Janice in NJ Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Can someone offer me some advice? My dad has a shop with a cement floor. A family of garder snakes has taken up residence under the cement floor. Outside we can see them hanging out in the space between the floor and the cement pad. Right now this is an all-outdoors thing so it's not been a horrible issue. My dad generally has a "If you want to live in the country, don't harass the wildlife" philosophy. But it looks like this gang of harmless folk are going to have to find someplace else to live. He likes to leave the big doors open when he can but has had to keep them shut in order to keep his tenants from wandering into the shop. Any advice on how to encourage the group to evacuate and find other residence? The gal at the hardware store suggested moth balls but said that they are only effective in keeping the snakes out. If we sprinkle them down into the crack between the pad and the floor and one or two of the snakes are still in there, I'm wondering what they will do. Die? Yuk! Smelly. I've googled a bit but can't tell which products are good and which products are designed to make you feel like you are doing something when you're really just sprinkling your money around on the lawn. How do I get them to LEAVE and not come back? What works? Thanks for your help! I figured I'd ask the hive because you guys are the best at this practical life stuff! :001_smile: Thanks! Janice Enjoy your little people Enjoy your journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise in Florida Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 I would just leave them alone. They are harmless and provide pest control. I grew up in Arizona and my mother always encouraged lizards to live in the garage and porch area. One year we had one live in the dining room. It was an older house with lots of carpentry nooks and crevices (I don't know the official terms but they were a pain to clean and always attracted bugs and spiders). The lizard was quiet and kept the insects down. I live in Florida now and wish pest control were still that easy. :001_smile: Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam Wilhelm Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Are there snakes in the den now? I know that Garter Snakes are communal during the colder months and will den up...... but when spring comes they come out, mate, and then go on about their business until temperatures drop and they all come back to the den. If that is indeed the case then you should be able to block off the opening to the den and then spread some snake repellent around the shop to discourage them from coming back. Have you seen snakes around the shop lately? Keep in mind though........... get rid of the snakes and you will be dealing with their prey foods next. How well do you like mice in the shop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 I'd rather have garter snakes than mice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingM Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 (edited) Garter snakes are perfectly harmless, but you could always pick them up, stuff them into a pillow case and relocate them a couple of miles away. Be aware that garter snakes often void their cloaca when alarmed, so this could be a messy operation. ETA: garter snakes are not great mousers due to their modest size and that they are neither constrictors nor venemous. They usually eat only young mice. The best rodent control in your area would be corn snakes, pine snakes, and other constrictors. Having said that, the mice will smell the snakes and relocate their nests. Edited July 5, 2009 by KingM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 I'd rather have garter snakes than mice. :iagree: Me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gr8tcook Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 around here people say moth balls work...or relocating...but really they are good pest control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gr8tcook Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 The moth balls placed around the doors will keep them from coming in to the shop but won't kill them...it is a deterant because they don't like them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaird Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 I wish we had garder snakes. Instead, we have copperheads in our yard! We have killed 2 and just saw another one on July 4th. Unfortunately, it disappeared before we could get it. Any suggestions on what to do about poisonous snakes? I don't care if they are good for pest control, or not. They must go! My kids and pets play in our yard and it is really starting to scare me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peek a Boo Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 I wish we had garder snakes. Instead, we have copperheads in our yard! We have killed 2 and just saw another one on July 4th. Unfortunately, it disappeared before we could get it. Any suggestions on what to do about poisonous snakes? I don't care if they are good for pest control, or not. They must go! My kids and pets play in our yard and it is really starting to scare me. we have these too. The best way to get rid of copperheads is to make their environment ineffective for their coloring: keep the grass short and all leaves raked up. Most venomous snakes will leave you alone. More people are bitten by trying to kill or catch the snake than by walking away. teach the kids to be aware of their surroundings and leave the snakes alone. you could introduce kingsnakes, milk snakes, and racers since they have been known to eat consume copperheads, but your best course of action is to realize that only 0.01% of copperhead bites are fatal. http://biology.uta.edu/herpetology/copperheads.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtroad Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 They are more help than hurt. They aren't poisonous and help eat pests. Unless you begin to get a "pit" of them... let them be. Some will move on for search of food. We get a few each year. Cat keeps them away from the house, but we find htem in the grass, etc. Your Dad is smart guy! ;) Cottonmouth or rattler.... whole 'nuther can of worms! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lllll Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 We had garter snakes when we lived in NH. They lived in the rock fences, which were everywhere. They never bothered me and the kids liked to catch them and play with them. Not sure how you'd get rid of those, unless you sit and catch them and take them far away. Our dc used to keep them in buckets with a lid of some kind. You could haul them in that. We've also had the occassional corn snake get into the house. Those are easy to catch. The dc take them away from the house and let them go. But the copperheads, however, did bother me. When a crew came through and cleared under the power lines last summer, we killed 4 adult copperheads right outside our house - as in trying to get in via the slider or right beside the house. Must have stirred them up out in the woods and they found their way to the mice and rodents which eat the birdseed around the bottom of our birdfeeders. We even found a baby one early last spring. The chickens had already killed that one. Haven't seen any since. Dh or dc usually chop their heads off with a shovel or something similar, and toss the parts down the hill behind our house. Too easy to step on one of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 I wish we had garder snakes. Instead, we have copperheads in our yard! We have killed 2 and just saw another one on July 4th. Unfortunately, it disappeared before we could get it. Any suggestions on what to do about poisonous snakes? I don't care if they are good for pest control, or not. They must go! My kids and pets play in our yard and it is really starting to scare me. I don't know of a way to get rid of copperheads other than manually whacking them as you see them. However, that doesn't mean there aren't any. They are impossible to see if you have dead leaves on the ground though--one of my ds's stepped on one (it didn't bite him, but he felt its body under his foot). He came and got me, showed me where it was, and I told him there wasn't a snake there. Then he poked the ground with a stick and suddenly, right where I was looking, the "ground" slithered forward a bit. That's how well camoflaged they are. Bites seem more prevalent in the fall when they are traveling to find a den. Also, don't walk around at dusk or night without a flashlight. With the exception of the one ds stepped on, which was lying around in the middle of the day, all the ones we have seen or which have struck at someone in our family (dh on the pants leg while flipping a switch in our electric box at night--me when I was walking down the drive and a few feet away from it) were dusk or night. The one thing I like about cold weather is that I know the copperheads are all sleeping somewhere! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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