Would love some info how to get rid of a watersnake

[Ranatra]

We’ve had our pond for 15 years, and just encountered this problem last summer. (Now I noticed yesterday that he is back !)
After seeing the water snake, we no longer saw any of our frogs or tadpoles again for the rest of the summer. I actually witnessed the snake grabbing a hold of one of our big goldfish, the thrashing of the goldfish is what caught my eye. The goldfish did get away. What is the best way to get rid of this pest? I would really like frogs back in my pond

 

[sissy]

I know they have snake away that you can sprinkle around .Moth balls do the same but you have to make sure it does not get in the pond during rain or on other critters that visit .I know here I called animal control ,even though I live in the country they came and relocated it because it was extremely aggressive and even attacked the officer from animal control .It was also not a local type snake and not known to live in VA and likely someones pet at one time .Maybe you can get a snake wrangler ,I know here you can find them in the newspaper ,you have to pay them but may be worth it .

 

[BKHpondcritters]

If it was me, I'd try to catch it with my snake tongs & relocate to a larger, natural body of water near by. But, I realize not everybody has a pair of snake tongs lying around...

 

[j.w]

@Ranatra
Thankful we only have Garter Snakes!

 

[Tula]

We've always had gator snakes till last summer. We had a big hog nosed snake take up residence in the pond and skimmer. Due to it's size I was afraid it could hurt one of my koi if it tried to catch one. Fortunately hubby relocated it. It came back and hubby relocated it again. It returned AGAIN.........this time I asked hubby to dispatch it

 

[Jhn]

Had one in my Pond a year or two back, ended up catching it while it was trying to eat a frog, then relocated it.

 

[j.w]

We've always had gator snakes till last summer. We had a big hog nosed snake take up residence in the pond and skimmer. Due to it's size I was afraid it could hurt one of my koi if it tried to catch one. Fortunately hubby relocated it. It came back and hubby relocated it again. It returned AGAIN.........this time I asked hubby to dispatch it

Gator snakes? Must be huge

 

[Tula]

Gator snakes? Must be huge

It was, it really was.......I think it migrated from FL....just hideous and huge !

 

[rubyduby]

Ugh...Every time I pull off my skimmer lids I think "will today be the day I find a snake in there?"
I don't mind garter snakes because I am used to them from living up North but now that I am in Virginia there are a lot more creepy crawlers....

 

[mrsclem]

Been lucky I haven't had to deal with snakes last 2 years. We have copperheads as well as northern water snakes. Both nasty to have around. Now we have hawks with babies so no frogs anywhere so no snakes!

 

[BKHpondcritters]

We have many snakes around our house. At least three black rat snakes living in our front, stacked-stone wall. They range in size from Baby Wally @ 18" up to Big Wally who's over 5' long.

We also had a family of Copperheads (Mama & 3 babies) living in the wall two summers ago, but only one Cooper seems to have remained to hold down the family fort. He just made his first appearance a couple of days ago:

We are careful to watch for them after dark when we let the dogs out & will relocate one if possible, but otherwise we figure if we know where the copperheads are hanging out, we can avoid them.

We used to have a lot of garter snakes that hung around, but I haven't seen a George near the house in a few years. Had a baby northern water snake make a brief appearance in the pond two summers ago, but he disappeared & haven't seen him since. Other than that we occasionally run across a milk snake (SO pretty!!) or a little ring-necked snake.

 

[Ranatra]

If it was me, I'd try to catch it with my snake tongs & relocate to a larger, natural body of water near by. But, I realize not everybody has a pair of snake tongs lying around...

My husband read your reply and decided to try one of those grabbers (we have no snake tongs) and he was able to sneak up on him and grab him while he was on the bottom of our 30” deep pond. (I had a container with a lid ready) We have relocated this water snake and I am so happy!! Thank you for your helpful reply!!! Hoping to see some tadpoles tomorrow and hoping he didn’t get them all!!

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Nice! I'm glad you were able to catch him & move him on to a better place.

 

[SEKCOBRA]

Funny. I had a large garter snake sighting in my pond two summers ago and loved it. Saw it catch a frog and swim across my pond with it. Was hoping to see it again but did not last season. I can only hope he comes back this season.

 

[addy1]

I saw a garter snake once, never again. See the huge rat snakes now and then. Nothing real dangerous yet.
Once found a tiny ring neck under a rock I moved