Snakes and Rodents

[ecoco55]

I was wondering on the bourgh ordinance for discharging a firearm in the bourgh. I have been having an issue with pests (mostly snakes) around and in my house (ceiling and basement) because I live next a small wooded area. I have been considering using a .22lr with shotshell loads. These loads obviously do not travel far nor produce considerable sound that would alarm neighbors. What are everyone's opinions on this? and or the bourgh laws.

[God's Country]

I'm going to say nay, unless all your neighbors are cool with it, and there is sufficient distance/backstop, which I doubt. If your borough has a pd I'm guessing they would have an issue with it as well.
Snake problems are often a rodent problem. Get rid of the rodents in your house and yard, and your snake problem should go away as well.

[jkm]

22LR shotshells work very well on snakes. I went the route of trying to rid the area of their food source, but they still didn't leave. If you want rid of them you gotta kill all of them. And if you let one escape, it'll be a female that'll have 100 babies.
No idea about your local ordinances, etc.......

[Sandcut]

I would say that unless the snakes are actually causing damage or are venomous and pose a threat to life and limb, leave them be, especially if they are outside. If they're inside, either leave them be and they'll crawl out on their own or pick them up and put them outside. Find out how they are getting in and block that hole up.

If you kill the snakes, what's going to keep the rodent problem in check? More rodents = more potential for health issues like tick-borne diseases as well as diseases associated with having their droppings around, e.g., Hanta virus (which we do have in PA). Hell, I wish I had more snakes around here to keep all the damn grinnies (sorry, chipmunks) away. The year before last I killed 27 of the little bastards that were undermining my front porch in just one month.

Snakes aren't hard to catch and remove. They'll probably musk all over you, but I've had worse things all over me than snake crap. I never understood the whole "It's a snake, shoot it!" thing.

[Hodgie]

I can tell you that if you have snakes in your home especially this time of year it's only because you have a consistent food source for them. So take care of the rats and mice with traps and poison and your snake trouble will move on down the road. I live in the NE on 4 acres and back up to another 25+ of heavily wooded land. When we moved in the former owner neglected to tell us they had a rodent issue which caused lots of snakes to be out and around my home. I took care of the rodent issue and sealed up all the cracks, and holes in my home and I have had no issues since. I see the occasional baby snake outside sunning on or under a rock if I have to move it I just pick it up and relocate it assuming it's not a copper head(we have them too) I never kill them because they keep the mice from getting back in.

[JAKIII]

I was wondering on the bourgh ordinance for discharging a firearm in the bourgh. I have been having an issue with pests (mostly snakes) around and in my house (ceiling and basement) because I live next a small wooded area.

Snake problems are often a rodent problem. Get rid of the rodents in your house and yard, and your snake problem should go away as well.

Rodents are snake food... just like flying insects are bat food. Don't kill the snakes... they're harmless and will take care of the rodents.

[tys5253]

Have you considered using .22 shorts? pretty quiet and may get the job done, it would be tough to hit the snakes though. Also based on the fact that you were planning on using the shot shells im going to assume this is not an auto loader so the .22 shorts should be fine i put them in my rifle all the time.

[R L Suehr]

I can tell you that if you have snakes in your home especially this time of year it's only because you have a consistent food source for them. So take care of the rats and mice with traps and poison and your snake trouble will move on down the road. I live in the NE on 4 acres and back up to another 25+ of heavily wooded land. When we moved in the former owner neglected to tell us they had a rodent issue which caused lots of snakes to be out and around my home. I took care of the rodent issue and sealed up all the cracks, and holes in my home and I have had no issues since. I see the occasional baby snake outside sunning on or under a rock if I have to move it I just pick it up and relocate it assuming it's not a copper head(we have them too) I never kill them because they keep the mice from getting back in.

Rodents are snake food... just like flying insects are bat food. Don't kill the snakes... they're harmless and will take care of the rodents.

Have you considered using .22 shorts? pretty quiet and may get the job done, it would be tough to hit the snakes though. Also based on the fact that you were planning on using the shot shells im going to assume this is not an auto loader so the .22 shorts should be fine i put them in my rifle all the time.

All this^^^

At our old house we had a walk out basement. The laundry was down there. We also had a healthy field mouse problem. One day I found a decent sized black snake down there in mid consumption of mouse. Worked for me. Over the next two months I saw it several times and started seeing fewer and fewer mice. My plan to leave it alone was working great until the wife saw it doing laundry one day. The next day I had to relocate the snake along with two others I found out were down there as well. The battle with the mice resumed shortly thereafter.

[Cyclops]

Rodents are snake food... just like flying insects are bat food. Don't kill the snakes... they're harmless and will take care of the rodents.

That's the fact. Snakes thrive on rodents. That is the good news. The bad news is that killing the snakes will will provide you with an abundance of rodents. Killing the rodents will get rid of the snakes. Want to kill rodents? Try conventional rat traps with peanut butter of cheese, and have a big plastic (body) bag to stow them in until you can incinerate them or take them to the dump or into the trash. Or just throw them outside to be eaten by the snakes, foxes, etc.. Once you help the snakes deplete the rodent population the snakes will go away until the rodents return. Not being a snake hater, but having had to eat them on LRRps in Nam, I can confirm that they are OK to eat. Kinda like a cross between canned Tuna and chicken. Not my first choice for dinner, but might be my first choice if I have to do a bug out adventure.

[UnimatrixZero]

As someone who keeps snakes as a hobby, its good to see that several of you see them as a positive cog in the wheel of nature, not just as something to kill if you come upon one. I keep some that are every bit as deadly as the firearms we love and have a very deep respect for what they can do if even a small lapse of judgment occurs when feeding them or cage cleaning. They are awesome creatures and I'm glad that some of you respect this. One last point, snakes (and spiders/scorpions, etc.), are venomous, not poisonous. Sorry, it was bugging me...<grin>