Subject: Re: Snakes in the garden
Newsgroups: triangle.gardens

In article <[email-masked]> 
[email-masked] (Kluchar, Cynthia L.) writes:

>Anybody know any kinds of plants that repel snakes?  Although I haven't 
>seen any (Copperheads) YET this year, last year I had two Copperheads in my 
>yard in May.  I can tolerate the little worm snakes, the black snakes, the 
>grass snakes, mind you,,,, but I get the willies when I see Copperheads. 

Assuming that Copperheads wander your yard in search of food, i.e.
mice or other rodents, having one or more cats around will go a long way
toward solving this problem. The cats must have been taught, as kittens,
to hunt by their mother. My impression is that unspayed female cats are
best at hunting for food and do it more often. Mother cats will hunt, kill
and bring their catch back to their kittens to play with and eat. Mine will
even do this for her grown offspring, sometimes bringing in grown rabbits.
I encountered numerous copperheads around (and one inside!) my house in
the country until I stocked the property with feline friends. In recent years
I've only seen one baby copperhead around. Mowing and removing thickets
and piles of wood or brush will help considerable. Copperheads will be
attracted to any locations where mice can make nests and breed, i.e. under
piles of boards, etc.

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[email-masked]