My pond is new and about 1/2 acre and sits behind my house which is located "inside" the city limits. I noticed a snake in the pond today...I think it is a water moccassin. My wife is terrified of snakes, not that I'm fond of them myself. Since I'm not allowed to discharge a firearm inside city limits how can I get rid of the snake and is there anything I can do to try to discourage more snakes? Kids will be fishing all around the pond by this fall. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

RLewis,

One possibility is a fish trap. I have caught snakes in them that have drowned trying to eat the fish in the traps.

Another possibility is to just bug them to death. Snakes don't like to be disturbed and by throwing rocks or whatever every time he shows his head above water, you may drive it off.

A 22 pistol loaded with bird shot does not make much noise or carry very far. Probably not advisable but if I were desparate...

Your city may have an animal control unit that would dispatch the snake, but unlikely.

As for prevention, harassment is the only thing I can think of to suggest.

I have purchased some .22 ammo called the Super Calibri. It has no powder, is almost silent, and will shoot all the way through a coffeee can at 20 or so ft. I use them to shoot squirrels in town. No more noise than a pump up pellet gun. Their accuracy isn't up there with a shell having powder, but I suspect some of that is me.

Rlewis,

Believe me, many more people are hurt trying to kill snakes or needlessly running away from them than by being bitten. Best thing to do is leave them alone. They are part of the ecosystem.

During the first few months after digging my pond I had a snake in the pond about every other day. I harried them and harried them and I haven’t seen one in the pond in several months. They hid under everything. Gardening was a thrill a minute; I was lifting almost everything with a stick. I have since cleared almost all hiding spots and am careful with the areas that I could not clear.
Bobad is probably right about the accident ratio, but with a poisonous snake you only need to be wrong once. Your snake is probably not poisonous, but, with children involved, you might think about treating all snakes as you would a gun assume it's loaded, and teach your kids accordingly. I don’t know enough about them to be able to tell bad from good, even so, I try to urge them along rather than kill them. They really are an asset.

You might want to take a good look at that snake if you think it is a moccasin. I have seen many snakes (30+) in my pond over the past 5 years and have never seen a water moccasin, but it is amazing how if anyone else who comes over sees a snake it is ALWAYS a water moccasin
I am not a snake fan at all and am very cautious about what type of snakes I see. In my case a non posinous snake can still cause a heart attack!

I agree with bobad. The best thing to do is be careful and don't be foolish around ponds because there could always be a snake near it. Walk with your head down, use a walking stick in front of you and walk with heavy steps. The snake can't hear you, but it will fill your vibrations and try to escape the disturbance.

Try and learn to appreciate the animal. After all, one of the reasons people build ponds is to attract wildlife. Snakes are part of that wildlife and are actually rather entertaining to watch.

Get a book and understand what snakes you have and teach your kids about them. I find it wiser to teach kids to be careful and knowledgable about snakes, rather than training them to automatically react with a kill them mentallity.

If you do have poisonous snakes now, or in the future, then you would want to remove them. However, it is unlikely that's what you are seeing. It's very rare to come across a poisonous snake.

For ID purposes, poisonous snakes in the U.S. have cat like pupils in their eyes. They also have heat sensing pits in front of their eyes. Or, their coloring bands will tell you their poisonous. As for the mocassion, it will be rather short in comparison to its girth. They don't get very long, but they do get thick. When they swim, their entire body is on top of the water.

Like I suggested before, get a book and learn about them. It can be like birding, except you won't see near as many snakes as you do birds, which makes it more challenging and exciting.

Here's another rule of thumb I've adopted:

If an animal spends more time in a location than I do, I consider that location the animal's home. Meaning, I'm just a guest there and I should not be overly intrusive.

On the other hand, if you are in a specific location more than a particular animal, it is likely you won't have to perform a removal. That animal, if smart, will be gone before you can take drastic measures.

Jimmy, I understand and appreciate your thoughts. I feel the same way regarding nature in general. Nobody shoots anything for sport on my land.

However, in my pond, everything is there by my suffrage. I have Grandchildren around and no snakes are allowed unless they are green garden snakes. I just won't take a chance. I don't really mind the snakes but one that recently surprised me and caused a loss of a significant amount of dignity and a certain amount of skin. Damn, I hate that snake.

Dave,

I understand the extra worry when kids are around. It doesn't make you very at ease when you send the grandchildren out to play and you're worried about snakes.

