Snakes

[Debbie & Gibbs]

We live in East Texas and within the past 10 days have had two snakes. One was on the front porch and last night one on the doggie door porch. I don't know if the one last night was poisonous or not, he's not with us any longer.

Does anyone know of safe products to put around the perimeter of the yard to keep snakes away?

We have the ALD and 3 Westie's, these little guys are the ones I'm most afraid will get bitten by a snake. They are way too curious and they don't back down.

Thank you!

[Amy M. and Molly]

Ro: yes,but at 2:15 on Sunday. This is her second class there, and they are very well organized. Sorry we will miss you! Maybe we will run into each other again on the patio at Z Cafe! :)

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Sorry we're going to miss you! We're at Z at least once a week, but usually for lunch.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

We have rattlesnakes here and I absolutely hate them, terrified, petrified, etc.

Both doods have gone to rattlesnake aversion training - ask your vet or your local forestry service.

Supposedly there is a spray-on product of cinnamon and clove in oil (clove oil?) to make it stick that deters rattlesnakes.  Personally I would like to have a mongoose or several around my house.  Probably not permitted.

In the meantime I am signing up for the spring ( spring summer being the worst rattlesnake near the house season around here) $250 snake spray man. 

Ugh.

[Diana Erhart]

When I lived in Austin we had rattlesnakes and coral snakes in our neighborhood.  There are several things you can do.  One is the snake aversion training.  Scares me to death as I am extremely frightened of snakes but from what I have heard from others who took their dogs to this training, it is very good.  Second, there is a product you can get called Snake Away.  You sprinkle it on the ground and the snakes won't cross it.  However, if there is one already in your yard then it won't leave either.  Plus, it washes away with the rain and doesn't last a long time even if it is dry.  I had a service that came to my house once a month and placed some sort of stronger repellent all around our property and also worked to get rid of any "critters" that would entice snakes to come into our yard in the first place.  Also, if I saw a snake I could call them and they would come right away and dispose of the snake.  I can't remember the name of the company right now but if you are interested let me know and I will try to look up the name.  There is a "rattlesnake vaccine" that you can get from the vet.  It doesn't give them protection from a bite but it does give you time to get them to the vet to get treatment.  We had several dogs in our neighborhood in Austin get bit by rattlesnakes and all of them did survive but it was a long, painful and expensive recovery for them.  

Karen, I honestly think it is unfair to reject an application just because someone's dog got bitten by a rattlesnake.  You can take all the precautions in the world and it still can happen.  Even with all we would do, we still found a baby rattlesnake in our garage one day and a coral snake slithering down our driveway.  Luckily my Charlie instinctively knew to stay clear of them.  He would just bark to alert us that they were there.  I don't think most dogs are like that though.  I hope there were extenuating circumstances beside a rattlesnake on their porch that caused you to reject their application.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There were. :) 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

But I'll also say this: IMO, if there is a possibility that there's a rattlesnake on your back porch, you wouldn't let your two year old child just go out on the porch alone, and you shouldn't be letting your dog do that either. Dogs are like small children, it's our responsibility to keep tham safe regardless of where we live or what might be on our property. 

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

I would agree. We live on about 5 acres. A tad hard to put out any kind of snake repellent covering the perimeter. We have tried a number of repellents and it's just throwing good money after bad. Nothing ever worked. We have seen a handful of Rattlers in our 3 years here...but even one Is too many in my eyes. And sorry, any one we see is killed. Not taking a chance with any one being bit. Other harmless snakes are permitted to slither off.
Enzo is never permitted to roam on her own. She is either with one of us, or in the house. Not willing to chance her meet up with a Rattler or Coyote. The Rattlesnake Avoidance class won't change that, just has the a Rattler Vaccine changed nothing. Those are just an extra precaution on my eyes.

[Rebecca, Kandy & Murphy]

We have a potential for snakes here in So CA too.  We have both of our dogs vaccinated for rattlesnakes.  It would give us the time to get the dog to the vet and will reduce the severity of reaction, according to our vet.  It doesn't eliminate the reaction though.  Even if we always had the dogs on a leash with us, it wouldn't mean that they couldn't get bitten.  But they are also frequently outside with the kids when there is no adult home, so we wanted time to be able to get there, get dog, get to the vet.  Just wish there was a similar vaccine for the kids!  Note for the super protective:  kids are teens, we've never actually seen a snake in our yard, and I don't want to restrict either kids or dogs to the house all afternoon.