Snake in my pond

[msmidwick]

I have a nuisance snake who is eating my eggs. It is harmless really, but we don't like snakes and we don't feel a need to kill it nor do we don't want to feed it! Next time it is in the coop we are going to re-locate it far, far away.

 

[msmidwick]

Oh, forgot to mention,,,, Snake b gon worked until it rained and then it wasn't effective any longer. Rather expensive too!

 

[SDenton]

Found this dude chasing frogs in my pond today. Think it’s a yellow bellied water snake. Eats cray fish and frogs and salamanders. All of which live in my pond.

Fairly harmless but don’t want snakes near my ducks. Anyone know a good way to get rid of snakes other than shooting them which is my wife’s solution

Friend suggested styrofoam balls. Snake thinks they are eggs and eats them and it kills them. But researching these snakes they don’t really go for eggs. And with the amount of crayfish that live in my pond I don’t think it will be desperate enough to try something off menu

Someone recommended Ortho Snake B gone to Keep snakes out. Anyone have any good ways to drive and keep snakes out of the pond and yard?

Inyet

Found this dude chasing frogs in my pond today. Think it’s a yellow bellied water snake. Eats cray fish and frogs and salamanders. All of which live in my pond.

Fairly harmless but don’t want snakes near my ducks. Anyone know a good way to get rid of snakes other than shooting them which is my wife’s solution

Friend suggested styrofoam balls. Snake thinks they are eggs and eats them and it kills them. But researching these snakes they don’t really go for eggs. And with the amount of crayfish that live in my pond I don’t think it will be desperate enough to try something off menu

Someone recommended Ortho Snake B gone to Keep snakes out. Anyone have any good ways to drive and keep snakes out of the pond and yard?

Interesting, we had a similar experience this week except we grow the frogs for sale/consumption in a compound beside our turkey yard. We had just had a good number of tadpoles hatch a couple of weeks earlier which were developing well as normal. But morning check revealled suddenly no tadpoles. Close inspection found a very well fed snake in the pond. Snake removed and more fine netting installed to try and prevent their visits. We get quite a few snakes of various species, most are not unwelcome until they impact on our livestock or safety. We've removed a python after it consumed a couple of chickens but then couldn't get back out and recently a king cobra just because they're highly undesirable specially with our young child running loose.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Inyet

Interesting, we had a similar experience this week except we grow the frogs for sale/consumption in a compound beside our turkey yard. We had just had a good number of tadpoles hatch a couple of weeks earlier which were developing well as normal. But morning check revealled suddenly no tadpoles. Close inspection found a very well fed snake in the pond. Snake removed and more fine netting installed to try and prevent their visits. We get quite a few snakes of various species, most are not unwelcome until they impact on our livestock or safety. We've removed a python after it consumed a couple of chickens but then couldn't get back out and recently a king cobra just because they're highly undesirable specially with our young child running loose.

Wow! Living with King Cobras sounds way too exciting! Where do you live? What kind of frogs do you breed?

 

[immortalight]

I hope you don't have to shoot the snake.. I wish I had more ideas about how to help. A wildlife removal service might be able to catch it and move it for you.

 

[HargroveOutdoors]

Found this dude chasing frogs in my pond today. Think it’s a yellow bellied water snake. Eats cray fish and frogs and salamanders. All of which live in my pond.

Fairly harmless but don’t want snakes near my ducks. Anyone know a good way to get rid of snakes other than shooting them which is my wife’s solution

Friend suggested styrofoam balls. Snake thinks they are eggs and eats them and it kills them. But researching these snakes they don’t really go for eggs. And with the amount of crayfish that live in my pond I don’t think it will be desperate enough to try something off menu

Someone recommended Ortho Snake B gone to Keep snakes out. Anyone have any good ways to drive and keep snakes out of the pond and yard?

Good news! This is a watersnake species (It's a tad blurry for me to say for sure, but it looks like a Plain-bellied Watersnake -of which there is a subspecies called the yellow-bellied watersnake). As such, they are non-venomous and feed almost exclusively on fish/toads. Plus, the size of this snake looks to be approximately 1-2 feet, far too small to do any harm to your ducks. It's max prey size is something about the size of the frogs you saw it chasing. So your ducks will be fine!

The bad news - the snake away, and snake b gone products don't work, unless you're a pest control company looking to make money with a clever marketing scheme. And even if you killed this particular snake, you're going to have more so long as habitat exists for them to move into. Killing one just opens up room for another to move in, and it's entirely possible the new tenant might be a species that you really don't want (like a cottonmouth). This pond seems like it's probably a nice place for watersnakes to be, so probably not the best idea to indulge in a futile never ending loop of snake "removal".

