How to get rid of copperhead snakes? *Den found!*

I know they aren't usually deadly but I still don't want to be bit by one and I sure don't want one of my dogs bit by one either. I already lost one dog to a pygmy rattler in FL, don't want to lose another one up here. Had to kill one last night in the backyard right behind the house. Dog went to sniff it and it struck at her but she jumped back in time. So you guys that know, what works best? Some kind of repellant or? We also have quite a few mice around here and I need to get rid of them as well but, it's woods so I realize they aren't going to be eliminated, just want to keep the population down and away from the home. Any and all help, suggestions and information is greatly appreciated, thank you.

Here's a blog on keeping copperheads out of your yard.
https://www.innovativepest.com/blog/post/how-to-keep-copperhead-snakes-out-of-your-yard

A google search of "keeping copperhead snakes away" brings up a lot of different stuff.

https://www.countryliving.com/home-maintenance/cleaning/a30212354/how-to-get-rid-of-snakes/

https://bugwiz.com/get-rid-of-copperhead-snakes/

The mice are the problem. No mice, no snakes. Keep the grass cut and put something out to kill the mice. Or you could get a couple of outdoor cats but get them fixed first. I have old cars everywhere but no snakes. The cats handle that real well.

Amazingly, all the snake repellent products basically say they don't work on X/Y/Z. Flat headed shovel works real good. Wood piles around here seem to be a hot spot for them. My neighbors dog got bit on the lip. He gave the dog Benedryl and her lip swelled up for a day or 2 but she was fine. Dogs seem to handle these things better than we might.

Get rid of the food source ( aka mice ) = gets rid of the snakes

Look around your property. Trash piles , firewood / lumber stacks, loose grass clippings etc etc all attract mice as easy home dwellings

Out here its get rid of the pack rats = gets rid of rattle snakes

Thanks guys. We know the mice are the problem but this is all thick woods around here. We keep the area around the house picked up and have been working on the rest of the property. There are two scrap piles left here from the previous owners but they are way, way on the back of the property. Going to start cleaning that up this winter after the vegetation dies off but it's far enough away from the house not to present a problem. We have a bunch of mice traps on order, don't want to put poison out because of the dogs and have been considering a couple cats. The neighbors tell us the copperheads have always been bad around here, one family with small children moved out after killing seventeen of them one year so, I'm pretty sure we can't get rid of all of the mice or snakes but anything would help.

Get a pet Secretary bird

Guinea hens are the ones you want, if you have some land. They will alert you and are supposed to surround the snakes when they find one. But yes, some good outdoor cats will take care of your mice problem. There are usually are quite a few that need a good home. Contact your local animal shelter.

Add a Jack Russell terrier to you dog collection. Better than a cat for mice and I suspect more than a match for any snakes that cross its path.

Kevin

As someone stated on a previous post; cats are really good. At our fire station we have 3 cats that live on the property. Never any rodent, snake or pest problems. The cats are fixed too. They are the best defense.

Catch a big ol black snake and set it loose on your place. It will eat the mice and kick the sheite out of the copper headed rattler moccasins! Seriously....Copperheads don't want no part of a big black snake.

I would kill ever one of them that comes onto your property and leave them lay around the yard to show the rest of them that some of their kind have NOT survive that yard.
Animals and snakes are not stupid They will get the message

So now we have found the den. Copperheads come back to the same den every year so we need to do something about it but not sure yet what to do. We don't want to pour gasoline or anything like that in there as our well is on the same side of the house. Don't want to set it on fire and burn the mountain down, there is coal and natural gas around here. I've put snake repellant down but really I'd rather kill them off. We killed another the other day in this area and the neighbors tell us one family that lived here killed 17 of them one summer in this same area. They had small children so they moved out after that. Any ideas?

Gas 'em with carbon monoxide? You've probably got a portable source.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxfFfm_0GNY

Dry ice in the hole will cut the oxygen supply. A friend has a dry ice company,he's used it on groundhogs effectively.

I’ve found that 22 shells work well on groundhogs too. I average about seven a year in my back yard. I don’t even have to throw them in the woods as the Coyotes and other creatures stop by nightly for a free meal.

Bird shot in the 12 gauge is effective on snakes too if they come out. We ran a garden hose and hot water in it today. Water started to seep up from the patio 3 feet below the hole but no snakes came out.

How about the deadly smoke bombs they used on ground hogs on farms ?

I will check on that.

Flex pipe, a running vehicle and some sand / gravel to plug the hole after the flex pipe is fed in.

Let the rig idle until snakes-no-more.

Excellent idea, just one question, gas or diesel?

I called TractorSupply here ... guy said that stuff was banned ? .... not PC in this day and age ??

