Where do grass snakes live in the country? How to get rid of vipers in your summer cottage. How to get rid of snakes in the country: humane methods
Being around snakes in your dacha is not only unpleasant, but also dangerous. Even a non-venomous one can bite painfully - he has teeth. What can we say about the much less harmless copperhead and extremely dangerous viper? Therefore, if you notice the presence of snakes in your area, you need to get rid of them as soon as possible. However, under no circumstances should you kill them. They are an integral part of the biosphere of the region in which your dacha is located, and in fact, it was you who came to their territory, and not they to yours. Therefore, we must try to ensure a peaceful outcome for them and, most importantly, discourage them from visiting the site once and for all.
Snakes in the garden: an invisible danger
A snake attacks a person only in two cases - if it is frightened or provoked. However, this does not make things any calmer. Not all adults, having heard a suspicious rustling in the bushes next to their bare feet, are able to quickly cope with the rush of adrenaline, allowing the snake to crawl on its way. If we are talking about children, then their meeting with any of the representatives of this species is extremely undesirable. After all, a child can get serious mental trauma from fright, not to mention mortal danger snake bite for the child's body.
Reptiles lead predominantly night look life, which complicates their detection and identification. However, the presence of snakes in the area is always noticeable to an experienced eye. Their main food is rodents, which are found all over the place. Therefore, if no one eats the garden crops you planted, there are no hedgehogs in the vicinity of your dacha, and you yourself do not have a cat or dog, most likely there are snakes on your site. They live in burrows, which they prefer to dig in swampy, shaded vegetation and are therefore always cool and slightly wet soil. In addition, snakes periodically shed their skin. Its remains, which are called “creeps,” can be found in their habitats and migration areas - in thick grass, bushes, near ponds and rivers, in areas with high humidity soil, etc.
The most dangerous time in terms of encounters with the snake brethren is early to mid-summer. It is then that the breeding season begins for most species that are found in our country, and they themselves become very irritable.
Snake habits
If on your summer cottage If there are already snakes, there is no need to be especially afraid of them. Their bites are not poisonous, and they themselves are much more afraid of humans, so when they see you, they will most likely try to retreat as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, it is quite common for them to show their snake nature - when there is danger of contact, they can hiss threateningly, take a “stance” and even rush to the legs or other parts of the body with the aim of biting.
The main food of the snake is lizards, frogs and rodents, and natural enemies are predator birds, storks and some representatives of the order of mammals. Mating season The snake falls in April May.
The copperhead, easily recognizable by its characteristic color, loves open, well-warmed areas by the sun. It is found in regions covered with deciduous, coniferous or mixed forests and even knows how to swim, although he does not hunt in water, much less hide from enemies. The copperhead feeds on lizards and other small reptiles, as well as rodents and sometimes insects.
When meeting a person, snakes of this breed curl up into a ball and freeze, hiding their heads, although they may well behave aggressively. The copperhead awakens no earlier than April, and mates at the end of April - at the beginning of May.
The viper lives in swampy forest zones and transition zones between rivers or forests and meadows, but for some reason it gravitates toward human-cultivated areas. It is almost impossible to confuse it with another species - the characteristic color with a zigzag stripe along the back will tell you exactly which one you are dealing with.
Fortunately, the viper has a fairly calm character and never attacks for no apparent reason. However, its bite is very poisonous and, in the absence of necessary medical care, may well lead to very unpleasant consequences.
How to get rid of snakes in the country: humane methods
You should not kill snakes, and not only because in nature they perform very useful features. Before death, reptiles emit a special aroma, similar to the one with which they attract their relatives for reproduction. As a result, others will soon appear in the area where you killed the snake. Therefore, if this has already happened, the snake corpse must be urgently taken away from the summer cottage without touching it with your hands. The same applies to “crawls” discovered by you and your loved ones.
The first thing you need to do in order to get rid of snakes in your dacha is cleaning the area. By the way, it’s worth doing it regularly, removing branches and other debris. Large boulders should also be removed from the area and old stumps, logs and bushes should be eliminated - the latter form a dense shadow, where, as well as in the coolness under stones and in old wood, snakes like to rest and hunt.
The main points of cleaning a summer cottage in the photo
If your neighbors have been visiting their dachas for a long time, you should remove the thickets and debris behind them - this is the only way you can guarantee the exodus of reptiles away from your area.
Another effective and peaceful way to expel snakes is repelling with vibration generators or ultrasound, which is equally unpleasant for them.
However, technology is not capable of giving a 100% result, so it is better to use folk remedies. Thus, snakes do not like natural wool, therefore, by laying it around the perimeter of the site, at the threshold of the dacha and other buildings, and in any other places where a snake can crawl, you are quite likely to force them to go away.
