How can I discourage snakes from coming into the yard?

Snakes often occur in the vicinity of suburban and urban residential areas. They can even show up occasionally in your backyard. If the presence of snakes is deemed undesirable, removing their shelter is one of the most effective ways of discouraging them. Eliminating rock piles, brush piles, and areas of tall grass will cause snakes to seek a more suitable habitat. Store lumber, wood piles and other debris around the home at least 18 inches off the ground. Controlling insect and rodent populations in the area will also help to discourage snakes by eliminating their food supply. Snakes will sometimes enter houses, barns and other buildings because they are attracted by the presence of rodents and insects as well as by the cool, damp, dark shelter provided by these buildings. To keep snakes out of houses or other buildings, you must seal off all entry points. Snakes usually enter a building at or below ground level. For this reason, all openings around water pipes, electrical outlets, doors and windows should be sealed. Any holes in masonry foundations around the home should also be sealed off with mortar. Hardware cloth or sheet metal can also be used to seal holes in wooden buildings or siding.

How to Avoid

Learn to recognize the snake species that are likely to be in the area. Please do not kill a snake - even a venomous one. Snakes serve a valuable function in the environment. The majority of bites result from people taking unnecessary or foolish risks with venomous snakes. Understanding what snakes look for in suitable habitat can help you know when to be wary. Understanding their behavior will help you know what to do if you encounter one. Snakes like tall grass.

• Keep the lawn around your home trimmed low.

• Remove any brush, wood, rock or debris piles from around the residence - they make great hiding places for snakes and their prey - rodents.

• Always wear shoes while outside and never put your hands where you cannot see them.

• Be careful when stepping over fallen logs and rock outcroppings.

• Take care along creek banks and underbrush.

Snakes do not prey on humans and they will not chase you, in fact they usually retreat or escape if given the opportunity. The danger comes when they are either surprised or cornered. Do not play around with a dead snake, they have been known to bite and envenomate. Get a good field guide and keep it handy especially in the field.

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What to Do If bitten,

1. Assume envenomation has occurred, especially if initial symptoms are present. Initial symptoms of pit viper bites include fang puncture marks; in addition, they almost always include immediate burning pain at the bite site, immediate and usually progressive local swelling within five minutes, as well as local discoloration of the skin. Initial symptoms of coral snake bites include tremors, slurred speech, blurred or double vision, drowsiness or euphoria and a marked increase in salivation within four hours; however, life-threatening effects from coral snake envenomation may not be evident for 24 hours or longer.

2. Identify the species of venomous snake that inflicted the bite, if possible, taking care to avoid another person being bitten. Identification is not necessary, but may be helpful.

3. Keep the victim as calm as possible. This helps reduce the spread of venom and the onset of shock.

4. Keep yourself and any other members of the group calm as well. This will help reassure the victim and ensure that the appropriate first-aid measures are followed, as well as preventing anyone else from becoming injured.

5. Know and be alert for the symptoms of shock, and institute the proper treatment should it ensue. Difficulty in breathing and/or kidney failure are frequent symptoms of envenomation.

6. Wash the bite area with a disinfectant if available.

7. Remove jewelry such as rings and watches, as well as tight-fitting clothes, before the onset of swelling.

8. Reduce or prevent movement of a bitten extremity, using a splint if possible; this helps decrease the spread of venom. For the same reason, position the extremity below the level of the heart.

9. Get the victim to a medical facility as soon as possible and begin treatment there with intravenous antivenom, crystalloid solutions and antibiotics. Antivenom treatment is generally most effective within the first four hours of envenomation, and is ineffective after 8-10 hours.

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What NOT to Do If bitten,

1. Do not make incisions over the bite marks. This can result in significant damage to already traumatized tissue, and can damage intact structures such as nerves and blood vessels, enhance bleeding caused by anticoagulant components of venom and increase the rapid spread of venom throughout the body if the circulatory system is compromised. A suction device, such as the Sawyer ExtractorTM, may be used without making any incisions. This device may remove significant quantities of venom, although its efficacy has yet to be conclusively determined.

2. Do not use a tourniquet or other constricting ban except in extreme cases of envenomation, and then only if properly trained in the technique. Such devices are of no value if applied more than thirty minutes after the bite, and if improperly used they can restrict blood vital blood flow to the traumatized tissue and possibly result in the amputation of an extremity. Unbearable pain can also result, and the improper loosening of such devices can allow sudden systemic absorption of venom.

3. Do not use cryotherapy (including cold compresses, ice, dry ice, chemical ice packs, spray refrigerants, and freezing) for the same reasons that the tourniquets should be avoided, and also because it can increase the area necrosis.

4. Do not use electroshock therapy, a method popularized following publication of a letter from a missionary in South America reporting its effectiveness in treating bites from snakes of uncertain identity. Several controlled clinical trials and at least one on humans have failed to demonstrate any positive result; moreover, the potential negative results from the uncontrolled use of an electric charge are obvious.

5. Do not drink alcohol, as it dilates blood vessels and increases absorption from the circulatory system, and thus helps spread venom faster.

6. Do not use aspirin or related medications to relieve pain, because they increase bleeding. A pain reliever not containing aspirin, however, may be used.

7. Do not use the pressure/immobilization technique, which consists of firmly wrapping the entire limb with an elastic bandage and then splinting, especially for pit viper bites. The theory behind this treatment is to confine the venom to the area of the bite until reaching a medical facility, but studies have shown the technique to be ineffective or worse with venoms which produce local swelling and tissue damage.

8. Do not administer antivenom in the field unless properly trained in the procedure, unless evacuation to a medical facility will take many hours or days, or unless envenomation has been extreme. Intramuscular or subcutaneous application of antivenom has proven to be much less effective, and in some cases ineffective, than intravenous administration. Acute allergic reactions to antivenom can occur, and contemplated field administration of antivenom should include provision for a sufficient supply of epinephrine (adrenalin) to counteract any such potential effects.