# Getting rid of snakes



## DKWunlimited (Sep 11, 2006)

Does anyone have a tried and true method of eliminating snakes. I have heard of moth balls or dusting the yard with sulfer but do they work?

I have a family members that has now had 2 pygmy rattlers in her kitchen, she has caulked every hole that she can find. 

TIA


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

DKWunlimited said:


> Does anyone have a tried and true method of eliminating snakes. I have heard of moth balls or dusting the yard with sulfer but do they work?
> 
> I have a family members that has now had 2 pygmy rattlers in her kitchen, she has caulked every hole that she can find.
> 
> TIA


I bet she doesn't have a mouse problem. I would rather have the pigmy rattlers than mice and rats. Really though, if they are already in the house you will just have to hunt them down. To keep them out, screen and caulk everywhere.


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## DKWunlimited (Sep 11, 2006)

muleskinner2 said:


> I bet she doesn't have a mouse problem. I would rather have the pigmy rattlers than mice and rats. Really though, if they are already in the house you will just have to hunt them down. To keep them out, screen and caulk everywhere.


The big issue is that she has a newborn and a 3 year old, she is worried one of them will get bit before she find them. Already the 3 year old walked past one in the kitchen, she asked him if he saw the snake and he shruged and said yep, I just stepped big.

I would be looking to move but they can't afford to yet.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

DKWunlimited said:


> The big issue is that she has a newborn and a 3 year old, she is worried one of them will get bit before she find them. Already the 3 year old walked past one in the kitchen, she asked him if he saw the snake and he shruged and said yep, I just stepped big.
> 
> I would be looking to move but they can't afford to yet.


Have they lived there long. If the house has been empty, and they have just moved in the snakes will probably leave. Having a cat might solve the problem. Is there a crawl space under the house?

I have lived around rattle snakes for the last thirty years, and they really aren't that big of a deal. Tell the three year old that they are dangerous, and to come tell an adult if he finds one. I have a rancher friend who raise three girls on a off grid ranch that his grand dad homesteaded in the 1880's. When the girls were five they used to kill diamond backs in the garden, with a hoe.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Get rid of the rodents and the snakes will leave.
Keep weeds down and keep things tidy outside.
Don't give them places to hide and they will move along.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

Moth balls and sulfur both worthless, except to the places that sell them, not worthless at all to them. Snakes in a house is a structural problem, not a snake problem. Rodent control, and habitat modification are your best tools to cut down on numbers in the area.


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## IndyDave (Jul 17, 2017)

Remington makes a 7 1/2 shot high brass load I like for the purpose.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

IndyDave said:


> Remington makes a 7 1/2 shot high brass load I like for the purpose.


Complete overkill, and will do nothing in the grand scheme of things to limit your potential for running into a snake. Sure, maybe that snake, but there is a reason he was there, and others will show up for the same reason. Getting rid of a symptom is seldom the cure.


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## IndyDave (Jul 17, 2017)

barnbilder said:


> Complete overkill, and will do nothing in the grand scheme of things to limit your potential for running into a snake. Sure, maybe that snake, but there is a reason he was there, and others will show up for the same reason. Getting rid of a symptom is seldom the cure.


Every snake eliminated reduces my potential to encounter one proportionately.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

IndyDave said:


> Every snake eliminated reduces my potential to encounter one proportionately.


Nope, actually it increases it. Nature abhors a vacuum. You kill a snake, your rodent problem grows even more unchecked, creating more food for snakes.


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

With children in the home I would call a professional exterminator. Glue traps till the exterminator comes.


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