Ponds

[Donna4200]

Just wanted to ask when you build a pond does it bring the snakes around? Here in Texas there are Cottonmouths and they like water, Copperheads, and Rattlesnakes. We have had rattle snakes and I have seen one Copperhead but it took off as soon as it seen me, and they move fast. Of course there are rat snakes also and I have heard they like to get the eggs! So my concern is will the water bring more snakes.

 

[zazouse]

Sure it will but that is part of living in the country, that is why i live in the country.
I have 4 ponds and a fresh water resivor and i get snakes turtles beavers even alligators on occasion but i ain't never been hurt by none of them and my ducks and geese lay by all of them except the gators cause they will eat a duck in a heart beet so i always watch for gators even though they should not be this far inland.
Keep the area around the pond clean and brush free and it will help you see the snake and the snake will be able to see you and stay out of your way, just don't give the places where they can make a home by your pond, just like having debree on your place, that is a hidding place for snakes so it is not just water you need to be concerned about if you fear snakes.
It is a constant battle with debree piles here cause DH is gonna fix alot of stuff,

This is a banded water snake fishing in one of the ponds.

 

[Donna4200]

Yes I know about keeping the grass cut and boards and debris kept up but not sure of having a pond. When we first bought our place there was a pond but we filled it in because of snakes. But going on our forth year I'm kinda kicking myself for filling it in, and I'm still not sure yet if I want to make another one. With our new baby gosling we are kinda pondering it around. The thought of snakes just gives me the chills I don't like them at all !!! I guess my mother put the fear of snakes in me. My family, are original Texans and my mom always warned us about snakes but because I was born and raised on the coast of Cali we didn't have to worry about poisonous snakes.Now here I am back to our roots and have to think about the snakes.

 

[zazouse]

I am more afraid of the spiders i do not see, i have been bitten alot , 2 times it was real bad, and once a bite almost killed me, i truly thought i was gonna die from it, i don't hate spiders and am not afraid of the ones i see but everytime i get bit i wonder if it was a bad one for a few days

 

[Donna4200]

We had the brown recluse out in Cali and the black widow but so far I haven't been bit and really don't know what spiders are here. I just know that the chicken and guineas keep most of that down so don't really worry about them as much as snakes. There has been a few people around here that have died from snake bites. And these are people that have been raised down here around them. Poor little goslings one of those big rat snake would probably eat them.

 

[wlhtx]

Donna, where are you in TX? We built our new house about 100 ft from our own personal pond that is about 3 acres big. The pond has been here forever, and snakes are an issue. Particularly water moccasins. Thankfully though I have a husband that does an excellent job weed eating and mowing around the pond, and we usually have a gun with us specifically for killing snakes whenever we run across one. My DH is very vigilant. However, we wouldn't live anywhere else. We were in Dallas for years, but I would rather fight snakes than traffic any day...

To be fair, as much as I am freaked out by snakes, you're going to have predators everywhere. In our pond, the snakes haven't been nearly as deadly to our ducks and geese as the big red tail hawks and owls that live in our pasture.

And as for spiders, if you were in TX during the summer of 2011 and recall that 100 year drought we had - that turbo boosted the number of poisonous spiders that we have here. Black widows particularly thrive in super dry conditions. Even having our adult chickens free ranging around our home last year, we have had a nasty time fighting the spiders. I have moved the chickens and now literally have the exterminators coming to spray around our house once a month.

 

[Donna4200]

We live close to Austin, but we are out but close at the same time. This is the first time in my life that I have lived this close to a big city, and the traffic is a nightmare. For the bugs the first year they were pretty bad but after we got the girls (chickens) the bugs don't seem to be as bad almost nonexistent except for the gnats. Even the snakes haven't been that bad but I watch all the time for them. We have had four rattlesnakes three rat snakes one copperhead and another one we didn't know what kid it was but not poisonous at least we think but we don't get close enough to matter.We have had a couple of roaches but I spray for them so haven't had a problem but again I think the girls keep them and we also have the guineas.The thing that there is a lot of is fire ants but we also try to spray them close to the house, I had the goslings out today and one of them ate one of those little tiny ants and I thought hm but don't know about the fire ants.
How far east are you wlhtx ? if you have a 3 acre pond you must have a nice big piece of property. I don't think I would like to be that close to a big pond even though it must be beautiful on a full moon.

 

[wlhtx]

We are really deep east Texas - about 30 minutes from Shreveport, LA. We're so far out in the sticks now that we can't even get pizza delivered at our house! But we love it. And living on a pond is great. We built where we always have a cool water breeze blowing onto our house in the heat of summer. And we eat fresh fish for dinner a lot.

 

[Donna4200]

Nice it sounds wonderful, I like staying home to. Years ago we came down to the gulf coast to get a fishing boat so we drove all along the coast all the way to St Pertersbug Florida, haven' t been up around your neck of the woods though. One of these days we will have to take a road trip and go see more of the south, I just don't know what I would do with all the animals if we were gone more than a day.
My hubby used to commercial fish on the Pacific Coast so we always had ocean fish to eat. Kinda miss all the sea food we used to get. But I don't miss the Cali weather though. We love the weather down here it is so nice to sit on the porch and watch the animals with the warm breeze in the evening. Your pond sounds nice to with a breeze blowing off of it tward your house. For the pond I don't know yet I just don't want the snakes to come around more.