I'd suggest removing potential habitat such as cover (wood piles, flat rocks, etc) and basking areas (large rocks, logs, trim low hanging limbs) along your pond edge. Keep the grass short and well mowed. Alteration of the habitat and removal of the food source (though I don't see how you could feasibly remove prey items from your pond without drastic measures) will cut down on the number of snakes that can live in the pond and therefore the number of snakes that you will see.

 

[seraphine]

Found this dude chasing frogs in my pond today. Think it’s a yellow bellied water snake. Eats cray fish and frogs and salamanders. All of which live in my pond.

Fairly harmless but don’t want snakes near my ducks. Anyone know a good way to get rid of snakes other than shooting them which is my wife’s solution

Friend suggested styrofoam balls. Snake thinks they are eggs and eats them and it kills them. But researching these snakes they don’t really go for eggs. And with the amount of crayfish that live in my pond I don’t think it will be desperate enough to try something off menu

Someone recommended Ortho Snake B gone to Keep snakes out. Anyone have any good ways to drive and keep snakes out of the pond and yard?

I think the person suggesting styrofoam balls is an idiot. And I don't care who screams at me. Personally I have a phobia about snakes, but to cause them a painful death, is worse than cruel. A true animal loving human should not cause un-necessary suffering. I'm not for shooting them either because we need the balance of nature in nature but at least their death would be quick. Don't buy anything from Ortho ever... MY SUGGESTION IS TO OFFER PRAYERS TO SAINT PATRICK... or cover your pond with hardware cloth...

 

[RJKnott]

Good news! This is a watersnake species (It's a tad blurry for me to say for sure, but it looks like a Plain-bellied Watersnake -of which there is a subspecies called the yellow-bellied watersnake). As such, they are non-venomous and feed almost exclusively on fish/toads. Plus, the size of this snake looks to be approximately 1-2 feet, far too small to do any harm to your ducks. It's max prey size is something about the size of the frogs you saw it chasing. So your ducks will be fine!

The bad news - the snake away, and snake b gone products don't work, unless you're a pest control company looking to make money with a clever marketing scheme. And even if you killed this particular snake, you're going to have more so long as habitat exists for them to move into. Killing one just opens up room for another to move in, and it's entirely possible the new tenant might be a species that you really don't want (like a cottonmouth). This pond seems like it's probably a nice place for watersnakes to be, so probably not the best idea to indulge in a futile never ending loop of snake "removal".

I'd suggest removing potential habitat such as cover (wood piles, flat rocks, etc) and basking areas (large rocks, logs, trim low hanging limbs) along your pond edge. Keep the grass short and well mowed. Alteration of the habitat and removal of the food source (though I don't see how you could feasibly remove prey items from your pond without drastic measures) will cut down on the number of snakes that can live in the pond and therefore the number of snakes that you will see.

I think I’ve convinced my wife to not shoot the snake heh

It is a plain bellied water snake. Yellow bellied to be precise. About 2 feet long. Pretty docile little guy. He let me get right up next to him (or her)

Once I found out it wasn’t a danger to the ducks I Was fine with it. It hunts at night and so it doesn’t come in contact with the ducks really.

And if it’s here hopefully something worse like a cotton mouth won’t move in

 

[Lilyput]

Found this dude chasing frogs in my pond today. Think it’s a yellow bellied water snake. Eats cray fish and frogs and salamanders. All of which live in my pond.

Fairly harmless but don’t want snakes near my ducks. Anyone know a good way to get rid of snakes other than shooting them which is my wife’s solution

Friend suggested styrofoam balls. Snake thinks they are eggs and eats them and it kills them. But researching these snakes they don’t really go for eggs. And with the amount of crayfish that live in my pond I don’t think it will be desperate enough to try something off menu

Someone recommended Ortho Snake B gone to Keep snakes out. Anyone have any good ways to drive and keep snakes out of the pond and yard?

Be thankful you've got a snake. I've got a rodent issue right now, and wish my local snakes were more effective! Here's my daughter wrangling a black snake and relocating because he got a taste for my eggs!

 

[falcon500]

If yellow bellied watersnakes don’t usually bother ducks, and it has plenty of it’s usual food around, the last thing I would do is remove it without introducing something else that will fulfill its role of keeping up pressure on crustacean and amphibian populations. What if, for instance, a copperhead came to replace it? I’m talking about ecosystem dynamics, which I, as a permaculturist, deal with a lot. Basically, the pond’s ecosystem is healthy and abundant enough that it can now support second-tier predators. You have a very desirable snake in that ecosystem “niche”, as snakes go. Remove the snake, and something will take it’s place. You can choose what that is, by introducing a species that occupies its position, or you can let nature decide, which has a very iffy outcome. You are likely to get it replaced by another of the same, or by something worse, that could be dangerous to people and/or ducks. If you did manage, with constant surveillance and tedious, repeated trapping, you would end up with a tremendous ecosystem imbalance, which could potentially kill your pond, in an extreme situation.