Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Say Hello to My Little Friend

The past few weeks I have been seeing a lot of snakes around my pond. I've determined they are all Common Watersnakes Nerodia sipedon sipedon . I actually got a shot albeit a poor one of this guy today on my cell phone. He's been hanging out by one of my feeding spots this week. So I was looking for him when I got there yesterday. Impressive how well they can swim above/below the water.

I would guess I have 5 or 6 of these guys from 2-4' long around my .75 acre pond. Has anyone dealt with these guys before and should I be concerned about them? Reading on the web I did find that fish are part of their diet, but I don't have a feel for what kind of damage they can do.

It'll be interesting to see what the experts say. I doubt they will eat enough to make much of a difference. Although non-venomous they will bite and HARD. I found this out the hard way once. Now I leave 'em alone.

BB,

I certainly agree with Jeff. Leave them alone, unless you are on a destruction mission.

I normally leave most snakes alone, or I relocate them. I don't know if it is just a local name, but the snakes we have are called Northern Water Snakes. They look about the same as yours. The can get huge. Probably the largest one I've seen was about 5-feet long. However, even when they are tiny, they have real bad attitudes towards humans. They don't brush their teeth, so they have lots of nasty stuff in their mouths to cause bad infections.

This little juvenile water snake was quite tiny. He ambushed me at the basement door one morning. As small as he was, he actually had the audacity to strike at my pants leg. That quickly turned him into a two pieces snake.



Good luck,
Ken

I saw one of those guys from the top picture about 1' long carry off a dead 3" bluegill at a local lake the other day. The snake's head was smaller than the tip of my index finger. I wish I could have seen him swallow that BG and what he looked like afterward.

I think ours are more gray/brown than the lower picture. You should see them at Indian lake during breeding season...thousands piled on top of each other in a slithering orgy on rocky banks.

Not sure about the girls in WV but the snakes are sure purttier. I guess I'm weird but that is a cool looking snake. Dog killed a big 4.5 foot long northern water snake on saturday in my pond. Caught him and one head thrash brok him in two pieces. got the video on my cell phone. Wyatt (3 yrs old) enjoyed the show when I asked him where did he come from he said " daddy you know they come from the jungle", gotta love what kids say.

Greg, can ya post that? Like to see nature in the working. Does your dog get after everything that comes on his turf? My mutt tolerates no kritters and in five yrs has'nt figured out to leave the skunks alone.

My God Greg you've got to feed your dog!

My favorite species: Two pieces snake.

Do have a Florida 6 foot Eastern Diamondback snake skin I tanned and put on the taxidermy studio wall. Really cool looking patterns on the skin.

Agree the water snakes have a bad attitude. Most of the cotton mouth tales of woe are actually Northern water snakes.
I accidently killed(yea) 3 by drowning when they got in my minnow trap last fall. Havent seen any snakes this year. Maybe the Blue Crane is doing some good. I will let him live,(for now).

Greg, you gotta love the wisdom of the little ones. Cant forget the Wr of the little guy. "Greg, He is not a toy". classic.

GBH love water snakes... I found a dead water snake a couple years ago, he attempted to eat a 6" long brown bullhead but those spines proves to be his undoing. He was floating on the bank with the bullhead still partially sticking out of his mouth. Other than them being nasty in attitude, it is mostly bark and not bite. I doubt they eat many fish you'd really care about.

I like snakes & have been bitten many times by the Northern Banded Water Snake & Black Racers. I would pretty much gaurantee unless you hold his head you WILL get bitten unlike more docile snakes I've handled. But I don't want them in my pond. They don't grow big by not eating & I'd rather that weight & length was on my fish. I've found small fish, tadpoles, frogs, crawfish & bugs in the ones I dispatch.

Thanks for the responses and input guys I think my next step is trying to get rid of these things. Where the hell is my GBH when I need him?

CJB do you know if Horned Owls and Red-Tail Hawks eat these things as well? The back of the property is wetlands and littered with both of them as well as GBH, I imagine at some point they'll get wise to the snakes while they're catching some rays by the pond.

Ric are you actually going Crocodile Hunter style and trapping these guys by hand?

We have quite a few water snakes and no one has gotten bitten except my son when he catches them. He's a lot faster now, so has not been bitten in a few years. He now knows that water snakes make poor pets. If your snakes are non-poisonous, they will do more good than harm. They'll try to eat pretty large dead fish, but mostly only bother with small live fish (minnows) which they catch in the shallows while they sleep. If you have any problems with trespassers, a sign declaring "Keep Out - Dangerous Snakes" will do the trick. Its most effective written sloppily in red dripping letters!

I know hawks eat snakes as I have seen it first hand, now whether owls do or not I am not sure... I suspect it's certainly possible though.

Owls and hawks both eat snakes.

I shot this photo a few years ago in upstate New York. I thought great blue herons ate snakes, but actually got to see it firsthand.

We live in Texas, and every time I see a water snake, I shoot it. They eat my fish, scare my wife and grandchildren. I'll quickly leave non-poisionous terrestrial snakes alone or relocate them, but since our house sits within 50 feet of our pond, snakes gotta go. Plus, I have several hatchery ponds and our watersnakes can eat lots of baby bluegill, bass, etc. I won't let them stay here.

