I am building an apartment complex that has a 2-acre wooded area that will be used as a dog park. Recently, there have been reports of copperhead snakes in that area. Is there any way to get rid of those snakes (repellents or poison or traps or something)? I don't want residents or their dogs getting bitten.

Bulldoze and pave the lot. Otherwise, if there is any food for rodents or cicadas, there will be snakes.

Buy and release a bunch of cats

Plant a bunch of onion and and garlic

Douse the whole area in Ortho snake b gon

All else fails, burn everything to the ground.

The copperheads will move on if there isn't a food source. They eat insects and small rodents and reptiles. Frankly, they're not much of a threat beyond a vet bill.

With extreme prejudice….

Mow and bag the leaf litter. If there is no ground cover, you'll have less of a food source and less of a snake habitat.

Buy some Indigo snakes and release them. They are copperhead killers.

Put some birdbaths out to attract Crows. That will also attract smaller birds that could attract some Hawks.

1. Remove any food sources or places where food would hide.
2. Remove any trees. Copperheads like to eat cicadas by laying at the base of trees and waiting for them.
3. More open area = less snakes.
4. Cut all the trees down for the dog park. More trees = more insects = more snakes.

There's not really a deterrent that will make snakes leave other than removing hiding places for snakes and structure or anything that keeps their prey around.

Ortho snake b gone does absolutely nothing.

Odd fact: In all my years growing up in Central Texas and working outdoors all over the state (never E of I-45) I've never seen a copperhead in the wild.

Most wild things have a tendency to move on when their habitat is destroyed.

The trees must remain as the local tree ordinance requires a certain percentage of your original tree canopy to be preserved on-site. We cleared out much of the heavy underbrush. We have an open, manicured area with turf and benches, but then left the rest of the natural area open for the dogs to have freedom to run around.

Add "snake proof" fencing to the perimeter fence.

"Snake proof" netting will keep out some, but not all snakes (some climb like rat snakes and some can crawl under).

When we constructed "snake traps" (five gallon buckets at the end of a "y" shape and in the middle connected by 2' metal flashing), the snakes would crawl along the base and eventually fall into the bucket. You could do something similar along the edge of the exterior fence.

Again, removing any hiding places or anything that attracts prey (I.e. no bird feeders) is the key.

Buck Turgidson said:

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The trees must remain as the local tree ordinance requires a certain percentage of your original tree canopy to be preserved on-site. We cleared out much of the heavy underbrush. We have an open, manicured area with turf and benches, but then left the rest of the natural area open for the dogs to have freedom to run around.

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I'd keep the "natural area" (based on what it is - pictures would be good) well-manicured - I.e. short grass, area around trees weedeated, no underbrush.

Urinate on them. Copperhead snakes are absolutely disgusted by piss. It has something to do with the vomeronasal organ. Saint Patrick fasted for 40 days and lived on a liquid diet so that he could generate enough piss to drive all the snakes out of Ireland. True story. Hope it helps.

B-1 83 said:

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Odd fact: In all my years growing up in Central Texas and working outdoors all over the state (never E of I-45) I've never seen a copperhead in the wild.

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I grew up in and worked daily in heavily infested copperhead country in coastal Matagorda County.
Historic watercourse of the Colorado River, deep alluvial soil, with very large pecans and oaks.

Wasn't unusual to kill 3 or 4 copperheads a day in the pecan orchard.

Coral snakes were common and got big, saw more of them than water moccasins.

However, just as odd, I never once in 50+ years saw a rattlesnake or scorpion on our land - although both were very common only 10 miles away.

This Tx Parks and Wildlife copperhead video was filmed about 12 miles from where I lived.
I know these folks.

Logos Stick said:

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Buy some Indigo snakes and release them. They are copperhead killers.

Put some birdbaths out to attract Crows. That will also attract smaller birds that could attract some Hawks.

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Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Went through this exact same thing on our property.

Snake-B-Gone, moth balls, garlic, onions, cayenne… I tried ALL the things. Nothing worked. Not even a little.

What worked:
1) clean up the property. Get rid of all leaf litter, stick piles, rock piles, etc. Anything that a snake could make a home in.
2) Trim the grass short and keep it short. Clear all brush if possible. If not, at least cut the bottom of the brush so it isn't on the ground.
3) Food. I can't do anything about the cicadas on my place. But I treated for insects, and that helped the snakes move along. Copperheads are voracious insect eaters.

We saw over 20 last summer in about 2 months, killing 14. Measures enacted in July/Aug of 23. We only saw 1 after that.

This hear, we have killed 3. That's it. When the cicadas are out, we are going to have a copperhead or two coming round (as our neighbor leaves the back of their property with THICK brush. But, we have made our place less hospitable, and it has made a big difference.

Also, our Lab got bitten by a copperhead last July (this the copperhead war). She was totally fine in the end. Swole up read bad for 2 days. She needed little more than a few pain meds. Dogs are amazing resilient, and copperhead bites don't seem to be as bad for them as other vipers (as long as the bite doesn't cause swelling that blocks their airway).

