Thread: Rattlesnakes! What to do?

I have heard that moth balls repel snakes. I don't know if it is true or not. I found this on the internet.

Snakes tend to follow their prey which usually like to stick to the edges of walls, fences, the base of trees, etc. These are the places where snakes are most likely to pick up on fresh scents of mice, rats and other rodents.

Some studies have shown that it is possible to use some substances that have a pungent and long lasting nature which effect the snakes smelling mechanism in such a way that it will prefer to leave the vicinity of the substance.

Naphtalene is one such substance. Naphtalene is the substance used in moth balls (and you know how pungent that is). Moth balls are really just any one of certain kinds of wax balls that have been infused with naphtalene. Naphtalene can also be bought in liquid form from specialized dealers. In my experience you can spray it onto to porous stone, concrete, wood, dry leaves, trees, etc. All these places are good places upon which to spray naphtalene just as long as they are not washed with water afterwards.

In small areas moth balls may be good because the substance is trapped inside a wax ball and therefore it's release will be slow and over a prolonged period of time. In larger areas you will need to buy naphtalene in liquid form and to spray it directly onto surfaces. Application should be repeated every two months during the snake season for best results. Naphtalene will not harm the envronment or cause any lasting damage to the snake. It will simply cause it go to look for food elsewhere.

Shoot and pan-fry. Tastes like chicken.

Recipe

Not a thread about the album by Lloyd Cole then

ian

I say get a couple of mongooses....er... mongeese.....

I say get a mongoose and while your at it get get a second one.

LOL good post.. but obviously you must have a food source around so as long as you have that you will more than likely have the dominating predator around. Hell i know when the wife stocks up the fridge I'm around the kitchen more ... anyways good luck and use care !!!!

The moth balls might even get rid of the mice too but if you put out D-Con the mice will eat that, and the snake will eat the sick mice and the snake will most likely die also. Might smell bad though.

Originally Posted by CraigJ

I say get a couple of mongooses....er... mongeese.....

I say get a mongoose and while your at it get get a second one.

This little guy with CCI 22LR shotshell will solve the problem. Non-lethal to larger animals and easy to manage.

Depending on where you are located, remember that the canebrake (or timber rattler) may be endangered or protected, and that even bothering it MIGHT get you into some trouble. I don't know if any states actually protect them, but I do know of at elast one municipality that has an ordinance against molesting, harming or killing timber rattlers.
As rattlesnakes go, they have a relatively mild disposition, and are really only likely to bite humans defensively, but with two young ones around, I am 100% with you on finding her a nice new home.

I love snakes, too, and would hate to see it harmed, and from your post, you seem the same (though I do have s snake loving friend that keeps a .410 with bird [he calls it snake] shot inside a small locked closet near the door...but he lives in an area with some real snake problems). Finding a way to move her while allowing your other species to keep living there (unfortuanley rules out moth balls and decon) sounds good, but might be tough. You could always toss a couple king snakes in there, and let them chase her out. King snakes are immune to rattler venom (I think universally) and prey on them. I wonder if the rattler would take off, or fight...if you don't want to see her harmed, it might not be a great idea to test that theory.

I'm with whoever suggested getting a pro in to take her out of there safely. They are not a species to mess around with. They are relatively mild, but without real skills and experience, I wouldn't try getting ehr out on your own (OR POKING HER WITH A STICK...A KING BROWN, JIMBO?? You Aussies are my kind of NUTS!!) They are a pretty thick and muscular rattler that can strike back across 1/3 to 1/2 of her body quicker than you can blink. Again, depending on location, there are levels (and TYPES!!) of toxicity that are QUITE varied, from really nasty neurotoxic (most common in the southeast, which, coincidentally, is also where they are most often called canbrakes....is this where you are?), to almsot as nasty hemotoxic, to some mixture of the two, to other areas (called type C timber rattlers) that have rather weakv venom, but impressive venom yields.


Damn....never realized I actually remebered so much about them. I read up on them when I started hiking in an area with one of the last established populations of Timber Rattlers in my state.

Don't ever get a mongoose after a rattler unless you want to see it die. They strike faster than cobras who lunge with a hood (open parachute ) instead of strike with lightning speed... Rattlesnake vs. Mongoose = Dead Mongoose.

FWIW, you already know what I'd do... That snake would have the most pimped out den in snake history because I'd give him the house