Reptiles cannot stand the smell of garlic, so they will rush to quickly leave the area if you plant this plant in sufficient quantities not only in your garden, but also in areas where they are most likely to appear - along the perimeter of the fence, around bushes, etc.
Radical ways to expel snakes
You can drive away the snake community from your summer cottage if you exterminate rodents, lizards, frogs and insects. A strong young cat can handle this, who will happily catch everything that rustles and crawls in the bushes and tall grass, including snakes. You can also get a Jagd Terrier dog. This dog is very difficult to raise and care for, but he is a real threat to amphibians.
There is also a “recipe” for snakes like hedgehogs. They feed on insects and plants, but do not tolerate the presence of reptiles, mercilessly destroying them. The only thing is that hedgehogs are quite difficult to attract, and if this is successful, they need to be constantly fed.
The perimeter of the dacha, areas under the barn or house, and especially under its threshold, can be watered or laid with rags soaked in saltpeter, herbicide or other chemicals. But this can seriously harm your area and significantly reduce the comfort of your rest. Harsh chemicals have a pungent odor and, if used incorrectly, can burn out literally everything it comes into contact with, excluding the appearance of vegetation in the treatment areas for several years.
Snakes are afraid of panic high temperatures and they can smell the flames and the burning smell a kilometer away. But burning grass, rubber and other petroleum-based materials in a summer cottage is a rather dangerous decision and harmful to the ecology of the area. Much less damage will be caused by hanging bells, small windmills or rattles on the site. Only the sounds they make will irritate you more, and as soon as you take them off, the snakes will come back.
Snakes make nests in compost pits, manure heaps, in accumulations of garden rubbish or inside old rotten stumps. If you find one, do not try to destroy the snake’s lair yourself - let professionals who are well prepared to deal with poisonous representatives of the snake kingdom do this.
What to do if you encounter a snake or are bitten by a snake?
Regardless of what you did to drive snakes away from your summer cottage, the guarantee that they will not return by the next spring-summer season is quite weak. What to do if the likelihood of encountering amphibians in your yard, vegetable garden, garden, or areas adjacent to your dacha still remains high?
In this case, your responsibilities in the area of responsibility household must be included:
- Training children and other household members in actions that reduce to zero the risk of a chance meeting, and in such case, the possibility of direct contact.
- Mandatory sealing of cracks and holes in the floor and other building structures of the country house and outbuildings.
- Treating old snake holes with mothballs.
- Luring and catching snakes for the purpose of subsequently releasing them into the wild away from the dacha.
- Organizing a country first aid kit with a set of medical supplies and drugs to provide first aid for a snake bite.
- Arrangement of sheds, wood sheds and other outbuildings so that their design excludes the possibility of penetration and hidden dislocation of snakes.
- Purchasing high rubber shoes and thick protective clothing for working on the site, in particular in thickets and in marshy or damp areas.
- Regular prevention of the area through treatment problem areas and perimeter with agricultural or special chemicals, ash or other repellents.
If you are still bitten poisonous snake, remember that independent attempts to neutralize the poison can have much more dire consequences than the intoxication itself. Therefore, in this situation, it is urgent to immobilize the victim and call an ambulance, or take him to the first aid station yourself.
Before the doctor arrives, you need to apply a cold compress to the bite site, remove rings and other jewelry, as well as items of clothing that, in case of swelling, may impede blood circulation.
Video: Emergency actions for a snake bite
In addition to the usual ones (insects, moles, worms), some summer residents may be in wait for special neighbors in the country, extremely unpleasant and dangerous - these are snakes. How to get rid of vipers in your summer cottage - more on that later in the article.
Description of the pest
The viper is a poisonous snake, often found in our latitudes. Small in size (usually no more than half a meter), with a large flat head, the frontal shield of which is almost rectangular. These snakes have a variety of colors from gray to reddish, and black vipers are also found.
A distinctive feature is the zigzag pattern on the back, clearly visible against the background of the main color. The tip of the tail is yellow, orange or red.
Lives in forest areas, adapts well to any terrain. The basis of nutrition is small rodents and reptiles.
So there are also advantages from such neighbors. For those who are not ready to put up with these creatures, below we will give advice on how to get rid of unwanted elements on your personal plot.
How to get rid of vipers
You can get rid of vipers on your property in a humane and radical way. Below are more details about both methods.
Radical methods
The first thing a person thinks when he sees a dark ball in the grass is how to kill a snake safely.
The first way getting rid of reptiles is to eliminate nesting sites. Clean up your area, remove garbage - any pile of garbage or board can be a refuge for a reptile. Regularly mow the surrounding areas - tall grass camouflages snakes well.
