home inspection went bad
 

My house I am selling has a contract to close on Oct 30th..

Inspection was yesterday..

.mostly small things they said.. except...

they could not do the crawl space because of 2 copperheads
down there..

I am imagining the wife saying she doesnt want to live here now..
I just had the crawl space sealed & new insulation done..so I thought that space would be flawless...

question..is there an easy way to get them out..I am going now to see if they are near the door..

I have heard snakes don't like moth balls. You could throw some under there and check back later.

The other suggestion would be to get a rat snake. They are very territorial and will remove other snakes. They aren't poisonous. Of course most people don't want any snakes around so this is probably not the answer.

The moth ball trick doesn't work here. Had to physically remove....

Either a snake hook, or a shotgun... Myself, in a small enclosed space, I'd go the shotgun route.. (actually, more like a .38 with shot shells)

Hopefully this doesn't cause the new buyers to reconsider living in the country. I'd think it would be a hard thing to back out of a contract over.

Disagree...
Anything in the inspection report is grounds for backing out.

Yeah, now that I think about it, I guess that could be true... Especially if the seller doesn't want to work with the buyers on the problems..

I know if it was me, I'd think a couple of snakes under the house would be a plus... Dinner real close.. :D

A .22LR shot shell(rat shell) has an effective range of about twenty feet. It will have to be fired from a bolt action or similar, not a semi-auto, since it will not cycle the mechanism.... Probably harmless to wiring or piping, certainly won't penetrate wood or concrete block--and probably won't cause any ricochet damage. (Ask a gunsmith for official opinion, I am not a gunsmith)

geo

Glue traps might be a viable option for evicting the unwanted tenants.

The flat kind without any type of lip.

A friend of ours does pest control and was just mentioning the other day the unusually high number of snakes he's found on glue boards this year.

Just tell the buyer that the snakes keep the mouse and rat population down, it's a country "thing".

Mon

I doubt if rat shot effects snakes any more than rats. I used it as a kid, and the rats would scratch their sides where I shot them and go on. I Was TOLD ALL THAT STUFF WAS GOOD FOR WAS MESSING UP THE RIFLEING IN THE RIFLE.

rat shot also comes in .22 magnum. Will throw small rocks grit.

Eye protection!


Pay some fool with a shovel $10 per...

"Wildlife" is not a problem with the property itself.

.38 ratshot works every time for me. Next time you have an inspection, specify no sissies.

Careful, I blowed a hole in a power line trying to shoot a snake that I saw crawl up under my house and knocked my ex-(chicken hearted city boy)husband down who was behind me peeking around my shoulder when I did the moon-walk backwards trying to get out from under the house when the snake headed my way. BUT I DID GET THE SNAKE!

If you really want the property, call a critter getter to come get the snakes out, then call the inspector back out to finish their job. You don't want copperheads coming and going thru your yard, so it could be a blessing in disguise they were found by the inspector.

so are we certain they are copperheads?...I have black snakes in the attic space of at least one house we own....and I am pretty sure there are a few under it as well....

we have had plenty of workers out here that just are sure that every single snake is a killer out to get them....and the men are the worst...

I like having the black snakes under any house I live in...they can be in the attic also...not inside, however...

I had a bulldog that would find a snake, rat, possum, raccoon etc under a house and bring it out--if given permission he would tear into walls and pull what ever was hiding in them, out. See if you can find someone that has a "snake dog"--if he is good he will get them.

Thanks everyone..
Its my house I am selling..
I called Critter Control because the inspector needs to finish the inspection and with my house sell on the line it was worth the $150.

When he got here he said he bet money it was baby rat snakes that the inspector had seen.. A few minutes later he came out with 2 baby rat snakes in his gloved hand.

we put some glue traps under the house in case there are more..

I don't have the repair request from the buyer yet about the inspection that he did complete..

In NC until the due diligence period is over the buyer can back out of the contract or any reason or no reason . I don't think they will, but I will feel better next Wed when that period is over..

Thanks everyone..I enjoyed reading about how to shoot it LOL

Well there was my first mistake.. believing a house inspector would have know kind of snake he was looking at... Rat snakes and copperheads look nothing alike. Glad you didn't take my advice without knowing what they were. Good snakes to move...

