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yes I find moth balls alot cheaper than snake pellets or easier to find to buy.
They both contain sulfur which supposely repels against snakes. I would probably lay those around the foundation of your home or any possible new place the snake might make home and wait til it leaves the nest then remove it. then drop a couple of moth balls in that area.
If you cut his head off it's just going to lay there on the ground, it has no body with which to strike. The body has no fangs or poison glands to do anything with. In my experience they just writhe around a little 'till they stop moving. Now I certainly wouldn't stick my finger in his mouth, but a headless body striking at you poses no danger.
I posted this in the thread about Black Widows but I think that thread got lost as did the first one by this person. I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask again:
I'm glad this thread was started, I have been wondering about how life is down there with the bugs and whatnot. I live in NH at the moment and if all goes well, my family will finally be making the move down to the triangle area in two months. Here in NH you have ticks, spiders, and garden snakes. I see now, that down there you guys have fire ants, black widows and poisonous snakes. I recently read about the chiggers coming out earlier this year. I learned the hard way when I was young what happens when you walk in the woods in sandals with chiggers around!!
So I'm wondering, what kinds of precautions do parents down in NC take with their children playing outside. Do you have to check the childrens' outdoor toys before you let them play outside? I have a 2 and a half year old who loves to play outside with no shoes on and will pick up any bug she sees. I think I'm in trouble! Also, what kinds of snakes do you see, and where should I move to (in the triangle area) if I want to avoid this "wildlife" as much as I can?
ladmama, we're from NH also, and in two years this is the first snake I've seen. I had several garden snakes in NH. One even managed to get into the basement. And, depending on where you are in NH, there are rattlers also. Bear Brook State Park is full of them.
Oh, yes - I must remember to mention that I love to go barefoot, and still do that a lot down here. Haven't stepped on anything yet that might hurt me. I did bring a black widow in from the garden in lettuce that I harvested. I was wearing sneakers then. The spider was in a colander under my arm.
We don't have children but we do have dogs (our "kids" now) and we're very careful about what they get exposed to, be they bugs or snakes and we are doing all the things I've heard that one must do here - keep the grass low, pick up garden tools, hoses, bags promptly, wear gloves when gardening (I don't always - one day I might be sorry). Hopefully, folks with small children will chime in to answer your question.
I think you're a lot more worried than you need to be. I grew up here barefoot and never got bit by a black widow or poisonous snake...maybe a few chiggers here and there and a few ticks, but it didn't seem to be a big deal. Neither of my kids (13 and 10) have ever been bitten. I've never seen a fire ant...not saying they aren't here, just that we aren't infested with them. Older more established neighborhoods (10+ years would probably be your best bet, something not on the periphery.
I grew up in NC in a very wooded area. When I was a child my parents checked our heads every night for ticks between about April and October. I'm not that rigorous with my kids, but I do check them every time we've been in a wooded area. I don't really worry about snakes for my kids. I'd never seen a copperhead before a couple of years ago (though I saw a lot of non-poisonous black snakes as a kid and I think they were keeping the copperheads away). As kids we were trained to make a lot of noise in the woods and stomp the ground to scare of any snakes and it must have worked.
I've actually run into more of the local rodents in public parks. That's where I've seen all the copperheads I've seen (most on the Black Creek Greenway, some in Bond Park) and my kids got their first fire ant bites at Pullen Park a couple weeks ago. My husband has gotten chiggers about once a year around Lake Crabtree and the Black Creek (apparently he has to learn to stay out of tall grass once every year).
I've never seen a black widow.
So yeah, I'd agree that you really don't need to do a lot of worrying.
If you cut his head off it's just going to lay there on the ground, it has no body with which to strike. The body has no fangs or poison glands to do anything with. In my experience they just writhe around a little 'till they stop moving. Now I certainly wouldn't stick my finger in his mouth, but a headless body striking at you poses no danger.
There was one post about a head that flew through the air after being chopped off and biting a dog that died from the bite.
I see what you mean about not being able to strike but the head can bite
after it is cut off.
Is anyone familiar with a repellent product called SerpentGuard? Said to be completely safe for use around kids and pets. Pricey, but if it works it's worth it to get rid of this little snake without hurting it, and to keep his relatives and others of his kind in the woods and fields where they belong.
Thank you to everyone who answered my question. I'm glad to hear I'm worrying over nothing. I suppose anything new will freak you out. I grew up in MO and saw a copperhead at some state park swimming area. Then I saw baby copperheads in my grammy's yard. I can remember being checked for ticks when I came home from preschool (the teacher would sometimes take us to her farm to play with the animals). Course things change when you live up North and there's not much to watch out for.
I had no idea we had rattle snakes in NH, jeez! I've seen a whole bunch of garden snakes, a few weeks ago actually. My daughter went right over and picked it up...hence my concern over snakes and such down there. She's a brave little one!
Again, thank you guys, I feel a LOT better.
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