If You Live Here, Prepare for a Massive Influx of Snakes, Authorities Warn

[NurseJackie]

Climate change means more bugs, more mosquitoes, more vermin, and more snakes. Ants and termites are expanding their range. Killer bees and murder hornets... I'm not sure I want to go outside any more.
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https://bestlifeonline.com/news-snake-migration/

If You Live Here, Prepare for a Massive Influx of Snakes, Authorities Warn

This one area of the country could be see thousands of the slithering creatures in the near future.

Whether it's a garter snake in your garden or a copperhead in your crawlspace, encountering a snake can be an undeniably alarming experience. And while there are certain ways to reduce your risk of facing off with a snake on your property, from clearing brush from your yard to keeping wood piles away from the exterior of your home, not everyone is lucky enough to entirely avoid pests of the slithering variety.

In fact, one area of the U.S. is about to see a major influx of snakes, experts say. Read on to find out where a huge number of snakes will be out in full force in the near future.

RELATED: 5 Cleaning Habits That Attract Snakes. One part of Illinois will see a major uptick in snake activity this month.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, Union County in Southern Illinois will soon see a massive number of snakes emerging from their habitats.

The snakes will be making their way through the LaRue-Pine Hills-Otter Pond Research Natural Area on the aptly named "Snake Road." Each year, the 2.5-mile road shuts down to allow for snakes, other reptiles, and amphibians to move from the animals' summer feeding ground in the LaRue swamp to the limestone bluffs across Snake Road. The area is home to 35 varieties of snakes, including some venomous ones.

(more at link)

[Tetrachloride]

1. I am way more afraid of ticks.

[NurseJackie]

5. And ticks... yes! My husband contracted Lyme Disease, and still suffers from the nerve damage.

It's a dangerous thing. We now use "Bug-B-Gone" (the kind you attach to the garden hose) and treat our entire yard and even out into the wooded area (as far as it will spray) to control them. Twice a year.

Thanks for the reminder. It's fall now, and I need to give it another treatment.

[csziggy]

9. One method to control ticks is to to treat the mice that carry them

There are products called "tick tubes" that are filled with pyrethrin soaked cotton. Since the mice carry the ticks that spread Lyme disease, giving them nesting material that will kill the ticks is a good idea. This way you are not killing every bug that lives in your yard, especially the beneficial ones.

The recommendation is to distribute the tick tubes at the times that mice will be building their nests - spring and fall.

[NurseJackie]

11. I've seen those. We live in a wooded area with lots of wildlife...

... deer (bastards eat my flowers and shrubs), foxes, raccoons, opossums, hedgehogs, gophers... and an occasional feral cat. So far we've done a good job at keeping them away.

I've been pleased that the total treatment also kills the crickets (ever have one of those noisy things get inside) stink bugs, spiders, silverfish, grubs (which the moles eat... but the moles also do enough damage as it is) and the carpenter ants and the tiny black "sugar ants".

[csziggy]

13. I'm also rural with mixed open and wooded land

But since I have planted my yard to attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, I don't want to disturb that balance.

And yeah, the deer are a nuisance - I can't plant anything that they will eat. But the sight of a doe with twin fawns is so nice, I forgive them.

[NurseJackie]

15. I know! I think they're cute and sweet too.

But as soon as they're weaned, they eat everything! And they don't stop with the blooms, buds and leaves. They eat all the way down to the bulb and root. Wiped out my tiger-lilies and daylilies! My azaleas barely have a chance to bloom. (Oddly, they don't bother my hydrangea and my Pacific Rhododendron.)

[csziggy]

17. For bulb plants, I have African Iris and narcissus (daffodils and paperwhites)

Deer won't eat them because they are poisonous. The few daylilies I have are surrounded by those. The deer don't seem to like my Formosa azaleas so those are doing great. Agapanthus are supposed to be deer resistant but the deer ate them down to the ground, even after we moved them into a raised bed next to the house. Cat poo spread around the plants discouraged the deer so they grew back, but too late to bloom this year.

Most of my garden is planted with salvias and native plants. Next spring I am planning a new bed (where the grass won't grow due to shade from the live oaks) with oakleaf hydrangeas, beautyberry, and some other natives.

I'm lucky - the house lot is less than 2 acres while the rest of our 58 acres has lots of browse for the deer so they mostly eat that.

[lagomorph777]

12. Likewise!

Most people in my area have chronic Lyme, I think; most don't even know it. I know I do; I've looked at my own blood crawling with spirochetes.

[NurseJackie]

25. My husband had no idea. He remembers the tick... but there were none of the "classic" signs.

Well, none of the classic early-signs. But he's paying for it now. Maybe younger people can recover faster... but when you're seventy-mumble years old, it's no picnic.

[lagomorph777]

28. Only about 19% are lucky enough to get the classic signs.

They may actually get early and effective treatment.

The other 81% are pretty much screwed, and shunned by doctors (except for specialty ripoff artists).

[Cracklin Charlie]

2. Note to self:

Avoid the LaRue/Pine Hills/Otter Pond area for a little bit.

