Snakes and Workshops

[Trevor Howard]

I never usually log in from home (Check on my lunch break at work), but wanted to post this figuring a lot of you may read at night, so I can see some replies tomorrow.

I am deathly afraid of snakes, people tell me Black snakes are good to have around etc. To me the only good snake is a dead one. I cannot even watch them on TV. Hence why I have not done a search of the forum for snakes, since I would like to sleep tonight. :D

So, my question is, and this may get long winded, I have an old 2 car detached garage that I call my 'shop', it is in need of repair and luckily I have only had 2 snakes in there in 10 years that I have seen. Now I am just getting into Turning, I am wondering about the shavings I leave. Will this encourage snakes to nestle in them. therefore scaring the you know what out of me when I clean up, or am I just letting my imagination get the better of me.

I am a little like Mr. Keaton for cleanliness :D, but sometimes it is late and I just want to go to bed, and clean up later.

OK, back out to turning, if that's what I can call what I am doing right now.

[Roger Chandler]

I never usually log in from home (Check on my lunch break at work), but wanted to post this figuring a lot of you may read at night, so I can see some replies tomorrow.

I am deathly afraid of snakes, people tell me Black snakes are good to have around etc. To me the only good snake is a dead one. I cannot even watch them on TV. Hence why I have not done a search of the forum for snakes, since I would like to sleep tonight. :D


So, my question is, and this may get long winded, I have an old 2 car detached garage that I call my 'shop', it is in need of repair and luckily I have only had 2 snakes in there in 10 years that I have seen. Now I am just getting into Turning, I am wondering about the shavings I leave. Will this encourage snakes to nestle in them. therefore scaring the you know what out of me when I clean up, or am I just letting my imagination get the better of me.

I am a little like Mr. Keaton for cleanliness :D, but sometimes it is late and I just want to go to bed, and clean up later.

OK, back out to turning, if that's what I can call what I am doing right now.

If you clean up your shavings when finished with each turning session, you are not likely to have any issues...........unless you have a good number of mice around..........then snakes will come no matter what you do....:eek::D:D

[ray hampton]

black snakes will keep the other snakes away but hogs will eat the snakes too

[John Keeton]

Unlike man, most living creatures have only two things are their mind - procreation and eating. (They don't woodturn, play golf, or any of those other frivolities!) So, the shavings do not present a warm environment and unless you leave them there long enough that the mice nest in them, I don't think a snake would find the area particularly attractive.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Trevor - I am not the one with the dislike of snakes - so take this with a grain of salt but I don't believe you have anything to worry about when it comes to your shop. The only reason you would have snakes there would be to get something to eat and if they were in your shop... take a day off and let them go to work for you! The snakes are probably more afraid of you than you are of them.... seriously. They don't mean you any harm - and I wouldn't worry about them being in your shop.

[jim parish]

As long as they don't have a rattle attached, Oh the heck with it kill them

[Donny Lawson]

Wish I lived closer because I will catch everyone I see. I would be glad to remove them. Rattles or no rattles there all fun and a challenge to deal with. I have several King snakes that hang around here and one in paticular I know I have caught it at least twice so far. Looking foward to seeing it again this year. Hopefully it has grown. Last year it was only about 4ft long.

[John Hart]

I have snakes all over my property. I see them regularly and a variety of flavors. But I have never seen one in my shop.

Spray a little lacquer....see it that helps :)

[Baxter Smith]

Snakes like to lay their eggs in rotting wood or sawdust piles(it produces a little heat). You would probably be safe leaving the curlies overnight though.;):D

[John W Dixon]

Well since no one can seem to give you good honest advice and since you know you have had at least two snakes in the past the only real solution is to burn the place down and clear the land and build a concrete fortress...on stilts. Ya just can't be too careful. Man I hate em too.

[CW McClellan]

Scatter moth balls around shop doors and edges found that helps

[Curt Fuller]

Just make sure you don't have an apple tree near the old garage.;)

[Reed Gray]

Keep their food away, and they won't bother to come around. Moth balls sound like a good idea. Walnut shavings would be good as well because nothing likes them. Frogs, toads, salamanders and worms are other foods that they will eat, depending on the snake, and Garter snakes will even eat slugs. Me, I started picking them up when I was about 5 or so. Oh yea, they will also seek out birds, eggs, and bats.

robo hippy

[Trevor Howard]

Thanks for all the replies guys, the general impression given is what I thought.


Well since no one can seem to give you good honest advice and since you know you have had at least two snakes in the past the only real solution is to burn the place down and clear the land and build a concrete fortress...on stilts. Ya just can't be too careful. Man I hate em too.
This definitely get my vote if LOML would go for it :D

[Jim Burr]

I'm with you Trevor...shoot 'em all and let God sort 'em out!

[Ken Garlock]

Good morning Trevor.

In my part of the country we have rattlers, corral, water moccasins, copper heads, rat snakes, garter snakes and more.

The only ones I have seen are rat and garter snakes. My general rule is a square nose or red on yellow get away. The rat snakes are harmless, and can easily get to 5 ft and more. We had a rat in our garage last year so I took a broom and teased him out along the wall. I grabbed him at the back of the head and about half way down his body, and walked around the house so that my wife could see him through the window. He was not slippery but wiggled enough to bite me on the back of the hand. There were two tiny punctures that didn't do anything but heal up. After the bite, I placed him on the ground and he was gone in a flash. I think he went off to tell his buddy about the evil monster from which he had just escaped.

I suggest that you seek out a desensitizing group. I saw on TV how a woman was scared to even be in the same room as a Tarantula. After the desense therapy she went over to its cage and petted its back. Now I don't like spiders, and will not touch a spider without being offered payment measured in portions of the national budget.

