Rattlesnake in my front yard! Now what???

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I posted this in another forum a few days ago, but I'll put it up again in case you missed the first post.

Next time you have a hot day get a dozen or so bags of ice and drop them around the house and other areas you suspect may be havens for rattlers.

They will sense the cool spot and travel to the bags and curl up. Because they will chill quite a bit from being next to the ice it will slow their reactions and they will be fairly easy to decapitate with a shovel.

Watch your step when you go to inspect the bags. There may be one en route to the cool spot.

We have a lot of Mohave greens, which are the deadliest rattlers in North America. I use this method every spring as soon as we start getting into the '90s. It is very effective.

Don't bother calling animal control. It is not their job. They take care of domestic animals. Fish & Game will come out and take care of relocation if you can pinpoint the snake, but by the time they get there it will be gone.

Don't believe anyone who infers they aren't a danger. They're just plain foolish.

Go to the hardware store and get a long-handled shovel with as flat a blade as possible. That's all you need.
 
I hope folks know to bury the head.If yellow jackets feed on a dead rattlesnake[and they will]the bite of the yellowjacket is worse than the snake.I had an uncle bit by yj and He was'nt alergic to bees,His head swelled up badly,the only thing they could figgure was it had been feeding on a rattler.
 
Hmm heard from both sides of the fence on this one. I'm usually on the don't kill it if you don't have to, but you've already expressed that it was too close to your home/loved ones for comfort. If you can catch it uncoiled then the stick and shovel method will end it quick, if its coiled then yes you want to use that pellet gun from out of strike range.

I try to avoid killing snakes and spiders if I can, doesn't mean I want black widows in my shoes and copperheads in the toilet. I also don't have any children to worry about.
 
Simple enough use the CCI snake shot if it 38 spcl or bigger. One shot will dispatch it. And one shot will not be noticed by neighbors they are fairly quiet a bit louder than a primer pop

Pellet gun will also kill them hit the head. Not as effective as snake shot.

Flat nose shovel is effective,lots of edge space to cut with also alot of surface area to slap with (blunt force)

Don't mess around with relocation greater opportunity to get bitten. And dont ignore it, it wont go away and may end up bitting a family member, pet or guest.

If it happens to be a Mohave it will stand its ground and it will come at you so dont "F" with it, kill it quick.

Remember even with its head removed it can still bite and the body can still strike thier nervous system is creepy.. Ive had frozen headless bodies start to move again when I would thaw them out to skin them.

ST~
 
small kids and elderly around our house all the time
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I read this as meaning that letting it be is a no-option. I generally will not kill even a poisoness snake, but if it's near the house, that's it's mistake. If I come across it in the wild, that's my mistake, and I'll let it be.

but I live in a neiborhood
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Fuel and moth balls sounds good. But those suggesting those solutions, would you let your kids play at their friends house 4-5 doors down?

A neighborhood has too many people in too close of a proximitty. Many of which are curious children, that travel in unsupervised packs, and are easily goaded into doing something they know is stupid.

I don't have children. I don't live in a neighborhood. I don't generally kill snakes for no reason. But with those 2 qoutes, from the OP, it needs to be dead. Suggesting anything to the contrary, could be detramental to the life of an elderly person, or a child.

Wyman
 
I think you have to kill it. A long-handled shovel to it's head works nicely. Or even a large rock well-aimed to the head will incapacitate it enough to allow you to kill it with a shovel.

I have seen killed several cottonmouths in Florida, and even after injured, they will try to attack a car that drives by or a human etc...

The antivirus the hospital will use on you if you get bit is major major cost (something like $12,000 per dose).

Good luck, and be safe.
 
Back home in Florida, when I was a boy, I used to take care of them with an old Cane Machete (it has a mild hook on the end of the blade) when any of the poisonous snakes got close to the house in the yard. Otherwise just avoided them.

Of course when you run into a Water moccasin/cotton mouth, some of them can get damned aggressive, still found the ole, cane machete to be most effective.

Coral snakes weren't much of a problem, primarily because they ain't pith Vipers like the Water Moc and Rattlesnake.

We used to keep and milk the venom of the poisonous snakes and sell it to the local hospitals IIRC for them to generate anti venom. Raised a lot of money for the Biology department in my High School. I doubt the putzes that run public schools today would allow that to happen, now.

In the Boonie's I tended to avoid the snakes, but if they came around the house again, I would use the machete again.

If you must use a firearm for snakes I recommend a 22lr. I have used 22shorts too. Both work just fine.

Seems a lot of folks don't shoot well enough to use solids, and use "snake" shot loads or a shotgun. If a shotgun is all you have, fine.

But I prefer a regular bullet in my sidearms and rifle/carbines. Just hit it.

Go figure.

Fred
 
A child could kill one with a stick if they wanted to.
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With a 10lb sledge on the end of it, maybe. I can see it--"Johnny, put down that GI Joe, take this T-Ball bat & go smack that 6' rattler". That'll teach him to be a man!! I can bench 250, and I have unloaded on big westerns w/ a gardend hoe & bounced it off. I prefer a large axe, or the afformentioned #8. Never thought of letting my 7 year old handle it--I'll give that a shot next time.:D
 
I live on a ranch in Wyoming and rattlers are an every day occurrence.

Take a shovel and divide the snake in parts. :rolleyes:


If you can't afford a shovel, rocks work just fine.:evil:
 
If you spread sulfur or lime on the ground snakes will not cross it. +1 on the mothballs if you scatter them around your home the snakes will stay back. The sulfur or lime will wash away every time it rains is the only drawback to those methods.
 
I live in a typical residential neighborhood. Recently one of my neighbors had their miniature dachshund bit by a rattlesnake. The dog was on the back patio and checking something out under the propane cooker. It turned out to be a rattlesnake and bit the dog on the nose.

The cost was about $1,000 to get the dog back in good shape. Could have been a lot worse if it had been a small child.

Any rattlesnake in my yard gets the hoe and shovel treatment.
 
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