However, you can't guarantee that you've cleared your entire land of all snakes. Therefore, I find it more beneficial to teach caution and tolerance with most snakes. Give the kids some knowledge about these creatures and they'll learn to stir clear of them. After all, tolerance is a good lesson for any kid!

When I was a kid, I was often in areas where snakes were living. I never once got bitten. I think with a few lessons about safety, adults, kids AND snakes can co-exist with harm to anyone.

It's true some people will never feel this way. They'd prefer to destroy something they don't understand and have been taught to fear. That's unfortunate!

I don't know if this works, but if you crush moth balls and spread them around your dock or where you walk. It contains the stuff that is in snake away they sell at home depot. I go to the dollar store and buy it buy the case. Be careful when you crush, I put in a burlap sack and run over it with my truck. Like I said, don't know if it works, but it makes my wife feel safe. I think 99% of snakes seen in my lake are just water snakes, that no more want any part of you, then you of them.
Bob

I really appreciate all the suggestions, you have all been a big help! I'll try to get a better look at it to see if I can make a positive I.D.

Jimmy, I don't want to kill them all and know I can't. I don't even mess with rattlesnakes unless they are around the house or water. I take my Gkids to see them so they will understand. However, if they are where I/we spend a lot of time, there is no real upside to their presence. The potential for loss outweighs the possible gain.

I hope they spend a bunch of their life in the natural world and see snakes as part of it. I've only been bitten once but had some close calls. Only a couple of "mean" rattlers that have actually come after me. I stepped on the snake that bit me and it was defending itself. However, I don't personally know of anyone else who has even been bitten.

Of course, none of this matters. Wife says clobber the poisonous snakes around the house and ponds. Yes Ma'am.

You know, I can imagine a rare situations where I would remove a poisonous snake. For example, if a cottonmouth were to become habituated to people, and I kept finding him close by my house. In that case, I would reluctantly remove the snake.

However, I would not even tell anyone I did it. I certainly would not brag about it, or let children make sport of it. If anyone kills any vertibrate on my land, they better be prepared to eat it.

I don't want to come off like a PITA. I'm not. I just root for the underdog. Snakes are the biggest underdog and must misunderstood critter I can think of.

I agree with you yet again bobad. Bragging about one's power over a snake is not very impressive. It's pretty clear to all involved, snake and human, that the human is just slightly more dominate.

I'm also in total agreement about the needed action when faced with the extremely rare aggressive and poisonous snake. There's no question that such a snake posses a danger. As for those other snakes in the majority, they're harmless.

Even if a non-poisonous snake bit you, what would it do? It would inflict about the same amount of damage as barbed wire would if you rubbed up against it. Come on! We're country people. We should be tough enough for that!

Yeah, but one of my best friends stands about 6'% and weighs in at maybe 375#...truck driver and all.

Man, I was rollin' onna porch laughin me arse off when he got bit by about the tiniest bull snake I've ever seen...and he was dancin' around and literally screamin' like a li'l girl!!!!!!!!!

5" snake hangin' onta his finger for dear life and him doin' a ballet! Thought he was going through the porch floor! Gawd...with a video Ida been rich!!!

Great story Matt! I have a pretty good one too.

My best friend and I were in high school at the time. We were searching for extra credit points from our biology teacher. Our biology teacher tells us that if we bring in a rat and feed a 10' boa that had been donated to the school, we'd get extra credit. We agreed and the two of us went in after baseball practice to feed the monster.

He comes out of his cage without much effort. We put the snake on the floor and put a barrier around him to keep him in place. We dropped dinner in with the snake and about 30 seconds into the introduction, WHAM! The boa has got the rat and is doing its thing. The snake works the rat into his mouth and begins to digest it.

We can't stay there all night and wait until the rat is at the snake's back end. So, we start negotiating the idea of picking it up and putting it back in the cage. This isn't something I'm as eager to do after seeing what the snake had just done to the rat! I don't know how I convinced my friend to be the head man, but I did.

My friend leans in for the quick grab, but the snake isn't ready to get up from the dinner table. He strikes his head around and latches on to my pal's hand! The two struggle for a few seconds before the snake lets loose.

To make a long story short, we spent another hour trying to get the snake put away. The following day, my friend brings in 5 teeth that were removed from his hand. I received 20 extra credit points, but my friend scores an extra 5 for the teeth!

