2

This morning we found a snake in our front yard, this is the first time in 5-6 years that we've ever seen one in our yard. The next door neighbor did sell his home to someone who is rebuilding it. So it could be related to the fact the next door house was demolished, or who knows, maybe some genius kid forgot to close his snake's cage.

What to do in this kind of situation? Do you just kill it and hope for the best that there aren't others? Call a special spraying service?

For all I know there could be layer eggs in the area.

4
  • 5
    Why do you want to get rid of the snake? Unless it's poisonous, snakes are a benefit to the local ecology. They help control rodent populations, for starters. I'll take snakes over rats/mice any day Jun 9, 2014 at 13:13
  • 5
    Non-venomous snakes are not pests, they eat pests. The Modern Kill-It-All movement causes more problems than it prevents. Unreasonable fears of snakes has its own reward. Like killing cats in the Medieval ages allowed for Plague carrying rodents to multiply because you thought cats were familiars of the devil. Jun 9, 2014 at 13:58
  • Similar question on Gardening & Landscaping: gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/9921/…
    – Niall C.
    Jun 9, 2014 at 14:05
  • Snakes are native to most parts (all?) of the US. Most of them are harmless-to-useful. Unless you know it's seriously poisonous AND you have kids whom you can't train to leave the poor beasts alone, the best answer is to accept that we are living in their territory and learn to appreciate them. (I've got Little Brown Snakes in my yard. I wish I saw them more often; they're cute.)
    – keshlam
    Jun 9, 2014 at 17:49

1 Answer 1

5

The best advice I can give is to do some research on the type of snake it is. Is it native? Is it venomous? What does it eat? Where does it like to live? And then you get rid of the types of things it likes to live around. Most snakes that live around people are harmless and pose no risk to health or property. Usually they are doing quite a bit of good by eating garden pests like bugs and slugs.

That said, getting a cat is usually a good way to keep small animals away, unfortunately, they keep the native birds away too.

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.