As many of you know, I live in the woods and we have a lot of snakes around here.  I've blogged about snakes before.

 

A couple of years ago, I had a spate of snakes in my house.  Thank the Lord, I haven't seen a snake inside the house for a couple of years now, but just in case, I still wear boots every time I go in my laundry room or garage.

 

Today, I was walking at the top of the street when I spotted a dead baby copperhead.  It was flattened, run over.  I hate snakes in general, even the non-poisonous ones.  But I have a special loathing for copperheads.  

 

Copperheads are venomous snakes, pit vipers related to rattlesnakes and cottonmouths.  We have rattlesnakes here too, but while the rattlesnake is timid, the copperhead is aggressive and will instinctively strike anything warm.  That's why I never go outside at night without boots.  I've tried to make that a rule for my sons too, but they're 20 and 22 now and they do as they please.  

 

Last year, I was home alone and took the garbage out.  It was the afternoon so I saw the snake before I smelled him.  That's right.  Copperheads smell.  They smell like cucumbers or watermelons.  He was a big copperhead,about the size of a man's arm, sunning himself on our driveway, not too far from the house.  I knew I had to kill it myself.  

 

It's dangerous to get close enough to a venomous snake to kill it.  That, in fact, is how most people get bitten.  But there is a solution:  wasp spray.  

 

Wasp spray has a long range, you don't have to get close to a snake to hit it with a good stream of poison.  You do, however, have to hit it in the face.  The poison must get inside the snake through his eyes, nose and mouth, especially his mouth. Once it's in his mouth (usually from flicking his tongue) it's a certainty, he WILL die.  It may take a while however, so continue exercising caution.   

 

I sprayed the hell out of that copperhead on my driveway last summer.  I probably burned up half a canister on him.  As I watched from a safe distance, he seemed to become pretty much immobilized.  When he was still, I took  a long handled shovel, crushed his head, chopped at his neck (but couldn't detach his head completely) and pitched him in the woods.

 

Here's a link to an article about using wasp killer to kill snakes.  Just for the record, I've read that wasp and hornet spray in the face can also kill a human.  Carrying Wasp Spray to Kill Snakes.

 

I know there are people who say not to kill any snake, that they all have a place in nature.  To that I reply, "Venomous snakes DON'T have a place in my house or yard!"

 

Be Well and Good Luck and watch out for snakes!

Martha Maria