Since I've been controversial all day (maybe all my life ), I agree with everyone!

Robinson,

You're lucky to have a dog that reacts to snakes that way. Many many dogs do not, and get injured or killed because of their reactions. They'll stick their noses in for a closer look and get bitten on the nose.

I've heard of people putting shock collars on their dog and placing a plastic snake on the floor in front of the dog. When the dog goes in for an inspection, the shock tells him that he shouldn't be investigating the creature.

For those with snakes and dogs, probably a smart tactic.

Get some rattlesnake rattles. Rattle them in the presence of a town raised, foofoo, house dog and watch the reaction. He will get nervous and back away. He won't do that with a baby rattle.

Meadowlark, don't you dare start agreeing with everyone and everything! We need you just the way you are!

Norm,

It's taken 59 years to get this crusty...no matter how hard I might try, that crust won't come off easy.

However, I'm doing better, or worse depending on your viewpoint.

I just read a Bill Cody post where he said that frozen fish tastes no different than fresh fish, even after 5 years. It took all of my will power and newly found "agreeability" to keep my mouth shut. That would be a laughable statement in these parts where our saltwater species do not freeze well at all.

If you did a survey of good fishermen here in Houston, I venture to say that 90%, maybe 95%, would say they do not like frozen fish vs fresh fish from our saltwaters....but I'm not saying anything, not saying anything, not saying anything.

'Lark, I'm proud of you. I learned years ago from my Uncle Mutt that nobody ought to argue with an old, retired guy. They have tons to say, decades of experience learning how to say it, all day long to talk, and no matter what they say, their retirement won't be affected.

Not that any of this applies to you, I'm talking about "older" guys.

Like Rad said, remove all hideing places for snakes. Keep grass cut short .. snakes don't like to be exposed & don't live long if they are.
They will either get eaten by other creatures or not come around if they can't hide.

I've been bitten by alot of snakes (non poisonous) mostly because I don't try not to. Snakes don't bother me. However I agree with Dave, I don't want any snakes around my pond. They eat alot of the same things my fish eat & I don't want the competition.
No offense to those who would leave the pond to the snakes but it's my pond, I made it & I get to decide what will live in it!
They are not endangered & have alot of places they can live. My pond is not one of them.

Theo,

I might have missed that class on how to say it, but I will say I wish you were within visiting distance because I would enjoy the heck out of chewing the fat with you...that's a Texas expression, again reflecting that I missed that class.

I let just about everything except mosquitos go. But, today I was using my weed cutter which apparently doesn't share the same feelings. I was well into my second hour of cutting weeds when I saw a mess of red and yellow mixed with the expected green stuff. I found half of a green snake, tail, have no idea what happened to the head part. We have 2 green snakes here that resemble each other, one is poisonous the other stays alive looking like the poisonous one. I don't know which this one was.
Windy way of getting to the point, but to tell a man, with children, who lives in a city with a pond in his backyard that it is ok to let poisonous snakes be, is not prudent. If little Jimmy next door liked to play with firearms would you let him come to your house and play with your children, of course not. I do get the point, everything has a place in this world and for the most part I agree. But with a poisonous snake you may only get one mistake and with those odds who is more important the child or the snake?.

Exchange "anything dangerous" for "poisonous snake", and perhaps you see the irrationality of that statement.

In my small town, every year I read of at least 1 death by drowning, 1 by bicycle, 4 by automobile, .5 by fire, 1 by tractor, .5 by lightning, .5 by firearms, etc. In 33 years, I have never read of a single death by snake in my town... or my entire Parish (County) for that matter. Your situation may be different!

Nothing in this world is more important to us than our children. Yet life goes on. We still drive, ride, mow, swim, fish, shoot, and do all those activities that are less than 100% safe. If I thought it would help keep my children safe, I would kill every snake I saw. The facts and statistics do not support that at all. The snake you see never bites you. It's the snake you do not see that bites you. Therefore it makes sense to kill the snake you can not see, and leave the innocent one you can see alone.

I am not scorning or belittling people who fear snakes. I understand the irrational fear of snakes. My own wife is a victim, and is incurable. The point I would like to make is that it does far more harm than good to kill any snake. That's all.

Our instincts work just great. Snakes instinctively fear you, you instinctively fear snakes. That works wonderfully to keep you apart, except for that rare unseen snake hidden under something that you step on or uncover suddenly.

