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Old 09-29-2012, 10:15 AM
 
Location: From the Middle East of the USA
1,539 posts, read 1,508,671 times
Reputation: 1915

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Help! We have found 4 large (3 to 4 feet) snake skins near my heat pump. We have killed a baby black snake on the back side of our house. We put the skins in the trash, but were told to take them to the local pet store to have them identified. I was told that snakes shed their skins once a year. I have a fear that we have a snake den on the side of our house.

We live in Northwestern North Carolina. Does anybody have a name of a snake exterminator? Or can you offer me some suggestions...Do you think I have a snake den?

 
Old 09-29-2012, 10:17 AM
 
Location: Southern NC
2,203 posts, read 5,069,742 times
Reputation: 3833
Throw mothballs all around the circumference of your yard, this will repel the snakes.
I wouldn't be killing the non poisonous snakes, they help keep away other pests...like mice.
 
Old 09-29-2012, 03:08 PM
 
1,249 posts, read 1,726,380 times
Reputation: 911
Quote:
Originally Posted by NC~Mom View Post
Throw mothballs all around the circumference of your yard, this will repel the snakes.
I wouldn't be killing the non poisonous snakes, they help keep away other pests...like mice.
Agree. The black snakes won't hurt anyone. My husband was cleaning the eavestroughs and reached up and touched one, thinking it was a stick or something, and kept trying to move it without seeing what it was - then it came out, nose to nose with my husband on the ladder - they looked at each other and the poor thing went on its merry way without biting or doing anything.

They kill lots of pests that will give you more problems. We have at least two black snakes running around on my acre, and they have not hurt any humans or bothered us yet (even when they probably should have, with my husband touching one inadvertently. He is brave).
 
Old 09-29-2012, 04:54 PM
 
Location: Philaburbia
41,777 posts, read 74,795,954 times
Reputation: 66701
Leave them alone; they're not hurting anyone and actually may be helping to keep rats etc. away from your yard.
 
Old 09-29-2012, 05:29 PM
 
8,540 posts, read 12,302,927 times
Reputation: 16442
Snakes eat insects and small rodents and are beneficial to have around. To needlessly kill one is just plain ignorant--they're not going to hurt you.

Find out what kind of snakes you have. If they're simply Black Rat Snakes, or something similar, they are not poisonous and won't bother you. If, by chance, they are poisonous, you'd be justified in having someone remove them to another location, but there's still no need to kill one.
 
Old 09-29-2012, 07:03 PM
 
Location: Wartrace,TN
7,936 posts, read 12,637,997 times
Reputation: 16167
You killed a "black snake"???? For WHAT? It was probably a King snake which does control rodents AND keep other snakes away such as rattlesnakes and copperheads. Good job! Hope you enjoy the venomous snakes you just invited into your yard....
 
Old 09-30-2012, 12:09 AM
 
Location: From the Middle East of the USA
1,539 posts, read 1,508,671 times
Reputation: 1915
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wartrace View Post
You killed a "black snake"???? For WHAT? It was probably a King snake which does control rodents AND keep other snakes away such as rattlesnakes and copperheads. Good job! Hope you enjoy the venomous snakes you just invited into your yard....
I understand that snakes play an important role in the balancing of the food chain. I really appreciate all that they do, especially the non-venomous ones. My wife and I have a slight fear of snakes.I know killing them is not the answer. Reading these posts will take a little fear out of me when I'm out in my yard. I just hope they stay out of my house!
 
Old 09-30-2012, 01:22 AM
 
Location: In a happy, quieter home now! :)
16,895 posts, read 16,034,077 times
Reputation: 75496
Quote:
Originally Posted by hickoryfan View Post
I understand that snakes play an important role in the balancing of the food chain. I really appreciate all that they do, especially the non-venomous ones. My wife and I have a slight fear of snakes.I know killing them is not the answer. Reading these posts will take a little fear out of me when I'm out in my yard. I just hope they stay out of my house!


Hickoryfan ~ Please, listen and believe what I am telling you, as I AM a snake expert, specializing in those found in the eastern U.S........your snakes are, 100% positively - Black Rat Snakes.
They are the best snakes you can ever have around your house. Thay perform rodent control better than any other snake. They will never bother you. They are completely harmless.
They can and will climb anywhere that they want to.
Please, try to enjoy them, perhaps photograph them and maybe share the pictures with us!
I envy you - living there, in heaven on earth and with the beautiful wildlife that you have there.
Thank you much for posting about the wonderful snakes that you've discovered!

~rainroosty~
 
Old 09-30-2012, 03:41 AM
 
Location: in the southwest
13,396 posts, read 44,922,766 times
Reputation: 13599
Quote:
Originally Posted by NC~Mom View Post
Throw mothballs all around the circumference of your yard, this will repel the snakes.
I wouldn't be killing the non poisonous snakes, they help keep away other pests...like mice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81 View Post
Leave them alone; they're not hurting anyone and actually may be helping to keep rats etc. away from your yard.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackmichigan View Post
Snakes eat insects and small rodents and are beneficial to have around. To needlessly kill one is just plain ignorant--they're not going to hurt you.

Find out what kind of snakes you have. If they're simply Black Rat Snakes, or something similar, they are not poisonous and won't bother you. If, by chance, they are poisonous, you'd be justified in having someone remove them to another location, but there's still no need to kill one.
YES.

A neighbor not far from my house had her husband kill a beautiful, large black rat snake simply because of her irrational fear. These are educated people who like to think of themselves as productive citizens--it made me so sad when I saw the carcass thrown into the alley. They live right across the street from the woods, and could have had someone remove it, heck *I* would have removed it if I had known about it.

I've only ever seen garter snakes around my house, I would be happy to have a rat snake take up residence.
 
Old 09-30-2012, 03:51 AM
 
317 posts, read 574,663 times
Reputation: 404
better than snakes on a plane
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