snakes in the grass

There is nothing as good as a couple of turkeys!!
They are te best as spotting a snake and making one hell of a racket about where it is and following it.

But at your place, that may be not what you desire

There are no real detereents that I'm aware of - sure there the bowl of milk and other tales of keeping them away.

Water is known to attrack them - as they need to drink 2, and the bird is not ideal as they will smell it and come into see what is to eat - so keep the birdseed and feather mess to a minimum and do not let any mice etc live on the edge of your block etc.

My experience has been - snakes like creeks - they dislike open space but will traverse it if needed.

So keep the fencline well maintained, keep the council on target to keep the creek tidy, and do not leave any rubbish around forthem to hide in

Screens are good at keeping them outside of the house, and all the snakes I've had near the hosue have been spotted by the cattle dog, who barked and kept his distance - the old cat gave it a go once, but we rescued him before he got struck by a mighty big brown

Apart from that - be aware that you will most likely have a few come through as it is going to be unavoidable by the sounds of it.

Have the local snake catchers name handy and if you see one - never take your eyes of it - becaseu if you do - and the snake charmer comes in - the snake will have dissapeared.

And rhe best personal snake tamer is a 6 metres of heavy gauge fencing wire, bent in half then twisted into a reasonably tight twist of wire with a flattened out loop at the end to use as sort of handle.

And when you see a snake, just walk out with said bit of wire - and casually whip it down on the ground so it flaps out from you and goes anywhere across the snakes body. It breaks their back and they become imobile pretty quickly (most people do it more than once )
The bit of wirte hangs outside the back door and it works on hard surfaces, like tiles, concrete, as well as grass etc as the wire is flexible and wraps around the ground and hits them.

Shovels or anything are not a patch on the above said bit of wire.

And remember - snakes are a protected animal - except if endangering life -

I've had lots of pets and horses that I had to protect

And the other thing is they are on the move the first warm days of spring and on the not so cool summer nights.

Sorry it doesnt help the prevention issue, other than help you know what to do.

Steve

Totally agree to do list- but sometimes getting the Jack Russell costs lots of $$$ at the vet - till it learns to be quick enough to avoid the bite.
$500 later for one of my friends JR's.
So they keep it inside when snakes are around now.
Steve

Thanks for the replies.

Steve I like your idea of the heavy gauge wire and of course we would only use it in situations of danger i.e. when I am at risk of having a heart attack. I am resigned to seeing a few a year and will certainly keep the council on their toes so the area behind the fence is kept clear of debris.

No way to the JR ... we have two dogs already, and a cat.

If anyone has any other idea re: likely deterrent please let me know. I reckon you are right about lizards being an old wives tale. I was thinking we could put some stainless steel garden edging (30 cm) under the fence to keep them at bay.

I really hate the buggers.

Also remember they are more scared of you than you are of them (maybe ) ….except the browns……

I would suggest when you do your landscaping….NO rocks, NO low line shrubs, NO ground growing plants. Keep your land clear…..medium shrubs and trees only.

You need a visual aspect of your grounds. No shoes and boots left out at night, no left over building material on your land at all!

When you are prone to snakes, precautions should be taken.

Don’t stress, they are quite unique, I actually have a lot of respect for them.

Dy, have you thought of asking the local council if they have any recommendations regarding this issue???? Just a thought...couldn't hurt to ask??

As per above most snakes will go the other way if they can.

Another rule - is to always clomp your feet when you first go outside or when are working near where you think might be - ie near the fence.

Helps scare them away from you.

The biggest scare I ever had was walking through my hay paddock, (which was 3 foot high) and I saw a little flat patch - which I walked towards to see why - I was less than 10 foot away and saw a monster brown about as thick as my wrist curled up in the sun - it guessed it was about 8 to 9 foot long - it saw me - I saw it, it took off away from me and shot back to the creek - wow was it fast I thought did I levitate just then then I continued doing my search of the paddocks to see if they were ready to cut, and I still had to cross the creek - which I did a tad further up than my normal spot

Most of the time snakes want to get away from us - but when cornered - like any animal, they can bite.
Steve

Are you serious? I thought Red-bellied Black Snakes were up there with your Browns and Tigers as far as venomous snakes go?

Ray.

Hi DeeElle,

Unfortunately snakes are virtually deaf,so they will only feel vibrations,hence 'stomping your feet'

We live in a rural area,so we come across quite a few snakes

I once saw a black snake and a blue tongue lizard less than 2 feet from one another,so I think that,s another myth busted! LOL

I think that it,s probably a good idea to put some sort of mesh around the bottom of your fence...it will have to have very small holes though ( a friend of ours saw a baby brown on his doorstep last week and then watched it disappear through one of the brick vents into the house) ....we,ve put it around the perimeter of our chook\rabbit\guinea pig enclosure and so far it seems to be working.....in summer I would quite regularly come across either a black or a brown making a hasty retreat from the chook pen!

Good luck and hopefully it won,t be too long and they will start thinking about hibernating

Cheers Mel

Do they dig???

Google it

Some info on brown snakes for those who want to keep them at bay:

Some species of venomous snakes have adapted positively to changes in the natural environment and are now common in many of the suburban areas of south eastern Australia.

Brown Snakes are able to hide in the most unlikely places including under wood, tin, concrete slabs, plastic, and roof tiles on the ground; within piles of bricks, pipes, fire wood and stones; inside sheds, shops and houses; in the cavities of walls; in aviaries; and even in swimming pools. A compromise may be to thin the groundcover so that you can at least see if a snake is moving through it. By reducing the level of cover you are also denying protection for roaming snakes

A wine flagon on its side containing a drop of red; a bowl of milk laced with ratsack; a layer of diesel spread as a barrier on the ground; or collecting/encouraging Blue Tongued and Shingleback Lizards on your property to discourage snakes are all fallacies.

Recent studies (Whitaker and Shine, 1999) have shown that Brown Snakes when hiding in thick cover do not move when approached by a human. That can be to your advantage as the snake is unlikely to respond to your presence, and will move away when the "threat" (you)to it has passed. However, young inquisitive children and pets that actually probe innocently into the plants may evoke a different response .

Brown Snakes do not generally dig their own holes, unless the soil is very sandy.They much prefer to utilise existing tunnels made by other animals, or crevices made through the action of water or cracking clays etc

Good to know.