We used to have a plant in Vicksburg, MS that I spent 6 weeks at one summer, in the middle of an oil spill cleanup.

We had rubber fines that followed a small ditch all the way to a Mississippi bayou, and so we (along with a MDEQ guy and a consultant) made many trips down a footpath to the river...about 1/2 mile.

I had never seen a true cottonmouth and the old guy that ran the plant decided to show me one. On the next walk, he simply stepped to an old log and reached behind it with his brush cutter and picked up what looked like a 10 year old kid's leg...only it was black and highly pi**ed off. He told me I'd walked right past it on every trip. It lived right there...and this was about the dozenth time I'd been down that path. He asked me if I thought he carried that cutter to actually cut brush???

JEEEEZUS!!! I kept my eyes on the ground ALL the time after that...

I've been bitten more times by a #2 hook than I have any snake.

Never been snake-bit either...just thought I'd relay a story that gave me shivers!!!!

I know what you mean about the unerving and unsettling appearance of an adult cottonmouth! I saw one one time from an aerial perspective, as I was looking down from a small bridge that went over a creek.

It was instantly clear that this was a cottonmouth, even from 15 yards away. The body on that rascal was about as thick as a liter of soda. They are very intimidating and I'm glad a don't see them often!

Bobad,
It would stand to reason there would be more snakes if no one killed them. Then it would also follow there would be more human - snake encounters.
Snake bites are somewhat infrequent but 4000 to 7000 are reported each year in the US. The site below states most go unreported: http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic2143.htm

I have to agree with Rad here: There are lots of snakes. They certainly aren’t in danger of extinction.
I could never forgive myself if one of my granddaughters had to suffer from or died from a poisonous snake bite if I knew the snake was in the area & did nothing to remove it.

As I said, I built this pond & therefore by default obviously don’t believe in letting nature make all the decisions.

Rick, it may stand to reason that there would be many more snakes if no one killed them, but in fact that is not the case. Hard to believe isn't it? If you read the posts about genetics, you will notice that species under stress (killing) respond by not getting as big AND REPRODUCING MORE! It really does happen. Not with big, slow reproducing species like elephants but the population increases dramatically with small species that have lots of babies. Because of hunting, the population is younger with more reproducing individuals and the young have more food available to them. Remember, most snakes are small fast breeders and not large slow breeders like cattle.

Rick,

How about your car? Bikes? Roller skates? How about those dangerous ponds, in which 100's of kids drown annually? Will you eliminate those too? Odds of drowning far exceed being bitten by a poisonous snake. In the highly unlikely event one is bitten by a poisonous snake, actually dying from the bite is exceedingly rare. 4 deaths per year per 300 million population is a vanishingly small number.

My kids are just as dear to me as yours are to you. That's why I carefully teach them all about dangers, including snakes. I think educated kids are much safer than little kill bots running around hacking animals to death. (I should know, I was 1 of them!)

Remember what I said. The moccasin you can't see will bite you if you step on it. The one you occasionally see swimming in your pond is totally harmless. I much prefer them where I can see them!

Strange thing about the human male....if we can't eat it or drink it or copulate with it we want to kill it.

Bobad,
I think most of us agree with most of what you are saying and, again I think, it was the statement that you would rarely remove the poisonous snake etc that sparked the debate. The ”harmless” water moccasin and the one you step on are the same snake. Teaching your kids about snakes is good, but the one they can’t see or don’t know about is the one that could create a problem for them also. Many of the children who drown in swimming pools were also educated on water safety, but, most were probably to young to understand. Were it me in your situation I would move the poisonous snake along at first sight. I think a poisonous snake in my backyard would put me closer to being one of 4 in 3million than if I shooed him away or shot him.
Norm,
Where I am what you say is probably true, except that here they still have time and space to grow large. A 12 foot King Cobra is an awesome sight. But, in Los Angeles Rick is right , too many people, too much asphalt and concrete, noise and pollution. I lived in a relatively rural area in Los Angeles County and saw 2 snakes in 10 years, yet growing up in the same area I could find snakes almost any time I wanted. Like Bobad says misunderstood and to often killed irrationally. Like sharks, misunderstood and maligned. Soon both will only be captivity in the US. I read a crazy thing the other day, there are more tigers in the US than in all of the rest of the world put together.

