The dominance of snakes in their summer cottage - not the most common problem, but if it arose, these reptiles can be a real disaster. After all, bask in the grass, knowing that somewhere nearby a poisonous and dangerous reptile can lurk - a pleasure, let's face it, so-so! How and with the help of what means can you get rid of snakes and what to do so as not to suffer from their bite?
- Where do snakes come from in home gardens
- How to drive a serpent from the dacha
- Regular cleaning
- Animal hunters
- Scare devices
- Poisons and chemicals
- Folk methods
- Precautionary measures
- First Aid for a Snake Bite
Where do snakes come from in home gardens
The main problem of the appearance of reptiles in the habitat of people - the people themselves. Mastering new territories, building up wild areas of nature yesterday, cutting down forests for these purposes, we step on the natural habitat of animals, including snakes, and leave them no choice but to find a new place for themselves. Often they find him on the lawn under the shade of garden trees.
Such an opportunity is rather exotic, but it should not be discounted either, especially since, having been forced into new conditions, snakes can behave especially aggressively.
The most widespread in our latitudes are snakes, snakes, and mediola are not poisonous at all.
But there is an exception: the viper.The bite of this snake can actually be fatal, and although it is believed that the snake itself does not attack a person in order not to take risks, such neighbors are definitely worth being cast out decisively and mercilessly.
How to drive a serpent from the dacha
In order to understand how to drive the snakes from the site, you need to know what the snakes do not like or are afraid of in order to create the most uncomfortable conditions for them. Killing snakes is not the most effective way to fight with them, it is much better to help animals make their own decision to leave you forever.
Regular cleaning
If the snake accidentally crawled onto your plot, it is most likely that it will not linger here for a long time if it does not find a suitable place to set up a nest.
What are the places, we have already mentioned above, but if you eliminate the compost hole - it is hardly a successful way for a farmer to get rid of reptiles, then it is advisable to get rid of deposits of building materials (especially wood) in time. Of course, anything could be useful in the dacha farm, but if the problem of snakes arose - all the garbage off!
As for the compost pit, it is at least desirable to place it in a placewhere you and your children go least of all, and also make sure that there are no high overgrowths around such a pit in which you can not notice a hidden viper.
Carefully inspect the roots of old trees and shrubs for possible voids where reptiles can make a den.
Old trees with bare roots and stumps need to be cleaned on time. - it will save you not only from snakes, but also from various insect pests.
After you have taken out the garbage, do not forget to carefully level the area where it was located. If you have equipped a green lawn on the site - do not forget to regularly mow the grass. A reptile nest in it is hardly suitable, but it can easily get warm in the sun. It is in tall grass with the maximum probability that you can not notice such a guest and get a fatal bite.
The sound of a lawnmower running is the best snake repeller.These reptiles hate noise and will try to get away from its source as soon as possible.
Animal hunters
It is logical to ask who else, except the mongooses from Rudyard Kipling’s fairy tale "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi", eats snakes and, accordingly, which animals can be attracted to their side in the fight against these undesirable neighbors. First of all, you should think about the usual hedgehogs. In the duel "hedgehog against the snake" you can safely bet on the spiny animal. The hedgehog successfully hunts for other small animals, undesirable at the site - mice, rats, moles, mole rats, toads, lizards, etc.
These animals just love cheese, but this fatty product is harmful to a small body. Spiky guests can also enjoy some berries from your garden.
In addition to hedgehogs, cats and dogs can resist reptiles, but unlike field predators that kill reptiles for their own food, it all depends on the desire and mood of your pet. There are specially bred dog breeds (for example, an Australian Terrier) that professionally hunt reptiles.
Pets can do you good service as natural repellents: sensing the smell of wool, fearful snakes can voluntarily get away from the potential danger.
To help them make the right decision, you can put things in which the cat's or dog's hair has gathered in dangerous places, in terms of a possible nest.
Scare devices
Reptiles, like moles, do not tolerate noise and vibrations. Based on this property, scientists have created special devices. Several times a minute, they produce sound vibrations in the range to which the snakes react, and force them to go in search of a more peaceful refuge.
Modern devices include the use of solar energy for recharging, therefore, having successfully installed the device once, you can forget about the problem. It is necessary to find the right place for the installation of the repeller: it should be in the maximum proximity to a potentially dangerous area (for example, a compost pit) and not contain around itself interferences that will reflect or absorb sound waves.
On the other hand, a natural obstacle to the snake's nest is noisy work carried out in the country. In addition to the aforementioned lawn mowers, this may be the work of a circular saw, other devices or just a friendly, cheerful company.You can create a noise and personally prepared rattles, turntables and other devices, however, as was said, vipers can quite comfortably tolerate such stimuli.