Burger you nailed it water snaeks agressvie cotton mouth docile. You gotta understand working on so many lakes in ATL burbs they all call them water moccasin cotton mouths, so frustrating. I've learned to just work around and enjoy watching them.

Cecil you would think I need to feed him but he loves to chase snakes.

The dang video was on my blkbry and found out if over 3 mins it will not email to my computer. I do have the second 30 sec video on my computer now with my other dog eating the front half and Wyatt making jungle comment. No great but get me your email and I will flip it to you.

Bruger The kids are so much fun, last night he caught a small baby toad, wyatt puts it in with his slider turtles they chased it down and ate it, wyatt said cool, daddy he likes that more than mcdonalds.

B B I'll catch them any way I can. I get bit because I don't try not to. It's just fun to play with them & see if you're fast enough to avoid the strike. Once you've been bitten several times it's no big deal. They can't hurt you with the bite.
Snakes can have some bad bacteria in their mouths though. So I'm not advocating you let them bite you. I've never had an infection from a bite but I must have a strong immune system cause I never get infections from anything.

Greg, Wyatt sounds like a blast! It gets even better when they reach about 8.

My vote is with Bob's point of view on snakes.

well, I've just never been able to figure why folks kill snakes they find out in the wilds. Maybe some folks don't consider their ponds as being part of the wilds but I wouldn't kill a snake if it was in my house unless there was absolutely no other way.

I'm not a zealot or super-purist about this - I had a friend who had to kill a timber rattler because it just wouldn't stay out of his garden. I couldn't blame him. He has always had snakes visit his garden and he usually lets them be but the rattler just couldn't be allowed to stay because it was just too dangerous to his wife and his dogs.

I always look out for snakes and I wear 18" snake proof boots around my pond. I don't want to be bitten by any snake (I don't want to be bitten by a chipmunk, either!) but, they've been at my pond a lot longer than I have and I figure that I'm in "their house" when I go out there so...it's rude to kill any animal out there without any real reason or purpose. I do draw the line at ticks though - every man's got his breaking point.

I used to have a reptile fascination, and would catch and study every snake, lizard, turtle, etc. that I came across. Been bitten hundreds of times, never made a sore. They're welcome around my pond in small numbers, even water snakes. I will never kill them without a very good reason. Problem is, I presently have a good reason, because I have too many of them. I've killed 3 in the last month, and need to shoot about 10 more. If I could catch them, I would relocate them, but they're too alert and quick. I do have a few king snakes, and I'm sure they are chowing down on the water snakes. If not for them (and birds) I guess I would be over run.

I've fished ponds and lakes where people throw small BG up on the banks, and the watersnakes get too friendly. On more than 1 occasion I caught at least a dozen and threw them as far as I could. They never came back, I guess it made them dizzy. I'm glad mine are shy.

Bob that's a sweet picture...it pays to be at the right place at the right time, but I guess there's no wrong time to be at a pond.

I normally don't kill or injur anything intentionally unless I have to or to feed me or my family. However the snakes present a new kind of problem as my 2.5 year old daughter loves to feed the fish with me. Of course she has an attention span of a gnat so I let her walk around with the dog while I'm tossing pellets. I'm afraid she is going to stumble across one of these snakes and get bitten. Normally animals are scared of people, but a lot of times children illicit different reactions becuase of their size.

A bad experience now may hamper her enjoyment of the outdoors for years to come. To be honest it would be terrible if I couldn't enjoy and experience the outdoors with my children. So I think I am going to try to catch and relocate some of these snakes or at least harass them enough that they'll do it for me.

Ric, I'm now convinced that you don't have a lick of sense. I suspected it when I found out that you hunt monster bucks with that cannon you call a pistol.

I generally only kill snakes that are poisonous when they are around the house, barns or ponds. Rattlers in the pastures, brush and on the roads are safe from me. I have killed 2 small rattlers that were aggressive enough to come after me. Water snakes that make me hurt myself have a death wish. As long as I remain at the top of the food chain, I'll make the decisions around the ponds.

I have twice seen a huge rattler in my pasture. I think it is close to 6 ft. long, solid black and has a really nasty disposition. However, it always retreats when I have seen it.

Problem: I have a hearing disorder. I can't hear high pitched noises and talk. This is most common around women and my Wife says it is mostly when she tells me something. I also can't hear rattlers when they buzz.

I agree Al it is tough for me to hear the only good snake is a bad one.I had to kill some water snakes for client in SC. It is not like I lost any sleep over it but if me I would just watch them but I fully understand with kids around hard to educate on what is good or bad snake.

I'm with Bob L on:


& I don't think I've ever disagreed with DD:


Greg has the same feelings I do when I hear this:
I agree Al it is tough for me to hear

I do destroy poisonos snakes anywhere my loved ones might tread but I at least remove they're hides so they are remembered.
The water snakes have to go for reasons I already said. I have several black racers around the pond eating frogs but can't bring myself to kill them .. they're alot of fun to play with when you can catch one. Man are they FAST!

Sorry I mislead you for so long Dave .. it wasn't intentional. I already knew that.