Rad,

Not 4 in 3 million. 4 in 300 million!

More people die in the US from strangling on broccoli than from shakebite, yet we still grow that wonderful tasting veggie.

The snake you shoo away will go hide, and is easier to step on.

I will eliminate every hidy-hole possible, and keep the grass short around my pond. I believe in protecting animals, but I'm not a fool.

Does everyone notice that we have moved from "kill them all" to "there is a time and place for everything". I can't think of anything this Pond Boss forum has done that is more important than this. Not only with snakes but we are in the process of doing this with so many other issues. This wouldn't be possible unless all of us with vastly different backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints didn't come here and talk about these things.

I sure agree with that and I hope we didn't run RLewis off, poor guy just asked what must have seemed a simple question.

Robinson, I get your point. I have a friend who is Hindu. Doesn't eat meat and doesn't believe in killing anything. Nice guy. And then he had a termite problem in his house. As he said, "I didn't even think of praying for forgiverness. Just had them murdered."

Just my two cents on this, but being a person who has had a few nasty run ins with snakes and have a very healthy respect for those critters, I can truly say that in my eco system there is not a need or a place for them. If they want to survive in other places where folks don’t mind them being around, then I say go for it. But around my pond and kids and animals I just don’t want them or need them. I have other critters that eat the same things the snakes do and keep the eco system in balance the same way a snake would. If you don’t think that an eco system can be in balance without snakes then I suggest you look at New Zealand. I am one that sticks up for all life forms and my wife yells at me for escorting flys out of the house rather than swatting them, but in my yard and around my pond I will not take chances or be annoyed by snakes. They must go. ( If you want to come over and move them then go for it I say ) I am just grateful that the Bald Eagles, Hawks and Owls in my woods kill the snakes that do come in so that I don’t have to. ( I know you will say that without the snakes I may not have all of the birds, but they have tons of other things to eat like the moles and rabbits and such and the snakes they kill just as a favor to me )

I know that this may not be a popular stance but hey diversity is good as long as it doesn’t include snakes!!!! And there was my two cents worth.

Excellent, P.I., simply excellent.

I'm with you too, PI. My mother , who is old and is diabetic, woke up with a recluse biting her leg. One year later, she is still going to wound specialist with a rotting leg. So much for save the planet, how about save yourself. Man and animal were never intended to co-habitate. In such circumstances, one must be extinguished.

Burger, not so PC(politically correct)

Robinson PI, Dave, and Eric,

I have nothing against killing animals per se.

It's OK for man to kill snakes or any other critters... for a good reason.

Unfortunately, ignorance is seldom a good reason.

Bobad, It is usually the ignorant that calls someone ignorant. I did not say I could or would kill any snake but truth is I am glad I dont have to because mother nature is taking care of that for me. You do not know the circumstances that each individual here has gone through with snakes and as such you need to be more careful as to what and how you phrase things.

The truth here is all I have said is that there are eco systems that do not require snakes to keep balance. Also a fact is that all eco systems change and dominant species cause other species to go extinct, only in time to follow that path as well.

So please please please do not preach to others about the virtues of snakes while saying that those who do not agree with you are ignorant. Some of us have had some very different experiences with them and as such have our own biases against them.

Thus for your sake and those of us here who don't want you to look bad coming out of this, please think twice about who you call ignorant. You may be talking to people that have their Doctorates in varied fields and or have much more experience than you in many ways in many areas. ( Just to let you know I have run a wildlife sanctuary for many many years and have had my animal rehabilitation permit as well. I am well in tune with wildlife conservation. )

It is always a safe bet to not belittle those who have different viewpoints from yourself because when you do you expose yourself for who you really are.

That said it is nice to hear varied viewpoints and as such I do value yours but not when it crosses the line into something you clearly know nothing about.

Well guys, I know something about being told I know nothing.

It isn't much fun, either.

