Snake problems....

[j-bird]

Ok, I have a full basement at home. Late last fall we found a corn snake in the basement which caused quite a stir. You would have thought it was a 10 foot cobra and not a 18" corn snake! I just recently found a snake skin in the basement that has once again created a fear of the basement in the general household population. I for one could care less. They don't really bother me. Our basement is poured walls with no standing moisture but does stay cool in the summer and is warmer than outside in the winter. So I can see why the snakes would come inside. I plan on doing an in depth search for any and all potential entry points and filling with expanding foam.

Has any of you folks had any success using these commercially available "snake-a-way" type spray or powder products? I would like to use something inside and outside (doesn't have to be the same product) just to increase the chances of success. It has to also be pet friendly as we have 3 dogs and a cat running around. Some folks seem to swear by certain products while others see them as nothing more than a scam.......I just want some peace and quite and for the snakes to at least stay outside!

 

[Tree Spud]

Ok, I have a full basement at home. Late last fall we found a corn snake in the basement which caused quite a stir. You would have thought it was a 10 foot cobra and not a 18" corn snake! I just recently found a snake skin in the basement that has once again created a fear of the basement in the general household population. I for one could care less. They don't really bother me. Our basement is poured walls with no standing moisture but does stay cool in the summer and is warmer than outside in the winter. So I can see why the snakes would come inside. I plan on doing an in depth search for any and all potential entry points and filling with expanding foam.

Has any of you folks had any success using these commercially available "snake-a-way" type spray or powder products? I would like to use something inside and outside (doesn't have to be the same product) just to increase the chances of success. It has to also be pet friendly as we have 3 dogs and a cat running around. Some folks seem to swear by certain products while others see them as nothing more than a scam.......I just want some peace and quite and for the snakes to at least stay outside!

I think you have constructed a great plot to keep the women of the household out of your basement which sounds like you should now turn into your man room

 

[wiscwhip]

You can't not like that^^^ post!

 

[Turkey Creek]

The snake repellents do not work. Best bet is to find the entry spot or get a Jack Russell Terrier to let live in your basement. Might chew up a lot of things other than the snakes, but I guarantee you wont have a snake problem!

 

[MickT]

Sounds like you have a snake solution instead of a problem.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Livesintrees]

Check your dryer vent connections and if it’s near the area your garage door and seals.

 

[j-bird]

I would LOVE to make it my man cave. However, it's currently being used as an "apartment" for one of my girls. When my son moved back home after college, that put 4 kids in a house with only 3 bedrooms....for kids! When my oldest daughter wanted "more space" so the basement was the only solution. Well, she is not on board with a legless roommate! So If it remains an issue the wheels start to fall off. This means I have 4 kids all used to having their own room and now 2 of them have to share. This wouldn't be so bad if they were kids.....14, 16, 19 and 22 are not exactly "kids"! I have threatened to move myself to the basement....deer heads, gun cabinet and all. But I don't think that would be a positive change to my marriage. Honestly I think the wife would just be jealous that I could actually find some peace and quiet and fears I would never come out!

I plan on putting a can of expanding foam to use to seal up any openings I can find. And addressing any door seals and the like as well and take a few other steps to try and reduce the opportunities.

I have read comments on the web about the "repellents" not working as well. But it may buy some folks some piece of mind....and me a return to normalcy until, we find out they don't work! What is peace and quiet worth to you?!?!?!?

 

[Red Picqua]

snakes are in.. guaranteed mice are in too. I would bet your basement is full of vermin.

1. check the air conditioning in-let to the house, it will be the power and the coolant line together. most HVAC people use silicone . Mice chew it away and entry point.
2. Check all Sil-cocks spigots
3. dryer vent
4. cable tv or satellite tv line
5. check anything where someone drilled a hole in your sill plate
6. me personally. i have bait boxes all around my house for mice. change them every fall and spring. not saying you have mice, but i would be floored if you didn't.

 

[MRBB]

I help out a old lady that lives in a 150 yr old farm house , and she like you used to get snakes in her basement and or enclosed front porch(brick exterior)
I did what your doing, I went ALL over everything I could find and filled with expanding foam, and I went thru about 25 cans (old house LOTS of gaps)
the snakes would actually climb up the brick exterior 10+ ft and get into the attic vents, as she also had field mice, which was attracting them!

