I have a Day Care and several children have seen a snake in the yard. One little 4 yr. old screamed for a half hour when she saw one. I am afraid this will hurt my business.
Answers:
One user has a good idea, try learning as much as you can about snakes yourself, and use this as an opportunity to educate the children. Childen fear things like snakes because they are TAUGHT to by largely-ignorant adults. People do not normally teach their kids to fear all dogs or cats, do they? Dogs and cats hurt and kill more people in the US than snakes to, though, so why teach kids to fear all snakes? You can MINIMIZE the chances of a snake coming onto the property by getting rid of as many places for them to hide, and by getting rid of things that attract their natural prey, which is usually rodents or small birds. Most snakes that come onto such property are non-venomous Ratsnakes, looking for a meal of bird eggs or mice and other rodents. It would be a good idea to find a locale person who is able to come catch and re-locate the snake if it shows up again, rather than killing it, which will be certain to traumatize some children and give a very wrong message to others, that if you're afraid of something/someone, just kill it(by the way, I reported both the people who advocated animal abuse by burning or weed-whacking a live animal, as advocating animal abuse is clearly against PetQnA.com policies).
What you DO NOT want to do is put out mothballs; these are HIGHLY toxic to children and pets, and children often mistake them for candy. Small children, of the age that you keep, don't usually follow the "two-second rule" when it comes to eating things off the ground. If you think that having a child spot a snake is bad for your business, how do you think having a child die from eating mothballs while in YOUR care would affect it? Far, far more children die from ingesting common household poisons than die from venomous snake bites, of that I can assure you! Mongooses are illegal as agricultural pests in the US, and snakes aren't the least bit perturbed by ferret smell; I've got both and I'd worry more about one of my big snakes eating a ferret than the other way around! There are no chemicals that are really effective at all in keeping snakes away, in spite of some claims and many old wives' tales.
Burn those bastartds!
buy a weed wacker ha jk
hire someone to take them out aminal controll maby
Buy a mongoose
They have a right to be there, use it as an educational tool instead of trying to control nature.
I don't know if this is true, but I heard years ago that you can sprinkle moth balls around the permiter. For many years I bought 3-4 boxes and sprinkled them around the permiter of my yard. Neither I nor the kids ever saw a snake. I don't know if that made the difference, but it's inexpensive. It can't hurt to try.
I dont know if it works, but Ive heard from several people that wind chimes keep them away! When I saw a rattlesnake in my back yard, I got some big windchimes, and havnt seen one since! Also they say that moth balls are good too, Ive put them around the edges of the house as well! If all else fails, get an exterminator or call animal control!
If you are in a wild area, you will not be able to keep snakes from occasionally wandering through. The wind chime thing is total BS, as snakes are deaf.
I agree with the poster that suggested you educate people about them, stop being afraid, and learn to live with them.
The snakes were there first!
moth balls
Deal with it. Snakes are part of that habitat and deserve it just as much as you do. Use that opportunity to educate your kids about snakes and nature as opposed to figuring out how to get rid of it.
The mothball idea is good. I recommend getting a field guide to snakes, in your area, and try to identify the kind of snake it is. Then, you can teach the kids about it. Maybe that will make them less afraid. Snakes are very misunderstood creatures and most of them are quite harmless.
Don't waste your time with mothballs. They don't work %26 can harm pets %26 the children. Keep your grass short, remove any debris that can be used as a hiding spot, %26 if possible, have someone that knows herps. come in %26 do a thorough sweep %26 search of the area. You may not find all the snakes in the area %26 as long as there are favorable conditions for them (food, shelter etc.) chances are that they'll hang around.
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