[jimfields33]

3. We have millions of snakes in Florida

We open our doors and there’s bound to be one that slithers away. I’d guess I see at least 5 a day. I guess the rest of the country will soon enjoy the snakes too. Thank goodness I have zero fear of them. I have neighbors who go crazy seeing one.

[csziggy]

10. Yes, I was ecstatic to see that we still have black racers living around the house!

The other day, looking out the window I saw a racer wind its way up one of our plant stakes, like a single snake caduceus. Unfortunately, by the time I ran and got my camera he was back on the ground, but he was a healthy snake. Smaller than the other racer that used to live between my ponds, but I have hopes that this is the male and the larger, likely female racer is still around.

Also, we found the body of a eastern smooth earth snake (Virginia valeriae) on our porch in June. He got in and the cats apparently killed it, but hopefully there are more living in our mulch and leaf litter.

[berniesandersmittens]

16. I've got a big king snake that hangs out under the house

He gets to stay.

Unfortunately I found some copperhead babies around the pump house.

They have to go.

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

4. I found a little ring-necked snake making a home under my azalea bush, he is so cute!

[Deuxcents]

6. Snakes are cute?!

Not to me! I have a black snake that comes around my lanai every so often..I know they have a job to do but I wish this thing would patrol somewhere else. I noticed 3 holes just outside my lanai n I’m pretty sure it’s for this snake. Small holes to get in and out . Too close as my kitty is on gecko watch all the time, too

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

8. I have a zillion little green and brown anoles running all over too, they are cute also

Little baby dragons I call then, but yes, snakes and lizards can be cute, every once in a while a cottonmouth shows up, they aren't welcome, yes FL is a swamp, lol

[Crunchy Frog]

27. Ring necked snakes are tiny and adorable.

I had a close encounter with one when I was in highschool, and it was absolutely gorgeous with the red belly.

Geckos are adorable too.

[electric_blue68]

31. In general I love snakes...

wary of poisonous ones.

Little ones are so cute. Some owners call them noodle doodles?

I like geckos, and lizards, too.

[smirkymonkey]

7. That would freak me out.

I never see snakes here in Boston, thank god. I hate them!

[Wingus Dingus]

14. I like snakes. They're neat! Just watch out for them and leave 'em alone

to eat the rodents. My climate-change fear is Africanized bees expanding their range, or Giant Asian Hornets getting a permanent foothold and spreading further.

[Ilsa]

18. I don't like being around them,

probably because there were so many venomous ones in the country in Texas. But I know most are okay. I don't like touching or holding them.

[electric_blue68]

33. When I was a kid on one of our New England vacations...

we stopped a roadside reptile zoo.

I was surprised when I touched the snake's belly -
cool (tempreture wise), and dry. No slimy effect at all.

[StarryNite]

19. This Gophersnake was in with our tortoises.

He wasn't happy about me taking his picture.

[link:|

[hunter]

20. I'd appreciate more snakes.

Our idiot dogs are not keeping up with the rodents.

[NurseJackie]

21. Have you seen that youtube site called "Mousetrap Monday"

... or it could be "Mousetrap Mondays" (plural). He demonstrates all sorts of mousetraps in action. Wacky home-made creations and vintage ones also. It's very interesting.

[hunter]

22. Yikes.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYbru-MPO1xjes4FVn61JUQ

My niece is a biologist employed by the National Park Service.

She's very very good at mouse trapping and has told us all about the various rodent species she's found in her NPS housing, most of them invasive.

Her specialties are birds and interpretive development. The rodent stuff is something she does as a hobby.

[NurseJackie]

24. Yes... that's the one.

Yikes is right. His early videos were not shy about showing the kill-shot (or snap) but Youtube made him "clean it up" for the squeamish... especially since his channel is monetized. Still it's very interesting. Some of those rats are very clever.

[BlackSkimmer]

23. Odd, considering this is the time of year that most will be heading for their winter hideouts.

Maybe we’ll see them in the spring, but almost November would be an odd time…even in the south.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

26. It's bad enough fighting off the infestation of Republican snakes......

especially in Southern states like KY and TN where they now seem to thrive. They are, after all, non-native invasive hazardous critters. But for some reason, corporations consider them all as protected species.

I wonder if Rethugs are against antivenom shots 'cause freedom.

KY

[roamer65]

29. Climate change should force them north, I would think.

[Keth]

30. Snakes are so misunderstood..

I live right across the river from Southern Illinois in Missouri and I live right next to a small ditch. I woke up yesterday morning and noticed a snake in one of the trees as I looked out my window. The tree is about 25 feet from the house. So, grabbed the camera and started snapping. My neighbor asked me later what I was taking pictures of and when I told her she was like 'you didn't kill it." First of all, garter snakes are harmless, and second, killing a snake in Missouri is illegal. Of course, if it was a cottonmouth in my yard, I probably would have broken the law.

When I downloaded the pic, I noticed it was two garter snakes.

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[electric_blue68]

32. Cool 👍