[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by condor

Is the Snake-Guard stick available in the market now ? It's a like a walking stick, which is stuck into the soil. The stick emits a sound-wave periodically and this keeps snakes away from the area around it. ( It is a recent Indian invention)

Did a Google search:
https://www.thebetterindia.com/14757...uard-prasadam/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2qphB55Jk

Amazon India too has a few solar powered ultrasonic snake repellers for Rs. 2000 or so - but most of them have poor ratings and reviews

[saket77]

Just imagine a snake present in car's foot-well area at night. When I first heard of snake spottings in my area, I would be very scared getting into my car and driving at night. I don't think it is difficult for snakes to get into the passenger cabin!

[Samurai]

Few months ago, I was stepping out of my car in Manipal home and saw a snake right under my foot. So I had to stop mid-step, leaving my foot hanging. It was a striped keelback, so nothing to worry about. My office does have many snakes, including a large python that leaves its mark on the grass. Some of my staff call the office campus a Zoo.

India has only 4 poisonous snakes (Cobra, King Cobra, Viper & Krait), so recognizing them is easy. All Vipers have diamond shaped head. Kraits have very distinct band. Cobra has the hood, and King Cobra is regular Cobra supersized.

I don't generally have them relocated unless they come inside the house. Better policy than my parent's generation because they used to kill any snake that entered the house.

Originally Posted by saket77

Just imagine a snake present in car's foot-well area at night.

I had that fear when I had an open Jeep, parked in my office jungle. Not that much of a worry in a closed car.

[SmartCat]

Did some weekend cleaning -> got rid of all the fallen leaves & twigs, and trimmed some plants



Made some extra room between potted plants and the wall (snakes avoid open spaces):



And got some workers to seal the water culvert (but BWSSB will dig up the place again):

[NPV]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Today, I almost lost one life (out of my 9)

That was close, glad nothing untoward happened.

We've had similar experiences.
3 years ago, during Dussehra, early evening wifey called to say she is getting delayed at her mom's place so asked me to light the lamp in the Puja room.
I got in, looked down and saw something move. Quickly moved out to see this:




Luckily, some neighbours called a local snake catcher who came in 5 minutes!
He picked up the snake in a gunny and released it on the banks of a lake nearby. He said it's a baby Cobra because of the hood and 2 black spots.

Last year, one evening we returned home around 10:30pm, after parking the car, I opened the inspection cover (metal lid) of the water connection chamber to operate the valve. The street light was a dim orange sodium vapor lamp and just as I was about to lower my hand to reach the valve, I saw what seemed like a coiled up flexible water pipe with yellow spots, again in one quick action I slammed the lid and went inside.

Next day, called the BBMP snake rescue number and when the rescuer opened the cover, there was no snake. He suspected that it might have come in via the rain water drain outside (left corner of the chamber had a hole) and the bottom wasn't cemented. We opened up a portion of the floor in the car porch and found some rat holes, so explained the snake being there.

Later, I asked the mason to open up a much wider portion to make sure there are no more rat holes/damage where snakes can enter, and then had it filled it up and cemented back. The bottom of the water connection chamber is also cemented now and cannot be accessed from the drain outside.




3 weeks later, one afternoon, I see this outside our gate in the rain water drain (yellow spotted pattern on the snake, definitely seemed like the one I had seen inside the chamber earlier). Is this a Rattle or a Rat snake ?
Now, we've got the front portion of that opening closed with a stone slab.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by NPV

Is this a Rattle or a Rat snake ?

Dude, that was a fully grown Indian Cobra - see the 'spectacles' just below the head.



If it had raised its hood, this is how it would look from behind:



There are no rattlesnakes in India (I think)

[NPV]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Dude, that was a fully grown Indian Cobra - see the 'spectacles' just below the head.

I was at work when the snake rescuer had come home. He showed some pictures to my wife when trying to identify what I had seen the previous evening and based on her guess he said it might be a rat snake
He left by the time I reached home to follow up on the masonry work.

[libranof1987]

That is quite some rendezvous with the snakes! Glad nothing untoward has happened. Are cats (apart from smartcat ) a good pet to have if you have snakes?

