"JB" wrote in message
ink.net...
I have a 3,000 gallon pond. During the summer, I'm in it weekly trimming
dead leaves from water lilies, thinning out water lettuce and cleaning the
pre-filter on one of the two pumps I have running. Today, when gathering up
a handful of water lettuce, I also picked up a snake skin that was floating
in the water. It was about 3 foot long. I couldn't tell what type of snake
it was; there are many different types where we live - king snakes,
copperheads, water moccasins and various other types. We live on a lake and
the pond is about 200 feet from the water so a water moccasin is not out of
the realm of possibility.

Here's my question: Anyone else have experiences with finding snakes in
your pond? If so, any advice on how to remove them? I'm not sure if it was
just passing through or has taken up residence.

I live in Middle TN where snakes are abundant and I too am near a lake. We
never found an effective way to keep them out of our ponds. The smaller and
more slender ones go right through the bird netting. Several a year get
snagged and killed in the nets. Fortunately the few young goldfish they may
take are not missed. Just be very careful where you put hand and what you
grab when in your pond. I once grabbed the posterior end of a 16 lb
snapping turtle I thought was a rock that fell in from the berm. The nets
keep this finger-removers out of the ponds now.

To cut back on snake hiding places we relocated the large shrubs in front of
the house, and the storage from under the front porch. These were snake
havens as the house is close to both ponds. We also removed some large
plants and shrubs along the berm. We've seen fewer snakes this summer but
that may be because of the intense heat, not the lack of cover.
--
KL....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
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