That exhaust pipe idea is a good one

Snakes generally hang around for one reason, food and most of the time it's mice.

Yes.

But exhaust from consumed jet fuel, kerosene, natural gas or propane would all work too.

Thanks Barry.

Understood and we are working on that as well but the fact that copperheads come back to the same den every year would mean they would still come back here to make baby snakes year after year so that is why I want them dead.

CO2 Fire extinquisher. Then disassemble at your leisure.

I don't know if this will work for your situation but it for sure will take care of a lot of bigger breathing varmints. Comes with fuses, light several, pitch them in cover the hole, Available at most any hardware, TSC, home improvement stores. Lots of YouTube videos, and it seems they are all successful getting rid of something with the giant destroyer "gasser".

Mike

On the lighter side you can call Bill from Caddyshack to get rid of them for you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agkistrodon_contortrix#Feeding

You have to not only get rid of mice,
but voles, frogs, insects, and so forth.

Sample quote

Feeding
Roughly 90% of its diet consists of small rodents, such as mice and voles. It has also shown fondness for large insects and frogs, and though highly terrestrial, has been known to climb trees to gorge on emerging cicadas.

Copperhead populations may be reduced by non-venomous Eastern King Snakes
Lampropeltis getula
that feed on venomous copperheads.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lampropeltis_getula

End quote

Hmm, there is a large black snake around here about 5 foot in length and quite a few ring necks. I don't mind them, they are welcome to stay but, I was thinking more on the order of a mongoose.

Lame! Try this and impress your friends

Copperheads are non aggressive snakes been living around them for 15 years. Most humans get bit when getting in the wood pile. If you make noise they slither away. Get rid of the mice. Have had a couple of dogs bit but just swell up for a day or two and they are fine. If I find them near the house I pick them up with shovel and take them back to the woods. A couple of nights ago I was out trying to eliminate a beaver in my lake and watched a copperhead come off the shore and swim into the lake. If you live in the woods you pay attention. I also have a large population of black snakes.

New cars produce little to no Carbon Monoxide. You would have to idle for hours and hours to build up enough to be deadly and not sure you could build up enough.

Call your State Game Commission or Wildlife management. Ask them to remove them or you will take care of them.

Copperheads come back to the same den every year, I live in the woods, 12 miles into the woods so taking them to the woods is just like leaving them here. In my research I have also found that copperheads are responsible for more snake bites, amputations and increasingly more fatalities because people get bad information that they usually aren't fatal so they don't get treated. Antivenom treatments are very expensive and usually require several treatments so people don't get treated or have their animals treated. I will not be taking that chance so elimination is the best and most practical procedure for me thank you.

I used my old crew cab with a cammed 360 and slightly rich Holley. Idled it for four hours.

YOU live in there woods, wait till the copperheads lives matters gets wind of this.

I would have to see a snake before calling them. And even at that it takes a half hour to get back here from the main road and the wildlife management is more than an hour away on top of that. Where that snake would be by then is anyones guess. Flat head shovel or 12 gauge with birdshot which ever is closer will be used.

Why not go to the pet store and buy some mice and XXX the mice and let the snakes eat some jacked up mice?

People buy or breed mice for there pet snakes all the time. Just do it in a different way.

Dogs are not tied up or fenced around here, don't want to poison mine or the neighbors dogs. My 2 neighbors are great people and we get along great, don't want any bad blood so I won't put out poison or poisoned mice. Besides, snakes don't eat dead meat.

This is my home they are the ones that have to leave. If they don't they will be dispatched for eternity.

Can you get a backhoe and dig the nesting hole out?

Not without destroying a bunch of other stuff. It's up against a concrete wall and the side of a mountain with an out cropping of rock. I'm going to fill it in and cover it over with some clean fill dirt. Throw some grass seed on it.

How about pouring a gallon of household ammonia and then a gallon of household bleach into their den Don't breathe those fumes as those two mixed together make Chlorine gas, which can kill you and or damage your lungs
I learn that lesson on those household chemicals the hard way a long time ago by trying to clean some auto parts with them mixed

When we had gophers and other ground rodents in the 1960'-1970's, dad would wait til he seen a mound moving, run over to the garage, pull out a huge jug of acid (not sure what type) and poured it right on the mound. Lawn was dead in that spot for couple months, but usually only had one invader a year til they stopped altogether by 1974.


If you want to get rid of the snakes, try this this. Fill it with cement. It prevents them from coming back and digging it back out and will suffocate those that are in the hole. buckets of cement are easy to mix and carry over and don't leave poisons around for pets to get into. When done, cover the hole with dirt and forget about it. It's the best way. some snake holes can hold more than several dozen snakes and just gassing them may not do much.