B-1 83 said:

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Odd fact: In all my years growing up in Central Texas and working outdoors all over the state (never E of I-45) I've never seen a copperhead in the wild.

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I never had either til 2012 when I bought a house in Grapevine not too far from DFW airport but a little bit back in the woods.

I have now seen about eleventy billion of them.

Depending on where you are, there may be a bunch of relocators near you. Try reaching out to some in your area and see if they would be willing to come out and do a sweep

Free snake relocation

Based on my experience with a rough collie and now a headstrong border collie, copperheads are a collie dog's sworn enemy.

Two acre dog park? For an apartment complex?

agsalaska said:

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B-1 83 said:

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Odd fact: In all my years growing up in Central Texas and working outdoors all over the state (never E of I-45) I've never seen a copperhead in the wild.

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I never had either til 2012 when I bought a house in Grapevine not too far from DFW airport but a little bit back in the woods.

I have now seen about eleventy billion of them.

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Do you still live in Grapevine?

A few cats that don't like snakes.

B-1 83 said:

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Odd fact: In all my years growing up in Central Texas and working outdoors all over the state (never E of I-45) I've never seen a copperhead in the wild.

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I've never seen a live one in the wild. I have seen several dead ones in the street near my house in the past few weeks. I have a neighbor whose yard must be a hatchery for the things, they kill about a dozen a year.

I have seen rattle snakes and coral snakes (seem to be the most common venomous snake) in my yard.

Buck Turgidson said:

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I am building an apartment complex that has a 2-acre wooded area that will be used as a dog park. Recently, there have been reports of copperhead snakes in that area. Is there any way to get rid of those snakes (repellents or poison or traps or something)? I don't want residents or their dogs getting bitten.

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If you don't want copperheads at your complex, do not let MouthBQ98 live there. He seems to attract them more than circadas do.

No

Belton

small note: Im doubting you want any snakes in dog park…. but whats being reported might not be copperheads. ratsnakes get id'ed often as copperheads by the unknowing.

Take a look at this post on how "cryption" did battle with the copperheads. photo provided.

copperhead fun

True fact: We live next to the Fort Worth nature center and it is a heavily wooded area with our house sitting right in amongst them. We love it here and very quiet and serene with nature and all. Our worst fear when buying the property was snakes. We have always heard to have cats around and you won't have a problem with snakes. Well, after 20 years of living here we have seen 1, yes 1, copperhead. My belief in the "cat theory" has been reinforced ten fold. We usually have 3 cats and all Tabbies and they hate anything that crawls and attacks!! They have never been bitten so we are lucky there. We now have 2 males since one of the cats died and they are still on patrol daily!! Sorry for the long text but I have to share this cool story, especially for cat lovers. One summer night I left my garage lights on and my oldest Tabby, who is now gone to Cat Heaven, was outside making all kinds of strange noises. I went outside and he was circling what looked like a moccasin. He was going round and round that snake and he looked at me like "don't just stand there Kill Him!!" I quickly fetched my garden hoe and beheaded him. It was a moccasin, smelly and nasty. That was one good cat and what a hunter!! He was treated handsomely after now!! Again get CATS and preferably Tabbies!!

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True fact: We live next to the Fort Worth nature center and it is a heavily wooded area with our house sitting right in amongst them. We love it here and very quiet and serene with nature and all. Our worst fear when buying the property was snakes. We have always heard to have cats around and you won't have a problem with snakes. Well, after 20 years of living here we have seen 1, yes 1, copperhead. My belief in the "cat theory" has been reinforced ten fold. We usually have 3 cats and all Tabbies and they hate anything that crawls and attacks!! They have never been bitten so we are lucky there. We now have 2 males since one of the cats died and they are still on patrol daily!! Sorry for the long text but I have to share this cool story, especially for cat lovers. One summer night I left my garage lights on and my oldest Tabby, who is now gone to Cat Heaven, was outside making all kinds of strange noises. I went outside and he was circling what looked like a moccasin. He was going round and round that snake and he looked at me like "don't just stand there Kill Him!!" I quickly fetched my garden hoe and beheaded him. It was a moccasin, smelly and nasty. That was one good cat and what a hunter!! He was treated handsomely after now!! Again get CATS and preferably Tabbies!!

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So true. I learned this from my great uncle who kept lots of cats on his land near Crowell to keep the barns free of snakes and pests and rodents out of the house.

I had a good laugh a few years back. One of the dad's at my son's school hit it big through a business sale and built a very nice ranch home near Athens. He was spending a ton on rodent eradication his first few years in the place. His farm raised mother came to visit and after hearing him ***** about it over dinner went to the local SPCA and bought him five cats. Rodent problem vanished over the next six months.

The issue with cats is that they impact all wildlife, not just the ones you don't like. Birds, lizards, etc.

We had outdoor cats as kids, but all my cats are strictly indoor cats.

If you can do it and contain them, run some hogs. They will find and kill the snakes.