[Jonathan Spool]

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTOVpkFsdJwgoc5d-JA-n8wY9tjYyrLuF_17OCbyJ-nACFMR64j
You need one of these

[Reed Gray]

This discussion brings back a memory. I had a bull snake that got away, not large, but sizeable. I found it smashed in the street. The mail man killed it because he thought it was a copper head. To a snake lover, it looked as much like a copper head as maple looks like walnut. Ignorance!

robo hippy

[mickey cassiba]

I have snakes all over my property. I see them regularly and a variety of flavors. But I have never seen one in my shop.

Spray a little lacquer....see it that helps :)

Now that's what you need, a snake trippin' on lacquer:D

[Rick Prosser]

This discussion brings back a memory. I had a bull snake that got away, not large, but sizeable. I found it smashed in the street. The mail man killed it because he thought it was a copper head. To a snake lover, it looked as much like a copper head as maple looks like walnut. Ignorance!

robo hippy

Sad but true. It seems most people consider the only good snake is a dead snake. To me they can be beautiful (and helpful) creatures. They do have a bad rap, and while I can understand those who act in ignorance - I am saddened when it happens. Kinda like seeing a nice walnut burl burning in the fire pit.:(

[Thom Sturgill]

I remember a story I heard in my youth. A couple of herpitology students from the university came through the area looking for rattlers. They asked an old farmer if they could search his land and he said, "Sure, but I've lived here all my life and never seen a single rattler." Well after a few hours, the students came back to the farmer with two gunny sack full of snakes to show the farmer. Scared him so bad, he sold the farm and moved even though the students had made the farm safer!

Point is, we rarely see a fraction of what's out there and there is no sense in worrying about it.

[Kelly Colin Mark]

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTOVpkFsdJwgoc5d-JA-n8wY9tjYyrLuF_17OCbyJ-nACFMR64j
You need one of these
Or a dog that likes to kill snakes. I had a big Doberman once, my brother and I were frozen in our tracks staring at a big garter snake. He trotted over to see what was up, calmly picked it up, shook the heck out of it, and tossed its lifeless body about 20 feet away in the air. Blood and guts everywhere.

The notion of a snake taking up in my garage shop now has given me the willies. There were mice living there this winter.

[Dick Wilson]

Wear hip boots....quit worrying!!!!

[Steve Friedman]

That doesn't work - just as Jon Voight (Anaconda reference)

Well since no one can seem to give you good honest advice and since you know you have had at least two snakes in the past the only real solution is to burn the place down and clear the land and build a concrete fortress...on stilts. Ya just can't be too careful. Man I hate em too.

[Cathy Schaewe]

I like snakes, myself. I catch them when I see them, and put them in either my vegetable garden or my flower garden (I built a little rock pile for them in the veggie garden) to eat pests. Been bit many times, with no issues. Bottom line - the snake isn't going to sneak in to a place where you come regularly and nest in a pile of shavings overnight. They'd prefer some place with some residual heat (like a rock pile that's been in the sun).

[Alan Zenreich]

I've been fascinated by snakes since I was 6 years old.

We have a lovely little 3 year old female ball python living in an enclosure in our dining room. About 3 feet long and 2 lbs., she's just a little thing compared to the 10.5 foot 65 lb. boa constrictor that we had for 15 years (and retired him 20 years ago).

Perhaps this weekend I'll convince the little girl to pose for a photo by wrapping around a padauk bowl-from-a-board I recently completed.

[ray hampton]

as far as I know ,snakes do not spread or carry any disease but the animals that snakes eat do carry disease

[Dan Forman]

Live and let live.

Dan

[Dick Wilson]

I heard snakes get really, really PO'd when they are sprayed with lacquer. Sprayer beware!!!!

[John Hart]

I heard snakes get really, really PO'd when they are sprayed with lacquer. Sprayer beware!!!!

Yeah....you can tell because they stick their tongue out trying to get that stuff off. But really..they get over it pretty quickly, Dick.....then they start coming around more often...asking, "can I have some more?" It can be a real bother.

[Cody Colston]

Sad but true. It seems most people consider the only good snake is a dead snake. (

That's me. I kill them where I find them. Good riddance, I say.

[Kirk Miller]

When I was younger I liked snakes. I would catch them all day long. I saw what happened to a friends leg after he was bit by a rattler. I hate snakes. You want to see something funny...........Imagine 6'10" & 350 pounds dancing on his toes and going for a gun...........That it me when I think there is a snake around. I live in Alaska for a reason............lol

[Trevor Howard]

The notion of a snake taking up in my garage shop now has given me the willies. There were mice living there this winter.
Sorry to have got you worried Kelly, and like I said it has been 2 in about 10 years. One of them was around spring time with big temperature shifts, so I think that one had come in during a cold night to warm up some. I hope you never have any.



Perhaps this weekend I'll convince the little girl to pose for a photo by wrapping around a padauk bowl-from-a-board I recently completed.
Please post I nice warning in the thread title, I got caught out last week with the picture posted in someones shop. :D


You want to see something funny...........Imagine 6'10" & 350 pounds dancing on his toes and going for a gun...........That it me when I think there is a snake around. I live in Alaska for a reason............lol
I don't like guns, but after my first episode, a friend loaned me a very small shotgun. Only had to use it a couple of times and that was when I feared for the location and my girls safety. Most of the time I try to walk away and hope they disappear.

Thanks for all the replies guys, when I posted I never expect this big of a response. So for my sanity, I am getting into the routine of cleaning the majority of the pile up after each night.

[phil harold]

my turkey, has been seen eating snakes and mice...
keeps bug population down too


also eats my strawberries and tomatoes...

[Alan Zenreich]

Trevor,

I'll be sure to post a warning. Some people are terrified of padauk < s >