Beth, do you (or anyone else ) know of a way to rid your yard of snakes? The yard in question is very "snakey" and this pretty much sucks! HELP! Are there any plants that repel them?

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2000

Answers

Well, there's a product called Snake Away, at http://www.ebugs.com/snake_away.htm.

Or, you could raise mongeese, but that'd probably end up like having cats that bring you dead birds, only on a whole new level.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2000

I know that sometimes you can drive the snakes away if you have an outdoor cat, because cats are more efficient mousers than snakes are, and so they'll wipe out the rodents and the snakes will have to go elsewhere.

But that only works if the snakes in question are the kind that eat mice, and if you have several cats who are really good mousers. And then, of course, you've got cats, which are generally more trouble than snakes or mice.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2000

I work as an outdoor educator, and the yard we often use for activities has quite the snake colony hanging out in a little round garden-type area. I discovered them by accident a few months ago when I was running a program in which I had tied a group of college students together and blindfolded most of them (a teambuilding exercise). One of the few who could see saw the first snake and was fortunately more amused than scared. I looked where she was pointing expecting to see an oddly shaped stick, but no - it was a real live snake (harmless garter). Of course, immediately all the rest of the students wanted to know where it was, what it was doing, and whether they were likely to get anywhere near it. The whole thing was hysterical to watch, especially when I realized there were actually 3 or 4 of them. Now that's an activity they'll remember for a while! It did occur to me that I might want to consider finding a way to remove them, since not all groups are likely to be as good natured about it as this one was.

I realize this has almost nothing to do with the topic, but I couldn't resist sharing :)

-- Anonymous, February 06, 2000

As any of my male relatives will tell you, the only correct tough-guy answer to this question is "with a shotgun."

-- Anonymous, February 06, 2000

Thanks to you all, I found the snake away, and it sounds like just the thing!

-- Anonymous, February 10, 2000