A BABY Black Rat Snake often has very similar markings to some poisonous snakes.
They don't turn black until they mature

Juvenile Black Rat Snake:
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/002...01_xlarge.jpeg

Southern Copperhead:

http://www.tswildlife.com/copperhead.jpg

Most people won't notice the differences in a real life encounter

For future reference, if it still warm enough in your area just open the crawl space door and pile up some old rags. Moisten them down a bit, shut the door and leave. Next morning, open the door and rake the rags out in one quick motion. The snakes will likely be in the rags.

You are right bearfoot, most people won't stick around long enough to even try and tell... A few differences that you can tell real fast though. Some copperheads will have a yellow tail. A copperhead will have more of a velvet looking skin, not really glossy. A rat snake has a glossy shine to it... The head shapes are a little different, and the eyes are a lot different..

I tend to take the time to look.. All snakes are good in my eyes, unless it's a danger to my wife or animals..

Infestations of any kind on the inspection are grounds for backing out.

Mongoose? If there are any kind of snake and you want them out get a sprayer and fill it with a gallon of gas. (This really works) SPray it in the den area. Preferably down the hole that come in and step back. They will come out and everyone of them that you did not count on either. This is how I get rattlers out of the den. works every time. Just talking from experiance.

"If there are any kind of snake and you want them out get a sprayer and fill it with a gallon of gas. (This really works) SPray it in the den area. Preferably down the hole that come in and step back. They will come out and everyone of them that you did not count on either. This is how I get rattlers out of the den. works every time. Just talking from experiance."

Then light a match!

We have used a product called Snake-Away with success.

LOL

A swarm of bees in the wall might be an infestation.
Cockroaches everywhere might be an infestation

TWO little snakes is hardly an "infestation"

I doubt that's a good strategy under your house, and I KNOW it can't be good for your ground water

BFF~ You are absolutely right! We need to get totally away from pouring gas on the ground for any reason.
"Out of sight, out of mind" don't really work any more. You or your kids could be inhaling or drinking that gas in tiny amounts....just enough to give you mysterious ailments that can wreck your life.
For around 10 years I drove a pickup with a leaky filler tube on the gas tank. (my foolish mistake to not replace it). If you want to read what it can do, google for Myelofibrosis. It takes a while to kill you but then again, I've had it for a while. Can be caused by benzine found in gas.

PLEASE! No snake pictures without warning!!

I guess I should have known better than to keep reading posts....

A few of you might want to distance yourselves from applying logic, fairness, or ethics when it comes to the buyer's ability to back out of a contract due to ANYTHING that shows up on an inspection report. Bottom line is, if a buyer wants to walk away, they are going to. If they need an excuse, the pick a meaningless flaw on the report. Think you're going to find a realtor and a lawyer to go to bat, and make things all better, with a long a battle over who keeps the deposit, or a few years of litigation to make you whole again, once you get stuck holding the bag? Good luck. Been down that road, and it isn't pretty. If you talk to a competent Realtor who has been in the game for a while, they will tell you that it happens pretty regularly, and from a seller's perspective, it typically doesn't end well. If the buyer perceives an issue, and they cannot be satified, they can and will walk. i have seen deals crash and burn for amazingly trivial BS. My realtor lost a recent $300K sale when the inspector reported that a bath fan didn't operate properly. The seller offered to fix it immediately, the buyer asked for the deposit back. Deals can crash at the walk through. You agree to leave the place "broom clean" and it still is a mess with your junk in the attic and the garage? Hope it goes well, but don't count on it. I know agents who have had to cut a check from their commision, at the last minute, to keep a deal going. After selling a few million $ worth of single family homes in the last few years, I learned one thing, it's over when it's over. When you leave the settlement table with a check in your hand, it's sold. Until then, a harmless baby snake is no less important than a meteor flattening the place. Many buyers are making the most stressful purchase of their lives. It's an environment where even good people get a little goofy, and things can go wrong quickly.

Another trick that I learned on this forum was to cut a hole in a 5 gallon bucket, and place a heat lamp over the top. Supposedly, the snakes will crawl into the bucket seeking warmth, and then you cover the hole once they are inside, and remove them.

It is if you don't like snakes.

Seriously, anything negative on the inspection report is grounds for the buyer to back out of the deal legally.

Get something in writing that they were rat snakes and not copperheads and that they have been removed and holes sealed up. Get that into the buyer's hands; yesterday wasn't soon enough.

A buyer is less likely to back out over non-poisonous snakes than over poisonous snakes inside the house.