I started with the snake repellant(just to make her happy)
it did seem to HELP, but it would rain and BYE BYE that went!
I also added screens with fine holes to all vents (she doesn't have or WANT a dryer and she is 89 yrs old) and that seemed to also stop all the mice from getting in too

but a snake like a mouse can squeeze into things SMALL< as there so flexible , so even SMALL crack, I filled in(also made her happy to see ALL cracks filled in, so lowered the stress on her too)

but it can be done,
Problem now, is the snake still lay about the outside of her house, and she is deathly scared of them, takes a few days to go by after seeing one before she will go outside again at all!

Still haven't found a answer to this issue, as her house is near a pond that is full of things, , and the concrete pads under her deck and shrubs about her house, , they love to lay in for sun and or shade!

I kill what I can when I am there but, she lives 30 miles from me, so hard to get there in time some days!
stray cats are always about, but don't seem to matter
as are other wild smaller critters, coons. Owl's Hawks, which I know eat them, once in a while, but never enough to make her happy LOL
open to suggestions, MINUS her getting a pet of some sorts, she refuses to have one!

 

[Telemark]

Can the 22 yr old boy take the basement room?

 

[Tap]

I would LOVE to make it my man cave. However, it's currently being used as an "apartment" for one of my girls. When my son moved back home after college, that put 4 kids in a house with only 3 bedrooms....for kids! When my oldest daughter wanted "more space" so the basement was the only solution. Well, she is not on board with a legless roommate! So If it remains an issue the wheels start to fall off. This means I have 4 kids all used to having their own room and now 2 of them have to share. This wouldn't be so bad if they were kids.....14, 16, 19 and 22 are not exactly "kids"! I have threatened to move myself to the basement....deer heads, gun cabinet and all. But I don't think that would be a positive change to my marriage. Honestly I think the wife would just be jealous that I could actually find some peace and quiet and fears I would never come out!

I plan on putting a can of expanding foam to use to seal up any openings I can find. And addressing any door seals and the like as well and take a few other steps to try and reduce the opportunities.

I have read comments on the web about the "repellents" not working as well. But it may buy some folks some piece of mind....and me a return to normalcy until, we find out they don't work! What is peace and quiet worth to you?!?!?!?

Oh, I see...it's not an evil plan to turn it into a man cave, it's an evil plan to get your daughter to move out...I like it!
You have lots of people coming and going in your house. Does anyone ever leave the door open? Even for just a minute while they run out to the car?
And I tried Rat/Mouse-A-Way and the stuff does not work for them. I had mice nesting in a spot on my tractor and I actually made a little pile of the repellant right where they kept rebuilding the nest...they built the nest right on top of the stuff
God, I hate mice. I guess that's why I like snakes.

 

[Turkey Creek]

The larger glue board traps do work fairly well for catching smaller snakes.

 

[buckdeer1]

Also check sump pump drains

 

[j-bird]

So - weather it was money and time well spent or not.....we are back to the status-quo. The door at my house should be a saloon type door because the damn thing is open and closed so many times in a day! I can't push any of the kids out of the house as they are not financially able to do that. The daughter in question is still in college and wants to get out of the house as fast as possible, but with classes she can't swing enough hours at work to afford a place in the elevated housing market in our area.

So - I spread stuff outside the house, sprayed stuff inside the house. Filled every crack and void I could find. Added better seals to doors and covered the sump pit as well. I am sure some of the things helped, and I am sure some are a waste, but if they give her a piece of mind, then its worth it. I thought about a means to catch/trap the snake, but that only means I have to take the dog or cat to the vet to get the glue removed!

Sure beats the other solution suggested.....burning down the house!

 

[Tree Spud]

As mice will chew threw foam, good to put steel wool in openings that you are spraying with foam. This will deter them.

If you don't have pets, put out Decon bait blocks. Mice can have 10-20 litters per year. As mice are a food source for corn snakes, dealing with mice is important.

 

[MRBB]

I have always thought about if electric fence would work, if you ran it low about the foundation, real close together so mice or snakes would have to touch it?
just never got around to trying it
solar charger and fencing sin't that costsly
if your creative it MIGHt be acool project to try!
will teach the cat and dog a new trick too, and or any slow kids you have or come over!