Build a homemade snake trap.
Get 30 ft of chicken wire or screen and make a fence 1-2ft high next to the pond. Make sure you bury it a little so nothing can crawl under it. At the ends of the fence on both sides put standard minnow traps. So you need 4 traps 2 on both sides. Cover the traps with a board or anything you trap will die in the direct sunlight. This works our professer used it in college to trap snakes. You also trap mice and other critters. The snakes will get to the fence and go right up it into the traps. We caught 2 copperheads in one trap. Its a live trap so you can release them if you want. Also you can put a couple around the pond fairly cheap. If you dont want to deal with the traps just turn the minnow traps up so nothing can get in. When you decide you want to trap some more put the minnow traps down. This thing works trust me.
