Snakes

We recently moved onto 50 acres, mostly wooded and rocky. A friend and I took our oldest boys for a walk through the woods this weekend, since it has been warm and is still winter I thought this would be a good time to survey the land, and I don't really like what I saw.


About 300-400 yards from our place is an area where there are a bunch of rocks, hundreds of them protruding from the ground on a hillside, but what I really don't like are the caves/pits we found. These pits look like underground caves, walking through the woods you see holes everywhere in this area and you can see they are fairly deep (6-8'), with the first 6" to 1' being solid rock but it opens up into a cave/pit and it's spread out all over this particular area. I think I just found where all the snakes are likely to be hibernating. Also there appears to be a dry creek that runs through this area. This is also the area where Deer run through, yeah that’s the REAL reason I took a hike through the woods, I just had to find their trail . Uncle Sam is buying me a nice bow this year. MY new landlord was nice enough to forget about the venison in the freezer too, what a nice guy.


Anyhow, these are the two snakes /I am worried about coming across:
Timber Rattlesnake
Habitat: heavily vegetated, rock outcrops on partially forested hillsides

Copperhead
Habitat: rocky hillsides of deciduous forests near streams and ponds



Any tips on how to keep these things away from our place? I have been cleaning all piles of wood and burning it off. All piles of rocks are being moved and I am going to make garden beds with them. Of course Hornets are a concern too. There is quite a bit of wildlife out here, it's awesome. What do I do if I come across pit close to our place with a bunch of snakes hibernating? I have two young boys (2 & 4) who will want to play with these snakes if they see them.







Can anyone get into this site? I found a few other good sites but would also like to see this one.
http://frogsandsnakes.homestead.com/snakes.html "Javascript is either disabled or not supported by this browser. This page may not appear properly. "

[Cruez]

That page came up fine for me..

Anyway, I live in the Western side of North Carolina. Not quite in the mountains, but fairly close (1 hour)...

I have seen Copperheads, Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes, and Water Moccasins (Cottonmouths) around here..among other non-poisonous snakes also..

When I was younger, I ran into them about every year. Even had the nerve to pick a couple of them up..(no clue what they were at the time) I never got bitten, but a couple were not left alive after finding them...(I regret killing them now)... These snakes will do harm to humans, but they also rid the area of other pests. I would tell them to stay away from any snake for the moment until they know what they are looking at.
I would rather have them around...Most of them will retreat from you .....unless you accidentally step on them or startle them.....
Statistics state that deaths from snake bites are pretty rare....but children are more susceptable...

[crystaldragon]

jad1097 No problem with your link and getting into the site with ie5.5. Prob your browser settings.

Something else that will help onsnake control Keep the rodent population down around the house / area. Snakes go wher the food is. No Food? Just passing through!
JD