I rented my house for a year and the occupants allowed most of the yard to go to heck. Over the past month we have seen three copperheads close to the house and tonight my oldest dog was nearly bit. My son saw a copperhead and I had to grab my dog by its neck and move quickly as she was only about 2 feet away. In all my years in Virginia I don't think I have ever seen three total copperheads, yet over the past month I have seen as many. I believe they are living underneath the deck. Any suggestions on how to get rid of those nasty snakes?
Poison the rodents in the area. It's not a quick solution but that's their food source so take it away and it should help. Maybe you'll get lucky and poison a bunch of snakes at the same time.
Personally I'd torch the whole house, county and move (as you can see... I HATE SNAKES!). I found this online: How to Get Rid of Copperheads | eHow Sounds easy... but I'm sure it won't be. I feel for you man - my skin is crawling just thinking about your dilemma.
As stated in the link above... Keep grass short, remove any scrap/trash piles from the area, and get rid of their food source. I'm actually adding corrugated roofing panels to the field behind my house in hopes that snakes take shelter there. I love snakes!
Wadded up or rolled up plastic bird netting will catch snakes. They can only slither through it so far... but can't back out of it. One piece isn't enough, they have to go through a few layers.
Well, if you check the netting every day, you can cut the snake out of the netting and relocate it. http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/346915/deer-netting-works-great-for-snakes
That repellant does work, bought some at Tractor Supply and haven't had any snakes in the yard since I spread it!
We used to put lime (Garden lime) around the base of the house and under the porch. My Dad always said this kept them away. It must have worked. We never saw one near the house. Only if we were near a junk heap or near a wood pile.
Keep the grass short and kill them when you see them, copperheads are very common where I live, I've killed a few this year in my front yard. Use a powerful flashlight and look for them in the dark. They are actually easier to see with a flashlight than in daylight, also they seem to come out more at night when it cools off. Also, if your dog gets bit he will almost certainly survive, although he will be in pain for a day or so and have some significant swelling around the bite. One of my dogs got bit twice in one week and he was fine a couple days later each time.
This may sound hokey but a old guy had me put moth balls all around the outside of the house along the concrete edges,I put lots of them... He said it burned there skin. We had snakes really bad when I built this house,cut your grass very short close to the house maybe get some yard cats even.
