How do I get rid of snakes?

[jmowreader]

Folks, I've got about 30 stores I've got to deal with...and they're full of fucking snakes. (Every other building down there is full of them, and our buildings are bigger than most.) Anyone got any ideas on how to get them out of a building?

[annabanana]

1. St. Patrick?

(sorry) I guess they had to move to higher ground too.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Where are you, in NO?

No way to get rid of the snakes until you get rid of the water.

Good luck until the levee is fixed and they drain the city.

BTW: Why is it taking so long to fix the levee? They fixed Wall Street and had the Stock Market open in less then a week and yet we can't fix a levee?

[jmowreader]

15. I'm in Fayetteville still, but I'm planning for the disaster area

Check back to the posts from last night, where I've been made a disaster relief coordinator for my store...which means that I get to figure out how to drain the swamp without having alligators up to my ass.

[wildhorses]

3. try mothballs and get cats

[theHandpuppet]

9. But not both

Mothballs are poisonous to cats. But cats are great snake-killers. One of ours even killed a rattler!

[SofaKingLiberal]

4. Badgers eat snakes.

:)

[Cooley Hurd]

13. ...and mongooses

Perhaps Riki Tiki Tavi's on call? ;)

Seriously, here's a product:
http://www.pestproducts.com/snaketrap.htm



Here is how the Snake Guard Snake Trap works: The unique design of this trap allows a snake (large or small) to enter and then become entrapped in a special non-toxic glue. No live mice or other baits are required. The Snake Guard trap utilizes the snake's need for traction (which makes it crawl along floors next to walls). Placing the trap on floor, next to a wall is all you need to do. Snakes also prefer the low profile, sheltered area that it senses as it enters the trap. The snake crawls into the trap, unaware of what lays ahead. Once the snake encounters the special glue and realizes its predicament, it is too late. The reptile will not back out of the trap, but instead attempts to turn around and retreat. This action brings the snake's entire body into contact with the glue. We have seen snakes exceeding six feet in length caught securely in the Snake Guard trap!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Send them to Washington DC or Crawford. They'll feel at home.

[jmowreader]

17. There'd certainly be enough rats for them to eat

The problem is, how do you tell the snakes that?

[punpirate]

6. Nothing comes to mind from experience...

... but if you have a decent university nearby, call the biology department and see if they have a resident herpetologist--might get some ideas there.

How about a big cage of mice at the exit?

[B Calm]

7. You could try traps. I catch snakes in my minnow traps all the time.

Maybe a turtle trap???

[HereSince1628]

8. Buy a mongoose for each store?

Unfortunately, snakes don't eat much, and generally do not eat dead things so baiting and trapping aren't going to be very effective.

I am afraid the bad news is you'll need to hire someone to pick them up.

[Lost4words]

10. as long as there are diebold voting machines you cant!

same with RATS

[jmowreader]

20. Different kind of snake, unfortunately

That kind of snake, all we gotta do is grow a pair on sixty or seventy Republicans and we could impeach the fucker and have him in jail before next week is out.

My snakes laugh at impeachment.

[Lost4words]

23. I know but I couldnt pass it up! Good luck with the serpents!

[sinkingfeeling]

11. You won't be able to get rid of them until the water is gone. There

is a product, sometimes at Lowe's or Ace Hardware stores, called Snake Away. Really, it's a powder that has a weird odor that you sprinkle around. I use it around the outside of my stone foundation and it seems to work. When my house was being restored, the guys working on the foundation and under the house collected a bucket with about 200 garter snakes in it! They asked me what I wanted them to do with them and since I'm terrified of them, I said drown them!

[clydefrand]

12. There is a snake repellent that my husband got at the

hardware store. They don't eat it; they just leave...supposedly. He put it around the base of our house since I saw a poisonous snake there a couple of months ago. You might want to take a look at your hardware store to see if this will help. Good luck. I don't mind snakes OUTSIDE as long as they aren't occupying my space with me.

[jmowreader]

19. We ARE a hardware store!

The product you're talking about is Snake-Away, and it really does work. It's got sulfur in it; snakes hate sulfur.

There's only one little problem with Snake-Away: availability. I have three million square feet of space to get the fucking snakes out of...

hmm...this gives me an idea...

What if I did this: Snakes can't climb forklifts, right? If I were to have them get all the waterlogged merchandise and anything that can absorb odors, like carpeting, out of the building, then set up a series of field-expedient smudge pots (steel garbage cans) and burn sulfur for a few hours, that should drive the smell of sulfur through the building and get rid of the snakes. Yes, we'd then have a huge building that smells like the gates of hell until we got it aired out, but that's better than a huge building full of venomous snakes.

[davepc]

14. a good ruger .22

[TexasProgresive]

16. Paradichlorobenzene

(or moth crystals, urinal blocks) This is the active ingredient in the snake repellents. I don't know if that will really help but it might.

[ihaveaquestion]

18. They'll try to escape when people come in to clean.

Just be patient, give them a way out and they'll all leave eventually. They're afraid of humans (we outweigh them by a LOT) and won't want to stay.

[mccoyn]

22. Yeah.

I thought these were water snakes that lived in the lake and were brought in with the current. That would suggest they won't feel at home on dry land. They probally don't want to be there any more than you want them there. Be careful though, they may be starved after being moved from their home environment.

[Hubert Flottz]

21. Call Pat Robertson!

He probably needs a few for his Club 700 fools! He could sell them on the air, to those idiots, for $4567867564599.95 each!

[mcscajun]

24. Here's what LSU AgCenter has to say on the subject

http://www.louisianafloods.org/en/family_home/hazards_and_threats/floods_hurricanes/recovery_assistance/Snakes+after+a+Storm+or+Flood.htm

Nobody seems to have any good ideas on evicting large numbers of snakes; the focus is on prevention, the physical removal of the occasional snake, and the need to sometimes kill the poisonous ones (with a VERY long-handled shovel). Safety tips abound; including these from the site linked above:

# Watch where you place your hands and feet when removing or cleaning debris. If possible, don’t place your fingers under debris you intend to move.
# Wear snake-proof boots at least 10 inches high or snake leggings in heavy debris areas where snakes are likely to be found.
# Never step over logs or other obstacles unless you can see the other side.
# If you encounter a snake, step back and allow it to proceed on its way. Snakes are usually not fast-moving animals, and a person can easily retreat from the snake’s path.