I'm a skeptic, too. But I spent a lot of time a week or two ago
reading about different products and there are lots of believers in
this one;
http://www.pestproducts.com/snakeaway1.htm

It uses naphthalene [mothballs] and sulphur and claims that it masks
other odors so snakes avoid the area because they can't smell their
dinner or danger. Jim

Course snakes don't smell do they? Don't they taste the air with their
tongue or some such thing? (I'd look it up, but not in the mood to argue
about something I could really care less about, snakes are rare in my yard,
and other than a rattler, wouldn't terrify me.) But according to this lady,
who is terrified of snakes, it works. Believe it or not, I'm just saying...
;-) Maybe what really works is that she puts it in coffee cans. The snakes
go for a cup of Joe and turn around and slither off to Starbucks. :-D

And RM, didn't we determine the critters in your county... are well... just
odd. :-D ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

"~ jan" wrote in message
...
I'm a skeptic, too. But I spent a lot of time a week or two ago
reading about different products and there are lots of believers in
this one;
http://www.pestproducts.com/snakeaway1.htm

It uses naphthalene [mothballs] and sulphur and claims that it masks
other odors so snakes avoid the area because they can't smell their
dinner or danger. Jim

Course snakes don't smell do they? Don't they taste the air with their
tongue or some such thing? (I'd look it up, but not in the mood to argu
e
about something I could really care less about, snakes are rare in my
yard,
and other than a rattler, wouldn't terrify me.) But according to this
lady,
who is terrified of snakes, it works. Believe it or not, I'm just
saying...
;-) Maybe what really works is that she puts it in coffee cans. The sna
kes
go for a cup of Joe and turn around and slither off to Starbucks. :-D

And RM, didn't we determine the critters in your county... are well...
just
odd. :-D ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us


====================
Taste it or smell it, they'd simply go around something
like Naphtha flakes as I saw them do with my own two
eyes. They don't turn around and go back the way they came.
And why would they? I never understood how anyone
would think they'd do that.

--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

On Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:37:55 EDT, "ReelMcKoi" wrote:

Taste it or smell it, they'd simply go around something
like Naphtha flakes as I saw them do with my own two
eyes. They don't turn around and go back the way they came.
And why would they? I never understood how anyone
would think they'd do that.

My guess, people who have had the opposite experience, such as this lady
has. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

"~ jan" wrote

| On Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:37:55 EDT, "ReelMcKoi" wrote:
|
| Taste it or smell it, they'd simply go around something
| like Naphtha flakes as I saw them do with my own two
| eyes. They don't turn around and go back the way they came.
| And why would they? I never understood how anyone
| would think they'd do that.
|
| My guess, people who have had the opposite experience, such as this lady
| has. ~ jan

Pardon my ignorance but why would I want to keep snakes away from my pond?

That is, if I had a pond... Mine is still in the planning stage... but I'm
really close to starting it. In the meantime I've been providing a small
pool just for tree frogs to breed... and they've taken advantage of it. The
pool is currently teeming with tads and I feed them daily - they get as many
slugs and snails and moths and other bugs as I can find, along with lots and
lots of leafy green stuff, with a liberal sprinkling of dry catfood (they go
nuts for this).

Last year after all the tadpoles had left the pool, and I was using the last
of the rainwater in it for the garden, one day I found five or six garden
snakes swimming in about 4-5" of clear water. They seemed quite anxious to
get out, so I caught them all and released them into the garden. These
snakes are so good at mole control that I want to encourage and protect
them. I'm sad to say that I occasionally kill one inadvertently while
mowing.

"Pat" wrote:

-snip-
Pardon my ignorance but why would I want to keep snakes away from my pond?

That is, if I had a pond... Mine is still in the planning stage... but I'm
really close to starting it. In the meantime I've been providing a small
pool just for tree frogs to breed...

That might be the primary reason. A snake or 2 is unavoidable, but
2 snakes can lead to 100s in a few months. That might threaten
your tree frog population.

Jim

On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 08:34:07 EDT, "Pat"
wrote:

Pardon my ignorance but why would I want to keep snakes away from my pond?

Some do eat fish, frogs & tadpoles, some are poisonous to people.

In the case of the lady my husband knows, she's terrified of all snakes,
doesn't have a pond, but doesn't want any snake in her yard. I believe she
is in a newer subdivision bordering the desert, so she's probably seen
mostly bull snakes and maybe rattlers, before she went with her
mothballs-in-a-can snake prevention. If it works for her... better than
killing them, imo. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

"Pat" wrote in message
et...

"~ jan" wrote

| On Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:37:55 EDT, "ReelMcKoi" wrote:
|
| Taste it or smell it, they'd simply go around something
| like Naphtha flakes as I saw them do with my own two
| eyes. They don't turn around and go back the way they came.
| And why would they? I never understood how anyone
| would think they'd do that.
|
| My guess, people who have had the opposite experience, such as this l
ady
| has. ~ jan

Pardon my ignorance but why would I want to keep snakes away from my po
nd?
=================
Brevity snip.

Snakes will eat fish, frogs, baby ducks etc. Some water snakes are
poisonous.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö