Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Snake (cottonmouth) control

Besides keeping the shores of your pond/lake neatly maintained/groomed/mowed, any other ideas in keeping cottonmouth numbers to a minimum or preferably nonexistent?

My pond will be by my house, so I thought maybe a cat or two would help....don't want dogs because they bark at deer....

You might try some guienaas. I know that the rattlesnakes don't care to much for them and they keep ticks away as well.

There are snake traps on the market, but Im not sure how well they work.

I've never seen a cottonmouth problem at ponds. Maybe they're there, but too shy to show themselves.

The watersnakes can get overly plentiful, but they're harmless. Other than shooting them, I don't have a solution. Maybe king snakes would do the trick.

Edit:

Cats are poor to useless at snake control. Chickens will taddle tale on them, but won't kill the big ones. As someone said, guinea fowl are excellent at killing or running off all snakes, but they have noise and poop problems. I rather live with an occasional snake than all that noise and mess.

King Snakes work to some degree as they have a natural immunity to most venomous snakes and prey on other snakes.

Keeping one there may prove difficult though. I found a 5 foot one in the barn next to my pond and shortly thereafter found 13 snake eggs. I was able to hatch 3 of them out and ID them as King Snakes. They went right back to the pond and barn. I have only seen one copperhead on my property in the last 3 years. Haven't seen any since releasing the King snakes.

guineas.......that's interesting.........they are from africa where there are numerous snakes

bobad.....it surprises me that youhaven't seen many cottonmouths in ponds down in bayou country

I know you said you did not want dogs, but I have a JackRussell Terrier and she kills anything and everything smaller than she is from snakes to birds and moles. She doesn't chase the deer, but does bark at 'em. Guess you have to weight your options and decide what you can live with and what you would rather live without.

Keep at 12 gauge handy. That and keeping the shores clean (like you said) will go a long way.

Seen only 1 cottonmouth on my land since I bought it in 2000. I sent her on her way. I have several kings I see regularly, so her survival is not assured.

I've found that the more you are around your pond, working, making noise etc. the less snakes you see. Particularly the cottonmouth, as bobad said is prety shy. The northern watersnakes can be pretty feisty. Seven grandkids, so any snake is in imminent danger when I'm there.

It's been a long time since I've seen an aggressive water snake.

Our snake of the day is usually a rattler. In 25 years of owning the place, I've only seen 2 really upset aggressive ones. They didn't get to pass on any bad genes. Unless they are around the house, barn, shades or ponds I don't mess with them.

I am a fan of guineas...

Lucky Guineas.

My neighbor had Guineas and I was really happy when they got rid of them. During deer season, I couldn't hear the deer walking thru the woods, they are that noisy! I had a stand approx. 300 Yds from the Guineas tho.

They got rid of them because they wanted some peace and quiet at the house, they orig. were the kids 4-H project.

Hogs will eat snakes as well, but I think they will do more damage than good.

bobad you are a indeed a non-hypocrite when it comes to conservation....I can't say the same for myself when it comes to cottonmouths

Okay guys, just a few days ago we were talking about snakes and dogs. Well check out the pictures and let me know, my backyard biologist instincts tell me water moccasin, doesn’t have the markings of a copperhead. First poisonous snake I have seen in my yard since I moved out here in 1997. Despite the pellet holes, I do believe the dog got it first! So there you go cougar, Jack Russell Terrier, killing machine. You actual biologists can chime in and line me out. Sorry for the poor quality pics, hard to hold a deadly predator in your hands and a camera!
http://picasaweb.google.com/saroberts02/SnakePics41709?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ60-5uFgJDksgE#

Moth balls

Not really. Lucky for that moccasin she wasn't on my hit list. I have 1 firm rule about critters. I don't allow myself to arbitrarily kill any animal. I must think carefully and have a very good reason for doing so. If they're dangerous, too numerous, or delicious, their in grave danger. My current hit list is the diamondback water snake, brown water snake, and red ear turtle. All are too numerous. I would rather relocate them, but it's too hard to do.

Yep, Cottonmouth moccasin. The only viper in the USA that remotely looks like that is the copperhead, and they have very distinctive markings.

agreed, definitely a cottonmouth.

Strizzo, could a jack russell be trained to NOT bark at deer?

Landowner, my wife suggested mothballs also, but I figured that was just an ole wives' tale....worth a try regardless, but, out of curiousity, is there any scientific explanoation to those repelling snakes?

I broke my rule Saturday and killed a 5' DB watersnake..it was way too aggressive and just would not leave..when I was inspecting the watersnake I looked up and had a 6' rat snake in the tree limb above me..I poked it with the end of a rake and it basically turned around and said.."don't poke me"

Cougar, I do not know if you can train JRT not to bark at deer, they are very smart dogs. There are anti-bark collars, shock collars(like for bird dogs, hit them when they do bark at deer), keep the dog inside at night? Ours stays outside all day and comes in at dark and she sleeps in a pet carrier.

I live in Iowa where we really dont have snakes, and I am in the process of moving to Mississippi. They didn't mention anything in the brochures about snakes living in trees!!

Hey Tyler.

This is what you can look forward to when you are on the front of the electrofishing boat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_UnV3RbCtg