Pune had a full fledged snake park: Katraj Snake Park, that has now become more of a multi-animal zoological snake park. I've visited it way back (90s) a couple of times and they had a tremendous collection of snakes.

Neelamkumar Khaire has run it with quite some dedication; although people say that there is such over-crowding now that snakes have a lousy life. Every time someone calls about snakes, they are taken to the park if caught.

[Sutripta]

Snakes have no ears, pick up vibrations from the ground. Which by their very nature are low frequency. Very much doubt the efficacy of ultrasonic repeller, though could be totally wrong.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Snakes have no ears, pick up vibrations from the ground. Which by their very nature are low frequency. Very much doubt the efficacy of ultrasonic repeller, though could be totally wrong.

This is what I thought. Just thump the ground with an ordinary stick, or even walk heavily.

This is what I do if I think snakes might be around. I stomp.

If I'm totally wrong about this, then I won't be letting y'all know!

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

This is what I thought. Just thump the ground with an ordinary stick, or even walk heavily. This is what I do if I think snakes might be around. I stomp. If I'm totally wrong about this, then I won't be letting y'all know!

I'm not quite sure if this is totally scientific. Remember that snakes are sensitive enough to pick up vibrations of even small prey like rats. That means, they can pick you up even if you are tiptoeing. So all that foot stomping and stick swinging is unnecessary - snakes already know you are coming! From psychological point of view, I can understand why somebody would want to carry a long stick though.

And here is the deal -> 50,000 snake bite deaths happen every year in India, and most of them are in the rural areas and fields where workers accidentally step on or get too close to a venomous snake. That's because most venomous snakes do not budge from their place after detecting humans. They try to warn (hissing or whistling or making rattling sounds) instead.

Even my friend Mr. Russell did not budge when I was 3 feet away. It had coiled up, raised its head and was looking at me. After I backed off, it was still looking at me from that position for almost 10 seconds. Only after that, it slowly moved back into the drain.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

That is quite some rendezvous with the snakes! Glad nothing untoward has happened. Are cats (apart from smartcat ) a good pet to have if you have snakes?

Many years ago, our cat killed a small snake and offered it to us! But cats stay away from large animals like adult snakes. Heck, cats avoid taking on large rats too. Dogs might be better in this department - they won't kill the snake but might atleast warn you about its presence.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Even my friend Mr. Russell did not budge when I was 3 feet away. It had coiled up, raised its head and was looking at me. After I backed off, it was still looking at me from that position for almost 10 seconds. Only after that, it slowly moved back into the drain.

A snake with attitude!

You could well be right about the snake's detection frequency range, but I don't mind if they mistake me for an elephant. My experience is limited to small rat snakes in our garden, and they run away. The last one I saw was really scared: it was trying to get into a hole in some concrete. I had to leave a door open for it, and, left alone, it found its way out of the corner it had got itself into.

I recall somebody (but not who) either here or on another forum, living in a coastal farmhouse on ECR saying, (paraphrased) "Snakes are a normal part of our life. We don't bother them; they don't bother us. Not unusual to step over a cobra outside the door." Well, I'm not used to them like he is, so that gets a from me, even though I have nothing against them.

Another thing I read: they get into bathrooms and can't get out. Never go into the bathroom in the dark: always turn on the light first.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

My experience is limited to small rat snakes in our garden, and they run away. The last one I saw was really scared:

Yes, rat snakes always bolt away and that is an extremely scary experience too - especially since it is accompanied by all that rustling sound!

If venomous snakes actually run away, then we will have no human fatalities at all. The problem lies in behavioral tendency of such snakes - they stand their ground.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Another thing I read: they get into bathrooms and can't get out. Never go into the bathroom in the dark: always turn on the light first.

Where are you going to stop?
In old style bungalows (tin roof + false ceiling) you might suddenly find a snake dropping in on the dining table! What happens is that birds nest in the eaves, and the space between the false ceiling and the roof. And snakes go up there to hunt.

Snakes hunting - look up what is the function the pit of a pit viper. Or why snakes have forked tongues.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Where are you going to stop?

It's the in the dark bit. And yes, in that kind of house, that kind of place, I think I'd keep the lights on!