the street

[Queen Bee]

IF you keep all the 'bedding' places clean and you keep the rodent pollulation down )by keeping all your extra grain, corn, chicken fed cleaned up. Snakes won't stay long.. They needed a place to hide and something to eat... We were over run w/ copperheads when we purchased our property. For yrs. we have been very good at keeping it 'cleaned up' but I noticed several 'piles' of things they could hide under. Old wood/lumber stacks,tin, irrigation pipe stacked too long on the ground. Lots of undergrowth around the pond... We really should get busy-because I hate snakes of any kind.. QB

[e.alleg]

arrgghh! I hate snakes. I would simply pack up and move. lol.

Keep in mind, the snakes were there first. So if you see a snake, you are intruding on them. Not them on you.

A lot of people don't realize that yard lights are one good reason why you see snakes in your yard. The yard lights attract insects, the insects attract toads and lizards and the toads and lizards attract snakes. If possible use a timer on your yard light along with motion sensor lights.

[vicker]

Well I have seen thousands of snakes in the wild,and have never been bitten (though I have been chased, but that was my fault) . I really hate to think of all the ones I didn't see, because they can be dang hard to see (if they ain't laying on a slab of concrete). I've never been bitten.
I actually like to see them now and then( that means you're looking). They ain't hurting anything, just doing their snakey thing. Just keep your eyes open and learn to live with them. Realize that if you turn over a log or piece of debis, there may be a snake under it. They don't like being stepped on or surprised any more than you do. You can't rid your life of snakes. You need to learn to live your life with them. Even if you kill every snakeyou see, poisonous or not. You still live in snake country and you can't kill them all. They are not going to run you down and attack you. Learn to live with them. They are good neighbors. Just don't pi$$ them off.