I know snakes here are not harmful and can be a garden friend but I am terrified of them. Our property has a deep ravine on one side of it so the little critters like our area. I want to garden and landscape so need some suggestions on keeping them out as much as possible. A couple a year I am learning to handle but this year we had just too many venturing up and into the yard. Please help while I work on my fear. Trish
From a purely gardening (and pest control) perspective, it sounds like you already know that snakes are beneficial to have around. In direct response to your question, try this resource from the Univ. of Nebraska - Lincoln: Controlling Snake Problems Around Homes. It's not entirely applicable, but it goes some way. Other than the fence suggestion, another alternative is to design / alter your landscape so that the snakes do not find it an attractive place to be. I am not suggesting that you in any way alter their natural habitat (they were there first by the sounds of it), but if you remove artificial constructs in your yard and garden (such as rock piles) that might go some way to decreasing the number of encounters.
Hello my name is Matt and I have spent my whole life around snakes! I keep 12 snakes at my home with me and I do speaks on them for kids. I understand that you may not like them but I urge you to not kill them as a last result. There are many many kinds of snakes that are not endangered because of our actions! I am asking you to try to understand that snakes are VERY helpful to have around in the garden and even more so that if you leave them alone you wil be helping them out as well by letting them have a save place to leave. Snakes are elusive creatures so you will probably not see them as much as you think and since they cannot hear sounds like we can but instead pick up vibrations in the ground...simply walking very heavy footed will deter snakes from coming in a close radius to you. Thanks for you time!
Thanks Matt, I would not kill them which is why I am asking for help to keep them away. Stomping is a good idea Trish
I feel exactly the same - I know that they are beneficial but they startle me when I come upon them unexpectedly. My father was Irish so perhaps there is something genetic about a fear of snakes (St Patrick may be responsible)! Stomping is good but if the ground is soft the vibrations do not travel far. I sometimes use the metal end of a spade etc to hit a stone or send in the dog first!!! My cat is also very useful but unfortunately for the snakes he kills them. They do seem to like certain locations so I am trying to desensitise myself by expecting them to be around. I have not seen any so far this year and would be interested to know when they become active on the Sunshine Coast so that I can be prepared. Margaret
You're not alone fearing snakes. My mother is a big nature lover but her first impulse upon seeing one is to "chop it to bits" with her hoe. Guess it's a phobia. I'm not afflicted with snake fear, thank god. Cats, unlike snakes, aren't part of the natural sytem, and should be in the house, "killing" balls of tape and eating cat food. Thats where mine have remained....since they started bringing dead snakes home.
I like snakes in the garden, well these ones anyway. They seem to enjoy my cactus garden and the safety it provides.
I've gotten used to the little garter snakes around here, they eat slugs you know. If I lived where there was big, poisonous snakes I would feel different, I think I would have to get a big dog to alert me to them.
I work in a nursery in Australia and we had recently a customer who lived in Arizona but has moved locally. He came and bought a decent quantity of the dwarf Euphorbia millii (Cown of Thorns). He said that he was going to plant them around his house perimeter. This is what his parents had done when he was younger, by growing them into a low hedge to deter snakes..... The above photo shows however the odd thorn won't bother them.
