Do you kill snakes you find in your yard?

[Skiploder]

Just an interesting observation.... Seems like most that are ABSOLUTELY against it are ones that live in areas that don't have hots, or don't have kids, or both.

The ones that feel this way and don't have kids... consider your neighbors kids.

I don't kill them and we regularly get rattlesnakes in our backyard - and I have two kids.

What good is killing one or two snakes going to do? I bag them and deliver them to a wildlife relocation center/hospital in our area. We always seem to find more. As someone else said, if your backyard is habitat - it's habitat. Killing the odd one you see out in the open doesn't mean your kids aren't still going to run the risk of being bit.

I keep our firewood and other stacks of materials well away from where the children play and have fenced the area off. Educating the kids and relocating potential habitats away from where my kids and other pets play has worked fine for me.

Every few weeks I'll check the firewood and other building material piles and bag any rattlers I see. I get maybe four or five a year.

[Beardedragon]

I vote No, and trust me, we have our fair share of Hots on my new land ( Five acres, two acre pond on it, wooded area, see where im going?)

If I can remove it, I will.I see no point in killing it when removing it is just as effective. But, I do not recommend anyone trying to remove a hot without knowing what they are doing. If I see one not close to any trails or passing through I just leave it be. Many times Ive gotten close ( less than an inch, under the foot close) to steping on Hots and none have even flinched. Though it does scare the Crap out of me, I cant bring myself to kill them. I bring a hook around sometimes because id never reach under something with my hands, its all about knowing the basic things to do which I think would be great to teach your kids just so they know.

[JohnNJ]

There are 10,000 venomous snake bites in the united states each year. 8 people die. Your odds are pretty good of surviving if you are bitten.

Surviving, yes, but in a lot of pain.

True, sometimes people do experience death from a venomous snake bite, but your odds are much better at dying from some other cause. You are 500 times more likely to die from lightening than a venomous snakebite in the United States.

What are the odds of severe damage to your body from a venemous snake bite? Do the odds go up for children?

[candyman88]

We live up in il we have snakes but no poisonous snakes we live by a few ponds and the fox river so we get alittle bit of every things snakes frogs turtles.i wouldn't hurt any anmal thats not going to harm any 1 else

[Oroborous]

I definantly don't...there are plenty of others that do that I know of though.
When I worked at a local pet store, I had a woman bring in the head of a harmless gopher snake, telling me she thought it was a rattler. I think a lot of the people who do kill snakes on their property do so either because they are uneducated about the animals, and view all of them as a threat, or they do it for fun.
As a kid growing up I saw a lot of snakes killed out of sport. I doubt I'd even kill a rattler if it bit me...

[TheReptileEnthusiast]

I also have 2 small boys, but do not kill any snake, hot or not that I find in my florida backyard.

[AaronP]

Nope, if it's a venomous snake I take my hook and bag them and relocate them to a area near my uncle, hardly anyone out where he is.

[DutchHerp]

We live up in il we have snakes but no poisonous snakes we live by a few ponds and the fox river so we get alittle bit of every things snakes frogs turtles.i wouldn't hurt any anmal thats not going to harm any 1 else

VERY few people get POISONOUS snakes in their yard...

[Slim]

Not anymore I don't, but I have been guilty in the past.

[redpython]

The only child that i personally know that took a hot bite was from a copperhead.

The doctors told the parents that she may loose a finger, but nothing happened and she is fine.

I do know a couple others that have taken hot bites. One from a cottonmouth...the hosptial probably did more damage to his thumb than the actual snake bite.

The other was a copperhead bite and the person did not seek treatment.