How to get rid of Northern Water Snakes?

Question

I know it is not legal to kill them and I understand they are beneficial to the environment by keeping the levels of pests down but we have a family of them that swim near our lake and have even come to bask in our yard. I was wondering if there was a safe but effective way to keep them from nesting there next year and to keep them away? I have even seen one right in front of me while I was swimming and while I know they will not necessarily bite unless threatened, and are not poisonous, some of our guests are wary and will not get in the water knowing that there are snakes. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

move to the south

Answer 2

You need something that likes to eat them -- like a king cobra. ;-)

Answer 3

I would not want to swim where there are snakes either!!!!! I am sure all of the tree huggers will not like my answer, but I don't care. Throw out some ping pong balls. They will think that they are eggs and they will eat them. It is not illegal to leave ping pong balls out, but they will do the trick! Snakes multiply by the dozens and I would not want  that in an area that is for swimming. There was an article in our local newspaper where there was a snake problem at an apartment complex in my area and they did this and it worked well. These are not little puppies and I wold not want them cuddling up next to me!



Like I said, the tree huggers would not approve! You may want to sack them up and let them all have one for a gift!Really if you still want to get rid of them without killing the sweet little things, you can put moth balls out around your yard and lake. They hate the smell and wil move on.

Answer 4

The answer from "lovemypoodles" is silly. Water snakes won't eat ping pong balls. They don't eat eggs, and they hunt by smell, and ping pong balls don't smell like food. Even if they did eat them, they would just regurgitate them. It's goofy thinking that this will kill them. And using moth balls is a myth. What are you gonna do, spread them around the entire lake? Nonsense!