An additional effect of mowing is the noise of a brush cutter or lawn mower. The reptile reacts sensitively to the stimulus and moves away from the source of noise. 
Second method- deprivation of food sources. Destroy rodents and frogs, and others that may provide food. In search of food, the reptiles will leave your territory. 
Third method– physical destruction. Those who are afraid of snakes - hedgehogs and jagd terriers - will provide us with a good service in this.
Did you know? Hedgehogs are immune to snake venom. They hunt vipers, trample them and gnaw their spines.
– best hunter on snakes and rats. Small burrowing dogs, dexterous and courageous, pounce on enemies and gnaw through the ridge. The downside is the aggressiveness of the animals. They must be kept muzzled. 
Repellent
Repelling will help remove reptiles from the area. But very often they return after the threat disappears.
So, how to scare away snakes from your summer cottage?
You can play on the susceptibility of vipers to odors. Scattered mustard powder (about 100 g per hundred square meters) or beds of garlic in different places in the garden help a lot. Dispose of shed snake skins. Reptiles return to the place where they moulted. 
Important! Do not handle skin with unprotected hands–don't leave your scent.
Burning the grass will make the area unattractive to reptiles.
Vipers are sensitive to chemical substances. Scattered mothballs (saltpeter, amophoska, any garden), rags soaked in diesel fuel will scare away reptiles. 
Use sound effects. Wind chimes, bells, rattles, weather vanes - all this will create noise that reptiles do not like at all.
The use of mole repellers has a good effect. These devices generate ultrasonic waves and vibrations to which reptiles respond. Such devices can be purchased at fishing and tourism supply stores. 
Some gardeners do not try to destroy reptiles on the site, because they help fight rodents, catch mice, and destroy slugs. Snakes are especially dangerous for small children. In our article we will figure out how to get rid of grass snakes in your summer cottage.
The simplest method is cleaning the area
When encountering crawling snakes, many are horrified, and this is especially true for small children. In this regard, it is necessary to get rid of such creatures once and for all. First you need to clean up the garden. This is due to the fact that reptiles like to hide in tall grass; they are often found in compost pits, as well as near old, half-rotten stumps.
When cleaning the area, it is necessary to remove various rubbish, including scattered firewood, incorrectly placed boxes and barrels. Such objects can serve as a refuge for snakes. Snakes like to live in cool and damp places, so they often crawl into basements or under the foundation of a house. To prevent snakes from crawling into your home, you must carefully seal all holes and large cracks in doors and windows.
Use of Natural Enemies
An ordinary hedgehog can help a gardener in breeding snakes. This prickly animal hunts at night; it will quickly find the reptile and then deal with it. One method of dealing with snakes has long been known, it is called the “drunk hedgehog”. If you give a hedgehog beer, the prickly one will be able to catch all the pests in one night.
Another natural enemy of snakes is the black Jagdterrier dog. This hunter has excellent eyesight and scent. In addition to snakes, it can also kill other pests, such as rats or mice. In some cases, a second person may also enter into a fight with the reptile. pet, cat.
Snakes are cowardly animals and absolutely harmless to people. When a person appears, they try to hide. In order not to confuse them with dangerous snakes, look carefully at the snake's head, there should be yellow or orange spots. The color is black without patterns.
The snake is quite a useful animal: it eats mice, rats, toads (and for this it is quite respected by gardeners) and in general is harmless to both humans and our domestic animals. Snakes are not carriers of diseases dangerous to humans.
If you look at the forums, some users treat them with reverence because of their complete harmlessness.
Moreover, if your site is a priori located in a place where there are a lot of snakes, the presence of snakes means that no one else more dangerous (namely, a viper) will come to you.
Could it really bite?
It may bite, but only if you step on its tail, for example.
Most often, people are afraid that they will confuse a snake with a viper. Main distinguishing feature– this is a completely black body (the viper has a brown head; it may have spots).
But for those who are afraid of one type of creeping reptile, there are various ways get rid of the uninvited guest at home, on the site or in the country.
What to do if you're already at home?
- As the most effective option They recommend getting a hedgehog. The main difficulty here is to find it (you can try to buy it at a pet store, but it’s not a guarantee that you’ll be lucky).
- Snakes are timid and a priori look for a place where they can hide. Dark, cool places, in other words, any secluded places must be cleared.
- Special ultrasonic devices. Snakes are sensitive to vibrations.
- To drive away snakes, you also need to know that all snakes are afraid of noise.
- If you live in an area that doesn't usually have an abundance of snakes, your best bet is to simply pick up the snake with a stick and take it outside, away from your home. That is, do not waste time and money on calling a specialist and unnecessary adventures
- 9 effective advice about that