Snake!!

[Saltypool]

FC - 6.5
CC - 0
PH - 7.5
TA - 80
CH - 250
CYA - 75
Salt - 3800
Temp - 84
Weather - It's coming

So I open the skimmer lid with the tool this evening. There is a long thing, looks white. Oh dear, it's the belly of a snake! Run to get husband. He concludes it is dead. This can't be true, they are always alive, wrapped around the small ledge & usually striking. He gets the snake out. The middle of it is crushed. A mystery...the skimmer can't do this. This appears to be another meal the hawks have dropped. There are two nests behind the pool, lots of woods.

I've included a pix so everyone else can have nightmares tonight!!
Trish

 

[imrodee]

eeeeuuuu.

 

[samiguy]

WOW!! How long is that.....14-15 feet long?? We have those around here too.. I think they are called "just soiled my drawers" . Usually what happens when I find them in the skimmer.................

 

[Leebo]

Leave it on the deck.....helps keep the bird poo away.

 

[kenandshari]

That's about the size of the ones we've found. Mostly harmless ones and only about 4-5 total in 2 seasons of owning a pool. Of course there was the one weekend that we came home late at night and I stepped out back and stood on the steps of the pool (ankle deep) for a few seconds until noticed a 3' copperhead swimming in the deep end looking for an escape route! We let the harmless ones go free, but that copperhead died that night!

I've tried Snake Away and lime pellets both. I actually think the lime pellets are better for the lawn as they act as fertilizer in south east GA's sandy soil. Also I don't seem to find snakes really at all for about a month after putting the lime out. Could be coincidence though.

 

[Saltypool]

and I did turn the super chlorinate on. Just to make me feel better.

 

[Pointyhead]

That's one of those Copperhead Water Rattlers I've heard about!

And after reaching into the skimmer to empty the basket early one morning and having a face to face meeting a bullfrog (which freaked me out, I can only imagine what a snake would do) , I've learned to always check the skimmer in the daylight.

And speaking of frogs, I came home yesterday and was checking the pool when I saw something in the water moving very fast! I had another frog in the water, but this one was swimming. I guess because my water is so clear now, I could see it well as it swam. Those suckers are quick! I watched him for a good 10 minutes before I fished him out and sat him in the bushes. Guess I'm getting soft in my old age, as I would have killed him before.

Snakes, on the other hand, ....

 

[kenandshari]

Frogs are no problem ... The snakes will catch and eat them!

 

[speedysteve]

Hi everyone, Im a newbie from Scotland & just getting a handle on keeping my pool in tip top condition..

Latest problem, snakes !!!

Just came across 2 of the little buggers in my yard this weekend & i dont mind admitting they scare the begeezus out of me..

Yellow underbelly black topside with a zig zag pattern and very quick ! about 1-2 ft long, I have a small dog and im sorry to say that killing them is my only course of action not gonna risk the dog getting tagged...

Is my pool attracting them ? Ive spoken to the neighbours and they havent seen any snakes yet this year..

Ive tried sprinkling mothballs ( crystal & conventional ) around the pool to try and repel them but of course now I have to watch the dog like a hawk to make sure he doesnt eat them himself..

Any other suggestions ?

I dont like killing anything unnessecarily but snakes just freak me out !! ( Its the first time ive been confronted by a real one as they are extremely rare in Scotland )

SS

 

[imrodee]

I'd be up on the chair right with you, ss.

I have a shaft from an old golf club that I bent at the bottom to make a hook (more like an "L.") to lift off the skimmer cover. I then stir up the debris in there to make sure nothing is hiding under the leaves... Then I use tongs to fish out the leaves, and a goldfish net (like from Walmart) to catch the fine debris. That way I don't have to ever lift out the basket.

I'd be scarred for life if I ever saw a snake in the skimmer. I've already had 2 babies alive and swimming (about the size of a pencil..)

I guess I've watched too many scary movies as a kid. I can't go near the pool at night if the lights aren't on. Silly, I know.

 

[kyle11]

The way I see it is a dead snake is a good snake. It is survival of the fittest in my yard and a snake is bottom on the totem pole. Poisonous or not I will not take a chance with a 6 pound dog running around that both my wife and I would die if anything happened to. Luckily I have only had to kill 1 and that was a couple weeks after we had our concrete poured last year.

