Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Kill snakes or letum go?

I'm not a fishery just a fishing pond so I know that the balance of nature is sometimes very important. That being said I have this rather large northern diamondback water snake that lives underneath my floating dock where my fish feeder is.

It's pretty unnerving when I go out to fill the feeder up because he/she doesn't spook and just watches me through the cracks of the boards. Curious if there is any value in having it around?

I pulled up my blue heron decoys so that I'd get some birds that would hopefully nab him, but I think he's too big already. Now I have a blue heron and a huge water snake...

I leave my snakes alone. They are harmless and part of the biodiversity that helps keep the environment healthy.

Non venomous snakes have there way at my place, but the copperheads and the rare rattlers...not so much.

Do you know exactly what species it is? There's an Eastern Diamondback and a Western Diamondback, but not a Northern Diamondback. Neither species are particularly classified as "water snakes" either. If you can determine that it's not venomous, I'd leave it alone.

If you're sure it's not venomous, I'd leave it alone. Unless you swim in that area!

Oh it's not a rattlesnake. Unfortunately have plenty of those, but not in my pond they like to hang near my house and barn lol.

Northern Diamond-backed water snake is what I've seen it called. Maybe just a Diamond-backed water snake.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerodia_rhombifer

https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/diamond-backed-watersnake

It's definitely what it is. I've been close enough to take a pretty good gander at him. Apparently they are often confused for cottonmouths and are actually very prevalent in TX.

I let them go. Hoping a cottonmouth will bite the GBH.

I have the same problem, they still like to crawl home and bask somewhere in a warm place. It's scary. But I don't kill them, I try to let them go somewhere further in the forest

We had a lot of snakes at our first pond until the LMB got big enough to eat them. I've never seen a snake at the pond since then.

I saw the same thing at my pond. Large lmb either eat them or the snakes learn not to get in the water.

I've seen a few small Northern Watersnakes around the pond this year that were small enough that I could see a fair size LMB eating them. But I've also had one that was pretty big for a Northern Watersnake and if there is a LMB out there that is big enough to eat it, I'd love to catch it. Lol! It also didn't spook very easy. There was a few weeks that it would keep swimming up to just a few feet from my feet and trying to catch minnows while I was feeding. Then he stopped doing it but I would see him every now and then.

I doubt that it is a problem but if it makes you nervous, eliminate it.