How can I get rid of garden snakes around my back yard? I live in Michigan.?

Question

My back yard close to the woods. I need something effective and cheap.

Answer 1

Unless they're venomous, don't get rid of them! They serve a vital purpose, and are the reason your house isn't overrun by mice! They really don't want anything to do with you, and will usually try to get away when they see you coming. They're not a bad thing.

Answer 2

Michigan Garter Snake

Answer 3

Garter Snake Michigan

Answer 4

First of all, I envy you. I enjoy snakes and regret that while my suburban Chicago yard hosts a variety of wildlife--coyotes, deer, eagles and Sandhill Cranes flying overhead--never once in over twenty years have I had a snake in my yard. The best solution would be for you to make peace with the snakes. However, I have worked with snakes as a hobby most of my life, and my county's nature preserve personnel often consult me and refer reptile questions to me, so here goes:

I assume the snakes you are attracting include garter snakes, green snakes, perhaps ringneck and brown snakes--all of them nonvenomous and in fact often beneficial in the garden as insect and slug predators. They are probably in your garden because their prey is in your garden.

However, it may be that your yard has become (or once was, if it is a new home) a hibernating site. If the latter, snakes will use the same site for generations--so much so that if their hibernating site is eliminated, snakes will become extinct in the area. Check to see if you have holes, cracks, or even gaps between the earth and your foundations. Plug these. I have seen Fox Snakes (relatively large, rodent-eating snakes) use foundations as hibernating sites.

Another thing to check is if you have ground cover, which can be boards, sheets of metal or plywood, or even woodpiles and stone walls. Snakes are retiring creatures, and ground cover offers them shelter and protection. Eliminate these, and you make the area less attractive to snakes.

That said, I am not aware of any proven snake repellant (there are supposedly snake attractors/traps, which essentially consists of urine-soaked rodent bedding). However, I do recall reading/hearing that para-something (I'm thinking mothballs) repels snakes, so you might encircle your property with that.

Good luck--but reconsider your situation.

Answer 5

Agree with previous answer...those snakes are basically unpaid pest controllers and no need to get rid of them...assuming they're not rattlers or copperheads, just ordinary black or garter or king snakes [the good guys]. When you're out and about, they'll scoot away anyway and continue chowing down on vermin.

Now if you want to get serious, get a wild pig [peccary] and turn it loose out in the yard...they're hell on wheels, er, trotters when it comes to snake-stomping...they even EAT them.

Answer 6

I don't suppose I could convince you that you don't need to get rid of the garden snakes could I. If you must keep them off your property, try sprinkling moth balls along your property lines, but they do break down with the weather and are not good if eaten by dogs, kids etc. The snakes are being attracted by mice, moles, and worms or insects.. You need to remove the attraction.

Answer 7

Kill or exterminate their food source - bugs. Ortho has a good granulated product for long term protection. Use the liquid to knock down the adult bugs and newest hatchlings. This will cause the snakes to seek out more fruitful areas in which to feed.

Answer 8

Put some sulphur around your garden compound, it will help to get rid of the snakes. *sulphur -a pale yellow nonmetallic chemical element found in crystalline or amorphous form.

Answer 9

Get a few Indian cobra's and release them in your back yard. Cobras will eat other snakes.

Answer 10

Try using this...My mother in law swears by the stuff. She lives in Hartland, MI with 10 acres of woods as well. I use the mosquito stuff that this company puts out and it works wonders (Fenton, MI)
It is an all natural repellent and will not harm anything.

http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/snakeaway.htm