Please, before you automaticly reach for the shovel take the time to understand more about these creatures, they are actually extremely benefitial to the enviroment, unlike the majority of predators which are under the pest status. A single snake will eat hundreds if rodents and insects that really do cause damage, and some species even eat venomous snakes. Infact many farmers love having them around as one of the best pest controllers out there. Most species are 100% harmless, its always better to take a few minutes and learn to ID them instead of automaticly killing all of them, as well as teach children to respect and not touch them. People fear what they dont understand, take the time to learn about them and you'd be surpized just how important and amazing they are. Respect will do more for us and everything else instead of fear, and this is a case in which its better to learn to live with most species then it is to fight against it. That being said there are a few tricks to help prevent them from where you want them, the #1 thing you need to know is they hate being out in the open, so by removing clutter, mowing lawns ect is going to be the most effective way of keeping them away.
