I live in Florida. When a snake gets in shed or garage and is hard to locate ,spray bug spray around and under everything .They use their tounge to smell,when they get a taste of the spray they will move out.Works for me. Gets rid of the black widows and brown recluse also,Dont know about alligators. You can spred moth balls that will keep them out.My wfe read about moth balls and spred about 2 pounds,whole house ,garage and most of property smelled like moth balls. Mercy!
Another vote for the cat. I have two acres and we used to find snakes at least once a month. We have two fixed outdoor cats, and now we have no wildlife at all. They have either eaten or run off most of the birds, mice, snakes, squirrels,roadrunners, cotton tails, and anything else that crawls, slithers or flys.
cats are a good idea, unfortunately cats and these three don't get along, they think cats are tasty. We do have neighborhood cats, that take dumps on our backyard and taunt our rots when they are inside, so they have kept the rodent population down for sure. I going to take your advise on the food out of the garage, do the lime thing and keep things off the ground as much as possible. Oh yeah, as you know in Texas we keep shotguns in every room of the house for safety purposes, well at least i do,. so I'll just move my long barrel from the garage and replace it with the short barrel, pistol grip rattler silencer.
Statistically speaking a well fed house/barn cat has a 95% success rate. A well fed cat will be content to sit for hours waiting for a creepy crawly to stick its head out, an underfeed cat will lose patients and move on to greener pastures. Underfeeding will also encourage the cat to move over to the nieghbors house cause she puts food out all the time! Yes, we have a couple house cats, and we like when mice come to visit.
My uncle in MO has problems with Copperheads and Water Mocasins...He got 5 cats all grey...all named Squirel....they take care of the snakes...His dog...Diogee takes care of the snappin' turtles...never ever seen something other then a truck or a .45 slug shatter a turtle shell.
I like the bug spray idea and I'm gonna spray the car barn tonight. For some reason I cannot get over my fear of snakes. The gator in the pond is no problem as long as I keep the dog away it.
My Rott is not a fan of cats either...well niether is the yorky.. Oh...A great gun to look for if you want a small shotgun...Taurus Judge .45/410 3 inch barrel...wicked.
Snakes don't like the smell of napthlene. Spread around mothballs. And yes it does work. I know first hand. Lived in AZ, and my parents live in florida, where my dad has a pic of a "nest" of rattlers about a half mile from their house. They had a few when they moved in down there, spread the moth balls and never saw one again.
Yeah thats a Maine Coon, he's just under 30 pounds, we have 4. Here's the others, and no we dont need electric blankets either sorry for the derail,,, now back to the regularly scheduled programming
As long as this is a (O/T) subject of discussion, I'll throw-in my 2 buzz-kill cents. Make damn sure the snake is DEAD before handling it. I get called to the ER all the time to see patients who have been envenomated well after decapitating the snake with a shovel. Rattlesnake heads are "active" for up to 60 minutes and will bite the handler via a reflex, typically with a total envenomation (empty the venom sack completely). These types of bites seen ER's are frequent, and sometimes lethal. (I only get called when someone is sick as shit and trying to die from the coagulation disorder that ensues). Doctor Destructo's free advice: Smash the F*&% out of the snake's head after you cut it off with the shovel, then USE THE SHOVEL to get rid of the sucka.
Most snakes that are venomous can and do bite after being decapitated. The first patient I ever lost was that way, funny its something I still remember that so well. Dangerous snakes are a fact of life here, just be thankful the worst you have is just the rattler!!
You know, I never though I had any phobias, but I get a really weird feeling when I am around a snake, especially when i hear a rattler, I get super nervous, scared even, and really sluggish, almost sleepy, I try not to think about it, don't get me wrong I'll still smack em, I have killed several in the past, don't touch em, cause I know the head stays alive. Don't want to be afraid of them, the last thing I need is to freeze and not be able to take care of the problem. I am going to seriously consider getting a cat.
With kids around you really do have to worry.They goof into everything. I like animals even though wasps(yellow jackets) and snakes play dirty. Stater fluid or carb cleaner runs them off. (The wasps and snakes,you can't gas the kids?) Hey Doc Watson, Do you have those "brown" snakes and mean-assed ants where you live? Damned aggressive things? Saw a documentary on them and they aren't the kind of neighbors I want around.
but really a couple large, angry cats will do. make sure they are NOT friendly cats or they will get scared when they get bit. and habving two is a good idea considering the first one may not get the snake before the snake gets him
I've found the cat for you. It weighs 44 lbs. and is looking for a new home apparently. The story was in the New York Post yesterday. I wonder if they would ship her priority mail?
We don't have any diamond back snakes, mostly just garders and blacks with an occasional copper head thrown in for good measure. I like looking at them in a zoo, but don't want to ever see a live one within 30 feet of me without some type of barrier between us. Got the beegeezus scared out of me when I was a kid by a big old black snake who crawled up next to me one rainy day when I sitting on our porch. I've hated them ever since. My mom used to whack their heads off with a shovel and throw their bodies over a fence so that it would rain. I always thought that was an "old wives tale" until it happened several times.
My granddad limped for the last 35 years of his life becuase of a rattle snake. Becareful of the little ones because they are much more venimous than the older ones
Outdoor cars are great. Ours just died a few months ago, and I really miss that little guy. I'm a dog person & never was really into cats, but Kitty pretty much won me over. My American Bulldog (Dinky) was pretty much intolerant of Kitty, but he knew to steer clear whenever Dinky hit the yard so there wasn't much fuss.
Doc, I think I read or saw a show about snake bites and the medical treatment was off the charts STUPID money to cure with the anti venom. If you can't state a dollar amount would 2-3 finished '32 3Windows equil the cost?
Rattlesnakes don't travel or live in groups. Solitary animals. Cats keep rodents away, hence nothing for Mr. Snake to eat. Another alternative would be a pot-bellied pig. They eat snakes. So do Peacocks. Personally, I'd go with the pig. They're trainable and some people actually have them as house pets (I wouldn't, pig poop stinks).
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