Phew!

[BKHpondcritters]

Good tip but I want him to frequent my pond and hopefully snatch a few fish since I now have about 20 shubies in my 900 gallon pond (before it was dug they said that it would be about 1200 gallons but once they put in shelves, fish cave, ect... it shrunk to 900 ) I will just be more vigilant...to think that recently I pulled out two plants to rearrange with my bare hands never thinking there would be a snake around! My water lily needs to be fertilized and she is very big so I have to wade in to get her out...knee high rubber boots are now ordered...I did google the Florida Banded Watersnake and they seem pretty harmless to humans but I still would not want to surprise her

Honestly, I wouldn't be worried at all. For the most part, snakes (like the vast majority of wild critters) are going to flee rather than fight. As long as you don't corner or trap him, there's no reason to think he'd do anything other than race away if you did happen upon him while wallowing in the pond. If he has an escape route, he'll take it. Now, that doesn't mean it won't be quite startling if he scoots right out from under you one day...

 

[addy1]

Even with our snake invasion I got into the ponds a few times. Never saw a snake anywhere near me, they run. Lucky for me they, for some reason, liked the minnow trap. Relocated all of them, 14 in total. Just went and bought more fish we lost so many.

 

[Mgessert]

We swim in the north Florida creeks and lakes which are teeming with snakes. They swim off when they hear noise and splashing.

 

[rubyduby]

We swim in the north Florida creeks and lakes which are teeming with snakes. They swim off when they hear noise and splashing.

You wouldn't catch me dead in the water here in Florida (except salt water You must be a very brave person not to be afraid of the many inhabitants of the lakes, ponds and creeks here. Were you born in the South? That makes a big difference I think. Having come from the Adirondacks where our lakes had little to be afraid of I have a different outlook. Just the thought of sharing a water feature with a Water Moccasin scares the bejesus out of me! I do, however, welcome anything native to my pond where I do not swim

 

[Mgessert]

You wouldn't catch me dead in the water here in Florida (except salt water You must be a very brave person not to be afraid of the many inhabitants of the lakes, ponds and creeks here. Were you born in the South? That makes a big difference I think. Having come from the Adirondacks where our lakes had little to be afraid of I have a different outlook. Just the thought of sharing a water feature with a Water Moccasin scares the bejesus out of me! I do, however, welcome anything native to my pond where I do not swim

Not brave, just foolish. I’m originally from WI so don’t know any better I guess. Snake bites are quite rare, and I’ve never met anyone who was bitten, just stories about a guy who knew a guy whose brother…

 

[GBBUDD]

We swim in the north Florida creeks and lakes which are teeming with snakes. They swim off when they hear noise and splashing.

and the gators?

unfortunately i do know a few yankees who moved south and had there dog disappear who loved to swim.

 

[rubyduby]

Not brave, just foolish. I’m originally from WI so don’t know any better I guess. Snake bites are quite rare, and I’ve never met anyone who was bitten, just stories about a guy who knew a guy whose brother…

I do realize that very few have ever been bitten by a watersnake, but I had a friend tell me her brother reached down to untie a rope for a crab trap and a water moccasin was curled around the piling and he bit him bad...That did it for me

 

[BKHpondcritters]

I do realize that very few have ever been bitten by a watersnake, but I had a friend tell me her brother reached down to untie a rope for a crab trap and a water moccasin was curled around the piling and he bit him bad...That did it for me

Oh, I definitely understand the concern if you are in an area with venomous water snakes. In my area the only two venomous snakes we have are Timber Rattlers (very rare) and Copperheads (very abundant) I know where the Copperheads like to hang out & make certain to exercise caution when turning over rocks, logs, etc... as they like to curl up underneath. They are also the reason we don't go down to the pond at night, because the winding path through our gardens that you have to walk through to get to the yard area is prime snake territory, and the copperheads tend to be more nocturnal in the warm weather. I'm not afraid of them (actually think they're beautiful snakes) I just have a healthy respect & would prefer to live out my life never having been bitten by one. We relocate the ones we can catch, because I also have dogs to think about & don't want to have to deal with one of them getting bitten. We just moved a nice sized one from our front wall yesterday.

 

[rubyduby]

Oh, I definitely understand the concern if you are in an area with venomous water snakes. In my area the only two venomous snakes we have are Timber Rattlers (very rare) and Copperheads (very abundant) I know where the Copperheads like to hang out & make certain to exercise caution when turning over rocks, logs, etc... as they like to curl up underneath. They are also the reason we don't go down to the pond at night, because the winding path through our gardens that you have to walk through to get to the yard area is prime snake territory, and the copperheads tend to be more nocturnal in the warm weather. I'm not afraid of them (actually think they're beautiful snakes) I just have a healthy respect & would prefer to live out my life never having been bitten by one. We relocate the ones we can catch, because I also have dogs to think about & don't want to have to deal with one of them getting bitten. We just moved a nice sized one from our front wall yesterday.
View attachment 153521

Now THAT'S a good picture! They ARE pretty and I do admire you for accepting and respecting that they are just part of the habitat there...It sure would make me uneasy with them being prevalent in my area though! Hopefully your dogs are cautious too...Some are and some aren't...Hopefully you don't have terriers!

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Now THAT'S a good picture! They ARE pretty and I do admire you for accepting and respecting that they are just part of the habitat there...It sure would make me uneasy with them being prevalent in my area though! Hopefully your dogs are cautious too...Some are and some aren't...Hopefully you don't have terriers!

My dogs have a very solid default 'leave it' when it comes to snakes, so they definitely don't go bothering them on purpose. The problem with the copperheads is that they rely on camouflage as their first line of defense so their tendency is to freeze in place if a 'threat' comes near. This unfortunately means that one of the dogs could simply step on one without even realizing it was there. Dinah came inches from doing just that one night last Autumn. Fortunately I saw it in time to call her away from the snake. They're hard to see in the daytime, almost impossible to see in the dark. Here's the one from yesterday after we dumped him out of the garbage can into his new location. Look at how he blends in with the dead leaves!!

 

[addy1]

We have only had one show up here a few years back, none since, that we have seen.

 

[Tula]

I had an acquaintance whose beautiful Newfoundland died in NC due to a Copperhead bite while going potty before bed . It was HORRIBLE