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When we renovated our water garden we discovered at least one and possibly 2 northern water snakes living in the bog bean that had choked the old pond. I was hoping that all the activity around the pond would chase them away, but no luck.

2 of my comets have jumped out and died before I found them and a few fish have disappeared. The other fish seem reluctant to come to the top even when I feed them and dart up from the hornwort and then back down.

The local wildlife control officer came and looked over the situation, said he would love to spend the day sitting next to te water garden but that he had never caught a snake before. He said he would ask around among other wildlife officers for ideas. He has never gotten back to me. Does anyone have any ideas on trapping the snake so I can release it in a more appropriate snake habitat? Or simply scare it back to the swamp that is about a quarter mile behind my place?

We have a lot of the northern banded water snake here in NC. Read below and decide if you really want to remove him. You will have to remove it far away or he will just come back.

The easiest way is at night with a flash light. You will have a heck of a time during the day in the day light. Something about the flash light slows them down.

<img src="http://bonniesplants.com/pictures/northern_water_snake_belly.jpg" width="400"> Northern Banded water snake belly shot</a>


<img src="http://bonniesplants.com/pictures/northern_ water_snake.jpg" width="400"> Northern Banded water snake head and body</a>

I used to freak when I saw them in our one outside tank because I was convinced he was eating my babies.

So Rich finally cut one open because we could see the bump in the abdomen where he had recently eaten. And much to my surprise it was not fish but a leopard frog!

We have one that is 6' long now. He lives under the bench in the greenhouse. During the day he climbs up on the bench and lays in the sun. He has startled me more than once when I picked up a pot and did not see him laying there. He is the same color as the wooden pallets that make up the bench. He looked and me an slithered down between the slats and went back under the bench.

They are not poisonous and just as afraid of you as you are of them!

Rich was working outside the greenhouse and he heard me scream, not from being afraid but from being startled that he was so close. He came running into the greenhouse and said " I see you found our resident snake."

I sometimes see him in the one lily tank. Now I can not say for sure they don't eat fish, only that I have never seen them eat fish. They tend to go after frogs

Black Snakes

We also have an 8' black snake that lives in the greenhouse. He lives on the rats that like to eat our plants. Their favorite food is lotus tubers!

I am not sure if this will work here but I did a video of him eating a rat. It is broken up into many segments. I was only about 5 feet away from him as he dined on a fat rat. Everyone who has seen the video thought it was awesome!

NOTE: I could not get the videos to post here so I will have to email Pat to see how I can post them


Bonnie

Below are 9 videos of the black snake in the greenhouse eating a rat. Now, I suppose some might think it is gross and others will be fascinated by animals in nature.
Each video is better than the one before because I moved in closer. Until the end when I thought the snake was coming toward me. Then I high tailed it out of the greenhouse.

While I did not see the snake kill the rat, Rich did and he ran up to the house to get me and told me to bring the video camera.

<a href="http://bonniesplants.com/pictures/snakeandrat 002.mpg"> click here 1</a>

<a href="http://bonniesplants.com/pictures/snakeandrat 003.mpg"> click here 2</a>

<a href="http://bonniesplants.com/pictures/snakeandrat 004.mpg"> click here 3</a>

<a href="http://bonniesplants.com/pictures/snakeandrat 005.mpg"> click here 4</a>

<a href="http://bonniesplants.com/pictures/snakeandrat 006.mpg"> click here 5</a>

<a href="http://bonniesplants.com/pictures/snakeandrat 007.mpg"> click here 6</a>

<a href="http://bonniesplants.com/pictures/snakeandrat 008.mpg"> click here 7</a>

<a href="http://bonniesplants.com/pictures/snakeandrat 009.mpg"> click here 8 </a>


<a href="http://bonniesplants.com/pictures/snakeandrat 010.mpg"> click here 9</a>

Bonnie

Ok COOL VIDEOS BUT now you make me want to think twice about sitting relaxing by my pond! I don't mind snakes but when they get BIG, at least as big as your pal on this video.....I want to get a shovel. I really don't want to sit on a large rock near my pond and put my hand or foot on one as it's sunning itself or napping after a meal!
Hopefully having my large husky outside will scare any snakes away

Rich will not kill snakes. One time he was gone and the neighbor heard me scream and came running. He picked up a shovel and killed it and Rich was furious.

Black snakes are common in the south and perfectly harmless. And I like them because they eat the rats and other rodents.

Our dog, Sammy has encountered them and runs the other way when he sees them.

One small 3' black snake got caught in some netting in the greenhouse this spring. Rich held the snake while I cut the netting away from the snake. I thought "hmm what a waste of good pond netting to save snake"

Once it was free and slithered away it looked back at me. I figured he was saying "thank you for freeing me"

Bonnie

Great videos!

I'm not afraid of snakes and could learn to live with this one if I didn't think it would eat the fish. Someone told me they saw one in a local lake eating a small sunfish or blue gill so I assumed my comets, shubunkins and goldfish are at risk. Hubby and son, however are terrified of the snake.

I, too, would never kill a snake. In fact I found a copperhead near my barn who had foolishly come out of hibernation on an unseasonably warm day and been slowed down when it got colder. He was pretty slow and I relocated him to the woods behind us with a snow shovel then covered him with fallen leaves to try to keep him warm. I'm pretty soft on most animals.

I own an male and female ball python the male is 3' long female is 4' long. the third snake I own is only 10" it is an albino corn snake. My kids own them i just feed them lol they are an amazing creature to watch.

Well I can say that snakes do eat fish! We live on a fresh water canal, one day we saw a brim laying on the side of the water, my husband went to push the fish back in the water with his foot and all a sudden he jumped back! A water snake had the fish in his mouth eating on it, needless to say the snake got his dinner with no more interference from us!

Snakes are really cool.I've keep all types of snakes and they do eat.LOL.Some mostly want rats while others prefer fish or frogs or baby birds or even eggs.One of my favorite snake is a King snake.He'll eat any snake.They will take a mouse but they really like a fat little snake or even a lizard.I usually re-locate snakes around here according to what they eat.The Eastern Banded Water snake can't stay in the pond and the chicken snake can't stay in the hen house.

I encountered a 4' black snake yesterday. I was coming up from the greenhouse and just as soon as I started across the bridge on my stream bed he reared up his head. I screamed, not because I am scared of them but because he startled me when he reared up his head and I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye.

Of course Rich knew what happened and came running when he heard me scream.

Lisa, the northern banded snake spends most of his time in the water. We have one that lives in our 5,000 gallon tank outside. I see him there all the time, in the water. Now I suppose he does come out at times...but for the most part he is always in the water.

Bonnie

Thanks,Bonnie...I know the eastern lives in water,but they do eat lots of fish and I do my best to keep them out of my ponds.I'm sure they would be excellent cullers if I needed it but I don't have that many extras.We have so many creeks and streams around here I don't figure they need to eat at my place. I can't wait to tell ya about the logger head turtle that tried to move in.