Sometimes they offer to lay out the area with pieces of cloth soaked in diesel fuel. It may be that the reptiles do not like the stench of the country, but whether you want to breathe it yourself is a big question.
Poisons and chemicals
There are several answers to the question why don't kill snakes. This method is ineffective: if the reptiles attracted something in your country house (for example, there is a great place for a nest), this means that they will come again. In addition, to destroy animals that, unlike insect pests, do not cause any damage, and attack only as a defense - inhumane. And yet it is believed that, when dying, the snake emits a special smell, on which its relatives slide.
You can also try using poisons. But be prepared for the low efficiency of this method: snakes are hunters, they will not eat the poisoned bait, and if the venom emitted into the atmosphere scares the predator away, it can be dangerous for you, your children and pets. As already mentioned, diesel is used as a poison against snakes. Herbicides, nitrate, naphthalene, ammophoska are also used. Poisons developed against cold-blooded animals are also available and can be used.
Folk methods
It is much more humane to use folk methods against snakes. It is believed that these reptiles can not tolerate harsh odors, including natural and completely harmless to humans.
You can plant garlic on the perimeter of the plot or scatter dry mustard (this may save you from a reptile visit, but it is unlikely to drive it out of the plot after it has settled on it). Reptiles also react badly to fire and the smell of burning. Some gardeners recommend setting fire to a tire at a site, but this method can disperse not only snakes, but also all neighbors, therefore it is better to simply make a fire from dry grass and leaves, observing all fire safety measures.
As already mentioned, the viper does not like the smell of natural wool. If you do not have cats or dogs, you can spread out around the perimeter of the bundle of yarn, using yarn or old woolen things.
Precautionary measures
Having found a reptile on your territory, do not try to identify it. Despite the fact that only every tenth snake in the world is poisonous according to statistics, an error can cost too much. Even after killing a snake, do not touch it with your hands, so that, having absorbed the smell of a reptile, you do not have to become a living lure for its "kin".
The same applies to snake skin found - take it in gloves and pack it in a non-breathable bag before you take it out.
It is a different matter if you disturbed her nest, or at least approached it in a "dangerous" period, or stepped on a reptile that was quietly dozing in the sun.
Finding a reptile on the site, do not poke it with a stick, and use the sound effect. If there is no nest nearby, the snake will quickly crawl away, and if there is - the stick will only provoke it to attack.
First Aid for a Snake Bite
The viper’s bite is dangerous to humans, and the seriousness of the poisoning and the likelihood of death depends on what measures are taken in the first minutes after the poison enters the body.
So, when you bite a snake:
- Remove the source of danger: drive the snake away or get away yourself (if you can take a picture of it, make it necessary - so it will be easier for the doctor to give you the right help).
- Take it easy (or try to calm the bitten).
- Bend the bitten arm or leg. and do not move it (it is important that the bitten place was fixed below the heart).
- Press down on the edges of the wound and suck out the poison. along with blood, by first taking some water into the mouth to reduce the concentration of toxin in the mouth (snake venom is not dangerous if swallowed, but can be harmful if there are sores in the mouth). Do not forget to spit! Repeat the procedure for at least a quarter of an hour: it is believed that this method allows you to extract up to 50% of the poison from the wound, not allowing it further into the blood.
- Quickly disinfect the wound (not just alcohol), tie it up with a clean sterile dressing - and immediately to the hospital! It is desirable that the patient in this case was in a horizontal position, the head and the bitten place - below the torso.
- If the path is long, or it’s impossible to see a doctor at all, drink as much fluid as possible, so that the remaining poison as soon as possible out of the body naturally. Coffee, alcohol and other stimulating drinks are contraindicated.
- When unconsciousness or cardiac arrest, artificial respiration and an indirect heart massage are used.
- Also on the way to the doctor it will be useful take an antihistamine - for example, suprastin, diphenhydramine, or tavegil to neutralize a possible allergic reaction to a bite. Immediately give two pills, even if the victim is a child. If necessary, you can also give a febrifuge.
That is why in all cases Your main task - as soon as possible to be in a medical institution.
If you cannot reach the hospital in the coming hours after the bite, you should not despair either - follow all the above recommendations clearly, move less, drink more, and in this case, a strong organism successfully defeats the poison without serum. Viper bite is dangerous, but not lethal, if you behave correctly. If you are bitten by a non-venomous snake, you still need to sanitize the wound, and since you can hardly be sure that you suffered from the harmless snake attack, the first-time preventive aid mentioned above should be given to the injured.