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Copperhead deterrent

5,179 Views | 42 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by Fightin TX Aggie
WestTexAg12
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AG
My dog got bit by a copperhead a couple days ago in my back yard. This is the 4th one I've seen since May.

Our neighborhood backs up to some green space in DFW. Wife wants me to do something about the problem and I told her that there's not much besides reducing habitat and/or me actively hunting them out on a daily basis.

Is there any powder or spray that anybody has used around fence perimeter to deter these little *******s? I'd really like to not have another $1200 vet bill.
SharkinAg
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AG
Do you feed birds or have a rodent problem? They are usually there for a reason.
Caladan
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You might try Snake B Gone. It's made by Ortho.
JSKolache
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AG
they eat cicadas & it's currently cicada season - just keep an eye out
water turkey
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I have a flower bed full of cicadas and yes, copperheads love to eat them.

I have to watch out for them when I am working in that bed.

Not sure how to get rid of them. Buy a pet Indigo snake?
AggieStan
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Moth balls ! Cover the area
MaxPower
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Barn cat?
chet98
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AG
Welcome to my world. I live in NW Austin and backup to greenbelt as well. I've killed 4 this summer (not in a few weeks KNOCK ON WOOD) and probably double that last summer. I mostly attribute that to much fewer cicadas this summer than last down here.

Dog got bitten last spring and bill sounded about the same $$$. I read up on them a ton and learned that they're basically diurnal but during the extreme heat of the summer they become nocturnal. So we check with a flash light before letting the dog out to potty before bed time.

Minimal you can do to deter them it seems. We've only been in this house a few years but I've been working on "modernizing" the landscaping to include ripping out overgrown hedges that reach all the way to the ground, I've filled in old stumps and bottoms of trees that are kind of hollowed out with pea gravel and I keep my bird feeder empty until I think its cold enough that the snakes are hibernating or at least less active.

Also bought one of these for when I DO run across one. Much more effective than a traditional shovel.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Razor-Back-48-in-Wood-Handle-Turf-Edger-61108/205352517
el gato18
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AG
Not sure about copperheads specifically but my grandpa always use to put mothballs out in the flower beds and the back fence that backed up to a creek to deter snakes.
zooguy96
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1. There's nothing that will deter them. That snake deterrent stuff is crap.
2. Remove places for them to hide. Bushes, piles of firewood, etc.
3. Cut your grass lower. They don't like to be in the wide open.
4. Treat areas for their prey. I.e. something to get rid of cicadas or other prey. Etc etc.
I know a lot about a little, and a little about a lot.
flashplayer
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AG
Have you tried fire?
angryocotillo
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AG
My grandma put out a couple of empty wire minnow traps in her yard and has caught dozens in the last few years
The_Waco_Kid
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AG
I've just used sulfur in the past, then shot the ones that got through.
ChampsAg
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Solar mole chasers from Harbor Freight. Serious as a heart attack.

Started using them 10 years ago when we lived in Millican when my wife had to go protect the dogs while I was at work.

Don't know why they work, but they do.
Fightin TX Aggie
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AG
Guinea fowl.
Kyle Field Shade Chaser
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AG
AggieStan said:

Moth balls ! Cover the area


Where do you buy moth balls ? I can't find them anywhere
zooguy96
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ChampsAg said:

Solar mole chasers from Harbor Freight. Serious as a heart attack.

Started using them 10 years ago when we lived in Millican when my wife had to go protect the dogs while I was at work.

Don't know why they work, but they do.
I'm assuming those send out vibrations in the soil? If so, maybe the snakes don't like the vibrations.
I know a lot about a little, and a little about a lot.
Funky Winkerbean
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AG
Motracicletraficificker said:

AggieStan said:

Moth balls ! Cover the area


Where do you buy moth balls ? I can't find them anywhere
Moths-r-us or MothDepot
It is so easy to be wrong—and to persist in being wrong—when the costs of being wrong are paid by others.
Thomas Sowell
texag06ish
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AG
As a matter of fact, there all in the same complex. It's the mothball complex down on 3rd.
hook60
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ChampsAg said:

Solar mole chasers from Harbor Freight. Serious as a heart attack.

Started using them 10 years ago when we lived in Millican when my wife had to go protect the dogs while I was at work.

Don't know why they work, but they do.
How many do you use and where do you place them?
Fightin TX Aggie
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AG
AggieStan said:

Moth balls ! Cover the area
That works against moths.

Maybe try snake balls?
JR Ewing
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AG
For dogs, they have a vaccine for snake bites that you can get them every year. It makes them not have as bad of a reaction in the event of getting bit. Just an FYI...
AgEng06
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AG
Dang, I didn't think we'd get this far without MouthBQ giving you some copperhead trapping tips...
rlb28
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AG
angryocotillo said:

My grandma put out a couple of empty wire minnow traps in her yard and has caught dozens in the last few years
that's crazy. i have't seen dozens of snakes in my lifetime, much less in my yard.
Texas Yarddog
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AG
Motracicletraficificker said:

AggieStan said:

Moth balls ! Cover the area


Where do you buy moth balls ? I can't find them anywhere


Moth balls are very hard to find right now due to the reduction in qualified moth castraters out there.
Hwy30East
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Follow MouthBQ98 and he'll post about all the copperheads he catches in minnow traps.
Kaa98
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Texas Yarddog said:

Motracicletraficificker said:

AggieStan said:

Moth balls ! Cover the area


Where do you buy moth balls ? I can't find them anywhere


Moth balls are very hard to find right now due to the reduction in qualified moth castraters out there.


Why not just shoot em in the nuts?
MouthBQ98
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AG
I dug a 4" deep trench completely around my back yard fence perimeter and then ran 24" wide galvanized 1/4" mesh hardware "cloth" around the base of the fence buried at the bottom in the trench. It leaves a 20" tall vertical wall of 1/4" mesh that smaller snakes that don't tend to climb just hit and then go sideways or turn in a different direction. Too small mesh size for even baby copperheads.

Gates require some creative solutions to complete the barrier but it can be done. Since I finished that, not one backyard copperhead once I cleared the existing ones out.
BlueSmoke
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Start a mongoose breeding side hustle

Nobody cares. Work Harder
Pasquale Liucci
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AG
Love this thread for the seamless combination of serious and non serious solutions
TX_COWDOC
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AG
Have you ever smelled moth balls?
www.southpawprecision.com
Type 07 FFL / Class 2 SOT
Nightforce Optics Dealer
TX_COWDOC
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AG
How'd you get their little legs apart?
www.southpawprecision.com
Type 07 FFL / Class 2 SOT
Nightforce Optics Dealer
O.G.
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As I understand it.....You were supposed to learn a thing or to from Charlie.....dontcha know....
S.A. Aggie
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AG
Not a deterrent but I had some of that fine nylon netting that you use for protecting plants from deer stores under my deck and had a dead snake in it. Same day I had some of the netting on the ground by a large bush pot and there was a dead snake caught up in that one as well.
1990AG
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AG
I thought we had decided that dogs didnt need to go to the vet for a copperhead bite unless there was significant swelling or trouble breathing, etc? Benedryl and watch....No?

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