Petrified of garden snakes and river rocks removal. HELP!!

Hello, All. I'm new to DG and I've been able to find a lot of good information on here about gardening (I'm a newbie). I'm not sure where to post this question, but I thought here would be a good start.

My family and I moved to a smaller town about 3 years ago, just north of Vancouver, WA. We love the are very much. When we first moved, the yard had brush, weed and grass that were as tall (if not, almost) as my husband, he's 6'2. I've been, slowly, creating small flower beds in front of the house. It needs to be done better, but plants are doing well.

The house sits on a small lot and on one side of the house, there's an eye-sore of a tree fort (w/o the tree) and below it , the previous owners covered the ground with river rocks. My problem is, I have Ophidiophobia or an extreme fear of snakes: tiny snakes, medium snakes, big snakes, garden snakes, poisonous snakes, dead or alive, or even the skin that they shed. It doesn't matter. I'm terrified of them! Unfortunately, the rocky areas of the yard are where they hang out to "sun bathe" and even sometimes around my plants, too. This has caused me to NOT want to go and take care of my plants, sometimes, or before I do, I take a step stool or a ladder, stand on it and poke the ground with a long stick and "stir" the area to scare them away before they scare me to death.

To most people, they think this is not much of a problem. However, until I find help with a professional (with this phobia), I need to get rid of the snakes around my yard, or at least, make them go somewhere else.

I've tried shoveling the rocks thinking I could move them into a pile and maybe advertise to give them away, I found out it's, at least, 4 inches deep. Would it be all right to just pour cement or concrete onto it? It's against the side of my house and I thought I could just turn it into a sitting area with a few potted plants around. Any ideas?

This message was edited Jul 2, 2015 3:26 PM

It looks like the rocks are part of whatever system is holding the hill. The rocks are acting as a retaining wall.

To remove snake habitat, I would build a proper retaining wall out of something that is not attractive to them.
As an example, a concrete block wall with some stairs leading up between the walls. Concrete blocks (commonly called cinder blocks) are smooth. The cavity is filled with concrete. So there are no hiding places, no pockets for the snakes to hide in, or to hang onto for lying out in the sun.
See how you have sealed off under the deck with a smooth wall of brick? That is what I would do for the hillside, using materials well suited to that steep hill.
The best way to get a quality job is to hire a contractor who has built such walls. They are not difficult to build, but they do need a skilled designer, perhaps an engineer, if the hill is very high.

You can probably still get rid of the stone by advertising on any of the recycle/reuse/free-come-get-them sorts of sites. (Free-cycle, Craig's List, and perhaps local advertising sites)

I do not think you can do a good job simply pouring concrete over the stones. It would crack, open up, and expose all those pockets again.

If it's still sunny in those spots, despite being a different surface (concrete vs. rocks), I don't see why the snakes - what number of snakes are we talking about here anyway? - would not still find the area attractive. It's warmth they're after, being cold-blooded creatures.

Minimize the hiding places.
Then they will not feel so safe spreading out on a smooth, larger area of concrete.
They like the rocks because they can very easily move into the shade, in the pockets between the rocks when they get too warm, or when a predator comes by.

Make the surface difficult to impossible for them: A vertical wall. Poured in place concrete wall is about as smooth as you can get, or CMU wall is almost as smooth. Both are vertical.

Do not use gravity block material (Versa-Lok, Allan Block, Keystone...). These are usually installed with a slight slope, and are stepped. Snakes can move reasonably well on this sort of surface.

Remove the attraction - usually a food source.

You must be totally infested with rodentia, or no self-respecting snake would seek haven near your property to hang out. No matter how welcoming the warm rocks or nifty cover to duck into - if there's no easy free meal nearby, you won't have resident serpents.

If you can't get rid of their food supply, then provide the higher predator on the food chain.

Get thee a Mongoose...

Diana, thank you for the suggestion. I would have to hold on to that idea since I'm pretty sure it's going to cost an arm and a leg to hire a contractor.

Altagardener: When I'm outside, I usually find at least, one snake in each side of the house. But my children would see 2 in the backyard when they're playing.

Vib Valley: We don't have rodent problems. Besides, my husband says the snakes are not even big enough to eat a small mouse. And hahaha!! on the mongoose. That's what he said, too!

Well, I'm pretty sure they are not vegans. All snakes eat something.

Find out what species they are, their feeding preferences, and then starve them out.

Works every time it's tried...

I know they're not vegans. :) They must be eating small insects in my garden / yard. I have trimmed a lot of my low growing plants where they're not so close to each other, almost to a point where I'm planning on just ripping everything out of the ground, so there's nowhere for them to hide or hang out.

I didn't have the courage to look at the pictures you attached. Yes, I'm THAT terrified. But the ones I've seen have either white or very light yellow strip on its back.

I've been confined inside my house and only go to the porch for the last week or 2. I have removed my black soaker hoses from my garden, and I don't have sprinklers on a timer. My plants are suffering from not being watered regularly.

I think for now, I'm going to give up on gardening temporarily until I get over this fear.

Is there somewhere you could stand with a hose and spray the plants from a distance? Perhaps from the bottom of the hill?
Or have a friend or neighbor do this for you?

I feel for you. Yesterday I was standing under a tree squirting a hornets nest when the tree's limb tap tap tapped me on the shoulder - swaying in the breeze - but there was no breeze!!

I turned and there was a huge snake in that cryptomeria and I was up under it.

Today at dinner..I looked past my husband and out the dining window and sliding UP the GLASS door ( our bedroom entrance ) - flat glass no pane -- was a snake. Heading towards the high gutter where BIRDS nest. A vertical slick surface..

They hide in rock pockets near our manmade stream with waterfalls that runs in front of our house -- FROGS are the draw

They hide under our deck and screened porch - waiting for passing field MICE.

They wait in our clematis trellis - for LIZARDS

And so -- not sure if this info is helpful to you ...but I'm trying to be helpful since your rocks are hard for you to remove and expensive to hire out alternative solutions.... I do believe if you got rid of the rocks ...you may move the current snake gathering area but the darn things will adapt to somewhere else. I have seen them on the vertical screen on the porch ,emerging from a gutter, and coiled and hidden in the sidewall of hose reels. They don't seem particularly interested in humans. They are interested in frogs, mice, moles, lizards, and birds -- especially in the nest. And so, how can we get rid off the natural food sources?

I can understand your fear...I have it too. Terribly. I am never in the garden without my UGGS - In any season. GREAT GREAT GARDEN gear. Not hot in summer but warm in winter. Nothing can bite thru the hide and keeps the insects off too. I never see snakes in winter and our winters are very mild. Some years I don't see them at all. This has been a bad year. Others are correct -- the source of food must be eliminated but that is easier said than done. I have photos of the glass climber, but I won't post. Not wanting to discourage you but perhaps help you to not see the rocks as the problem.

This message was edited Jul 30, 2015 8:15 PM

What about a few hedgehogs?