 

[anonapersona]

SpeedySteve, I suggest that you take a trip to Jessie Jones Park (1960/I-59 area) to visit their exhibits of local snakes. There are only 4 bad snakes in this area; Copperhead, Rattlesnake, Water Moccasin, and Coral Snake. The Coral Snake is so small with such a tiny mouth that it would have to chew on you awhile to do any damage so unless you find one in the dog's bed don't worry. Of the rest, the Copperhead is most common, the Water Moccasin probably the least unless you are on a bayou or large pond. Almost any other snake you see will be not dangerous. That is, may bite, but not venomous.

I've seen a copperhead in my yard, once in 25 years. I've seen a coral snake 3 times, once in a neighbors yard and two along a creek bed. I've never seen a rattlesnake locally. I've seen what might have been a water moccasin that was curled low in a tree over a pond but kept my distance as they are said to have nasty tempers.

I've seen other assorted snakes, a rat snake who fell from the heavens, apparently dropped by a hawk to go after the rats that dined on the neighbor's birdseed, and a striped garter snake, and a few other unknown snakes. They were not of the big 4 listed above so I don't care about them.

 

[Durk]

Bunch of wimps.

For fifty years, my family had a pool thirty feet from a pond. We must have pulled over a hundred snakes out, including a gorgeous 5-foot King Snake. Mainly black snakes and garden snakes. We released them all back into the pond or field, depending on what they were. Never lost a dog, or anything else. Never saw anything poisonous. (Around here, that is pretty much limited to the Copperhead, and they are pretty rare.)

Now, the 75 lb. snapping turtle was a different story.

 

[kyle11]

Bunch of wimps.

For fifty years, my family had a pool thirty feet from a pond. We must have pulled over a hundred snakes out, including a gorgeous 5-foot King Snake. Mainly black snakes and garden snakes. We released them all back into the pond or field, depending on what they were. Never lost a dog, or anything else. Never saw anything poisonous. (Around here, that is pretty much limited to the Copperhead, and they are pretty rare.)

Now, the 75 lb. snapping turtle was a different story.

Hey I'm enough of a man to admit it. Lol. I can't stand the sight or thought of a snake. Anything else doesn't bother me. Just always been like that ever since getting bit when I was little by a harmless garden snake. Snakes are natural predators, maybe not towards us but Tick one off and it will let you know real quick.

 

[jblizzle]

We LOVE having kings snakes at our house (even found a mating pair) ... reason being:
1. They eat the rodents that attract the rattlers.
2. They will even kill the rattlers!!!

We just had some people over swimming a few weeks ago and there was a 3 foot king snake crawling around in the rocks 3 feet from the pool ... the kids all thought is was cool. I had to keep stepping around/over it to get to the equipment.

 

[karmabiker]

Hi everyone, Im a newbie from Scotland & just getting a handle on keeping my pool in tip top condition..

Latest problem, snakes !!!

Just came across 2 of the little buggers in my yard this weekend & i dont mind admitting they scare the begeezus out of me..

Yellow underbelly black topside with a zig zag pattern and very quick ! about 1-2 ft long, I have a small dog and im sorry to say that killing them is my only course of action not gonna risk the dog getting tagged...

Is my pool attracting them ? Ive spoken to the neighbours and they havent seen any snakes yet this year..

Ive tried sprinkling mothballs ( crystal & conventional ) around the pool to try and repel them but of course now I have to watch the dog like a hawk to make sure he doesnt eat them himself..

Any other suggestions ?

I dont like killing anything unnessecarily but snakes just freak me out !! ( Its the first time ive been confronted by a real one as they are extremely rare in Scotland )

SS

I don't think those will be tagging the dog. Sounds like some flavor of Racer (eastern yellow belly racer or juvenile spotted?). They will keep the mouse population down, and if they do bite the dog ... it wont hurt any worse than a rubberband snap. No fangs, no poison, great snake to have around to keep the frog, roach, mouse population down.

 

[Glock]

I have 3 dachshund dogs. Born killers of varmints. Everything stays out of my yard and I have a huge field behind my house. I have found a few rat snakes in the log rack but I think they get in there while the dogs are in the house.