Let's discuss ideas freely without rancor...or you will have to change your signature like me

Whoa, you guys get way to wound up in your underwear over terminology, nuance, inflection or what ever it’s called. who said what and who can say what. In most social circles where we were in a face to face situation those “rules” probably would apply, because it is PC, not PI, Robinson if you can be why can’t Bobad, I don’t agree with his ideas re: snakes any more than you do. But so what who am I? This is a faceless forum and I am protected from all physical harm from any who disagree with me. That protection allows me to say much more about my feelings than if we were looking at each other, sad but true. But on the other hand I don’t want to be ostracized by this group so I must obey some modicum of civility. Bobad and I are both new members and as such are young, ignorant and learning and we hope you will cut us some slack. We are not the only ones who are struggling with our “feelings” look at the Greg/Meadowlark posts, neither new, young, nor ignorant. “ Can’t we all just get along?” Rodney King. Oh, and Bobad, what if you told your wife her irrational attitude towards snakes was ignorant, where would you be sleeping tonight. Wow, now there is a cut. Not, personal, just trying to end this thread.

Amen to that!!!

Eric, you need to calm down and re-read my last post. I didn't call you ignorant. If I ever do, you will have no doubt. I will say it like this: "Eric, you are ignorant about so-and-so".

The word "Ignorance" is a much misunderstood term. It is not really even a derigatory term. It simply means "unknowing". Unless you have a badly inflated ego, not knowing something is no disgrace at all.

In my life, I have seen a lot of acts committed out of ignorance. Of perhaps 100 snakes I have seen killed (many by me!), perhaps only 1 or 2 were killed for a purpose. The rest were killed for no good reason other than "It's a snake. What do you do with snakes except kill them?"

I have great faith in human intelligence and judgment, when it's exercised. Go ahead, Eric and the rest of you. Kill all the snakes you want to kill. Just be sure you think a minute, and have a rational reason to do so. As long as you think it through and don't do an irrational knee-jerk extermination, I trust you will be confident you are doing the right thing.

<---- Taking the High ground. Leaving discussion and keeping my mouth shut.

Eric,

The high ground is usually good except when it comes to ponds

Remember the country song? To paraphrase..."you've got friends in low places".

Stay with it!

There is one species in this country that kills and injures more people than all the rest combined. You might say that it is other people, mosquitos, ticks or something like that and you might be right. So let's exclude all of those things. It can only be fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds or mammals but excluding people. What species is it? Your guesses please and then stay tuned for the answer.

Deaths resulting from people hitting deer would be pretty near the top I'd imagine.Over 200 people killed and 1 billion plus $ in damage in 2003.

If Norm's excluding Homo Sapiens, I'd guess managers (bad week at work).

Seriously: I'll go with "dogs".

I guess I should have asked if it was due to direct or indirect action of the animal in question. Don't let em grind you down Theo- it's Friday.

Norm,

Would it be horses? I know I hear about an awful lot of injuries.

If not horses, it must be dogs.

We can't forget hippo's; in Africa at least.

Eric,

Your private e-mail attack was not funny and not appriciated. Making nice in public and sending foul-mouthed flames back-channel is disingenuous. I just filtered you out, so any further attempts will not reach my mailbox. I believe in keeping things civil. You should consider doing the same.

<--- Still on High road - Not stooping to lower levels and spreading lies like some people here. But leaving forum due to people like this. I bid you all a great life and it has been fun learning from you all. Bye!!!

Let's all just take it easy for a moment. Bobad, Eric may have sent you a private email, or he may not have (someone else could have easily sent one posing as Eric). None of the rest of us will ever know.

Eric, it's hard to stay away from this great forum. Please don't exclude yourself.

I found this site back in Sept. '03. Man it's been so great. Tomorrow, Lusk is coming with me to my pond.

I'm not sure if I should bring some beers or not as it's going to be in the early AM.

I posted this to provide a little relief to the seriousness of this thread. Eric, you nailed it on the first try! In our state, more accidents are caused by people hitting deer than any other cause including DUI's, speeding and anything else you can think of.

I'm sorry Chip, you're the one that nailed it! The sun melted my brain today. Forgive me.

Thanks for the brain teaser Norm,
I always love seeing deer around the pond and put out apples,corn and salt for them. They even go out on the ice to drink around the aerator's hole in the winter. I'm glad we don't have any problems with snakes this far north but I think that unless a poisonous snake is ID'd that limiting their habitat by mowing and clearing is the best alternative to killing them all.In the case of a poisonous snake with my kids or loved ones nearby it would be a no-brainer.The King Snake suggestion might work as well. Once,back in Georgia, as I was getting out of the shower,one cruised across the floor of the old mill village house I was living in at the time; needless to say, I tore down the shower curtain and d n near had a heart attack trying to get away from it.
Chip