How are you all dealing with snakes? (Mobile, Jackson: live in, garden)

[vicliz]

I hear that southern AL is loaded with poisonous snakes. How does one garden and spend time outside wihout getting bit?

[cowdog]

Originally Posted by vicliz

I hear that southern AL is loaded with poisonous snakes. How does one garden and spend time outside wihout getting bit?

Chopping them up with a hoe really helps the garden. If you can't do that while they are alive then shotgun them first.

[Southern man]

You are more likely to get bit and injured by a dog than a snake.

[Keeper]

If you don't live in the woods/country you probably won't even see a snake. They aren't everywhere and usually stay away from blacktop and humans. They do come out more at the end of summer when it is hot and very little rain.

I was born and raised in Mobile and only saw 1 snake and that was when I moved out to a wooded area and that snake was a glass snake

[southernnaturelover]

My property is bordered by woods and I seldom see snakes, and when I do it's usually harmless rat snakes.

I'm sure if I went walking through the woods during the summer I'd find a rattlesnake or cottonmouth eventually, but I don't go looking for them. I do my hiking activities during the winter.

[Reactionary]

I watch for snakes when walking through woods / fields and sometimes see them, but more likely I walk right past them.

IMO venomous spiders are as big a menace to gardeners as snakes, but either way I wouldn't go sticking my hands someplace without checking it out or wearing gloves. Wasps and bees are garden dangers, and there are horror stories of strange fungi and pathogens and bacteria that can kill you. Then there are stickers and thorns and saw-like grasses and tripping hazards and sharp objects and heat stroke and chemicals and power tools and branches that can put your eye out...

Yep, gardeners live on the edge.

[vicliz]

Ho Ho yes gardening is not for whimps. Our sons live on Ft Morgan Island and it's creepy the amount of poisonous snakes out there. I have no problem with "helpful" snakes and have been known to handle them but terrified of poison and the repercusions of getting bit. OK sounds doable though. Thanks a bunch everyone. I think I can. I think I can!

[Southern man]

Leave them alone and they will generally do likewise.

[Dhult]

Originally Posted by Southern man

Leave them alone and they will generally do likewise.

Yep...

OP,
You are overly worried for no reason. All snakes are beneficial. Yes, some are venomous (no such thing as a poisonous snake) and you should be able to identify them.

You only have a handful of venomous snakes in Alabama. Rattlesnakes, Cottonmouth, Copperhead and coral. Easy to identify.

There is at least 30-40 more throughout Alabama that are non-venomous and can't do anything to you. So don't worry about them. There's no good reason to go wacking every snake you see. It's moronic.

How does one garden and spend time outside wihout getting bit?

Hmmm, like anywhere else......

[cpg35223]

Jeez, man. It's not like a Samuel L. Jackson movie.