Do you kill snakes you find in your yard?

[JohnNJ]

I actually got into a debate with my dad about this one.

Andrew:

As a father I try to teach my children to respect nature and life in general. We spend a lot of time outdoors and we practice the "Leave No Trace" concepts taught by the Boy Scouts. Basically, if they find something special, even a rock, I encourage them to leave things as they found them so the next person that comes through can have that same experience.

That said, I would not hesitate or give a second thought to killing anything that could possibly harm my family. I would try my best to avoid it, and have done that so far, but I long ago made up my mind as to how I would handle a real threat.

Don't come down too hard on your Dad. I'm sure he's trying to do the best he can with what he has. I know I didn't make it easy for my father and my children are returning the favor ten fold.

JohnNJ

[hoax]

Well I live in a rather urban area so chances of finding a snake in my yard are rather slim. But if I did come across anything I would leave it be poisonous or not. I understand you (op) have children but Even if I did I still would not. I would educate the children and urge them to use caution.

You say you lie in an urban area correct?

Why would you just leave a venomous animal be? Would you not worry about the other people in your neighborhood that might not be educated and get bit or kill the animal?

I am not saying kill it but calling animal control (which will probably just kill it) might be a better solution to at least try and protect your neighbors and more importantly the animal.

I live out in the country so I come across a few snakes, this year I have found 3 copperheads and a yellow belly water snake. I tried to catch one copper head but ya know trying to free handle a copperhead with little experience is just plain retarded so after a few strikes I left it be. The yellow bellied water snake I misidentified as a water moccasin at first my wife wanted to kill it....

But have no fear I caught it and relocated it to a stock pond (the closest body of water) and let it be I have not seen it back yet.

I am really excited about this upcoming Spring and summer because that means I get to do some serious field herping. I can only hope I will have some snakes in my yard and hopefully I can get a few hots to look at.

Mike

[TheReptileEnthusiast]

I can't say that I comprehend the need to kill a venomous snake. If someone doesn't know how to handle one, simply call someone who does. There are other options, even in states like Florida where relocation is illegal. Some people love hots as pets just like we love our BP's.

[AndrewGeibel]

Andrew:

As a father I try to teach my children to respect nature and life in general. We spend a lot of time outdoors and we practice the "Leave No Trace" concepts taught by the Boy Scouts. Basically, if they find something special, even a rock, I encourage them to leave things as they found them so the next person that comes through can have that same experience.

That said, I would not hesitate or give a second thought to killing anything that could possibly harm my family. I would try my best to avoid it, and have done that so far, but I long ago made up my mind as to how I would handle a real threat.

Don't come down too hard on your Dad. I'm sure he's trying to do the best he can with what he has. I know I didn't make it easy for my father and my children are returning the favor ten fold.

JohnNJ

That probably sounded a little stronger than I meant it to. It was all done respectfully and my father and I have a wonderful relationship. This wasn't a yelling type debate by any means. More of a debate while having a beer. That is kinda how my family works. If we disagree with another family member we let the family member know in a calm respectful way and then we agree to disagree and once its over its over and no hard feelings.

Thanks for the concern though. In the situation I didn't feel like anybody was in immediate danger and I had the means to safely move it. So that is what I chose. If I had felt that anybody was in danger I would probably have a different opinion.

[Muze]

I don't have kids, but I have dogs and I would not want them coming across any venomous snakes. However, I can't picture myself killing anything, so I'd just have to keep them out of the yard. I don't know what I'd do if it were inside my home, though.

I found a Boa once in the day care I used to run. I caught it & took it to the wildlife rescue right by my house. I lived with someone at the time who was terrified of snakes so I couldn't keep it.

[Muze]

I don't have kids, but I have dogs and I would not want them coming across any venomous snakes. However, I can't picture myself killing anything, so I'd just have to keep them out of the yard. I don't know what I'd do if it were inside my home, though.

I found a Boa once in the day care I used to run. I caught it & took it to the wildlife rescue right by my house. I lived with someone at the time who was terrified of snakes so I couldn't keep it.

I think I would use a snake hook, stick it in one of my extra tubs with holes, secure the lid, and figure out a safe place to relocate it. Yeah, that's what I'd do.

[mainbutter]

A note to the people who do kill venomous snakes they find in their yard:

I lived in Anchorage, Alaska for a short while when I was a kid, and my parents just moved back this past summer.

There are bears and moose everywhere. I saw two bears on average on every riverside hike when I was on the kenai peninsula last summer(some were repeats, but I'm sure I saw at least 15-20 individual brown bears, and maybe 4 or 5 individual black bears). If my dad treated bears and moose as you treat venomous snakes, we would have had to shoot every single one. They are a considerable threat and quite dangerous, and you have to be careful.

However, that doesn't mean you shoot the bull moose at your kids' bus stop(happened more times than I could count) wandering around the neighborhood. You just left it alone and kept your distance, and drove the kids to school yourself.

Just a thought I had. I don't see why snakes are treated differently than other dangerous wildlife.

[bsd13]

Where I live now don't see many snakes unless I go looking. Where I used to live I'd see all kinds including timber rattlers. I've never been one for killing them if it was avoidable. Only had to kill 2 that I can recall. One that my dog mangled had to be put out of its misery (an eastern garter if memory serves) and one of the rattle snakes.

Usually tried to catch the rattlers and move them about 5 to 10 miles away but one of them we shot and used it along with a shock collar, and some fishing line to teach our dogs that snake's should be avoided. Did the trick but in hindsight I think a rubber snake would have worked just as well.

[FlowRock]

Since there are now venomous snakes around where I live and it would be illegal even to touch the nonvenomous, which are rare enough, i voted that there a no snakes around.
The only time I had to deal with a large number of snakes was on a fishing trip, where a couple of dozen ringneck snakes (german name is Ringelnatter) tried to cross a street, with a lot of casualties. I picked up every one of them I saw and carried it over the street and because some of them were around 4 to 5 feet, got some nice love bites.

[JamieLynn]

I have never killed a snake. Around here we have prairie rattlers, and although the state does not recognize them as native, there is a lake a few miles away that has water moccasins.
Both my husband and I agree, that only if someone gets bit, we would first try to "box" the snake, but if it could not be boxed without other bites we (he) would kill it. The only reason we would do that is that for many types of anti-venom it is best to have the snake for ID purposes.
Any other time snakes are relocated. A lot of people we know kill them just for the sake of killing something, so if we see one around these people, we will relocate.
We also stop the car for any snake in the road, I keep a long stick (4-5ft long dried willow branch) in both of our cars, so in the event it is something other than a bull, or garter (the 2 we see all the time) we can use the stick to help move the snake out of harm’s way.

But in my “yard” we hardly ever find anything, only little garters, we pick them up and show them to our little girl, and tell her that they are a “good” snake, that if she sees them it’s ok. We have a SD herp book, and show her the ones that are “ok” and the ones to stay away from.