wrote in message ...

I've heard harassment works (if you have the time)
and clearing out the rockwork so they don't have
hidey holes.

I have snakes that live in the water. They rest their heads on the
water lilies. They swim off when they see people. They seldom ever
come out of the water. There is no rock work or other place to hide.

We have drained this pond several times and removed all frogs, fish and
snakes. For some reason they quickly come back when we refill the pond.
Even fish come back. A state fish officer said that fish eggs get
carried on the bodies of the frogs. A soon as the frogs get started,
the snakes start coming. It is like one huge terrarium. Everything
eats something else. The snakes eat each other.

The overflow from our spring fed pond does flow into a creek about a
half mile away. The creatures must follow the water up the hill to our
pond.
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Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
18,000 gallon (17'x 47'x 2-4') lily pond garden in Zone 6
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA