How to Remove Snakes:
2016 Update to Pest Wildlife Management

Your local Animal Control &
Wildlife Removal Company

Get Rid of Snakes!

Hi my name is Brendan Mangnitz, I have been in the Nuisance Wildlife Removal industry now for nearly 6 years since I graduated from College at UF with a background in Entomology and Wildlife Biology. I have seen and controlled just about any wildlife issue you may think of. I have dealt with snakes in apartment complexes, snake removal from your everyday household, snakes in the attic, snakes tearing up yards, snakes in pools, snakes stuck in chimneys, and the list goes on and on. I have used several different control and removal methods for snakes and that’s what I want to share with you guys on our website here at http://animalcontrol-experts.com.

The first topic to address is; Why are we having this problem with skunks at our home or in our attic? Well, the answer is actually a lot simpler than you think, it was the skunks land first, they were here before we were. Skunks are wild animals, they are used to living around trees, forest, bushes, shrubs etc. But, as we have populated and continued to grow we have moved into their setting. We have taken away the skunks natural habitat and replaced it with homes, HOA’s, apartment complexes, malls, just regular growth and construction. Well by doing this we have created a hand full of OPTIMAL settings for skunks and nuisance wildlife. As humans we create garbage, mess, waste and all of this creates additional food for skunks. So now you take their natural setting of a forest, replace it with homes, and then add food. Well what do you think the skunks are going to do? THRIVE! And that is what they are doing! We are providing the skunks with an abundant amount of food, our trash, and we are desensitizing them, meaning they no longer have to hunt and be resourceful to eat and stay alive, just the opposite actually. All they have to do is knock over our trash cans and buffet!

Well now let’s talk about why the Snakes are getting into your attic. It’s simple, the attic is a PERFECT place for the Snakes to create a shelter. It’s hot, it’s nice and comfy with the insulation, there are no outside elements like rain or wind so they are protected, and best of all, there are no predators or enemies. If I was a Snake I sure would rather live in an attic then a tree! So you take the perfect conditions of your attic as a shelter, then you add your trash cans right on the outside of the home, and you just gave the Snake all the things that they want to live. Why would they ever want to leave your residence? Free Rent, Free Buffet, Cozy bed, and that’s why you have Snakes in your attic or rummaging around your lawn and home.

How to fix your Snake problem and how to remove the Snakes

what does Snake poop look like

10 Simple Steps for Effective Snake Removal & Control

1st step is to Identify that you do indeed have the problem. Is your yard being torn up by Snakes? Are you hearing REALLY really loud noises in the attic? Are your trash can being knocked over every night and trash spread out all over your yard? Well if you have the tale signs of a Snake infestation then keep reading. What I normally like to do and tell my customer’s when they suspect that they are dealing with a nuisance Snake is document it. So make sure it is a Snake, since all animals’ removal method is different.

Check the property and roofline: Do you see feces? Are you seeing Snake poop like this in your yard, stuck to the side of your house or in your pool? Are you seeing Snake grease marks on the soffit, on the walls, or leading to the attic?

Confirm the activity on the exterior is indeed Snakes. The next step that you are going to want to take is to see if they have made it into the attic or not. You will not always hear Snakes in the attic. They can be agile, they can be quite, and Snakes in the attic are not always loud. So what you are going to want to do is get into the attic and perform and inspection. Any time you think that you have animals in the attic, especially Snakes in the attic, you want to be 100% careful and safe. If you do not feel safe or do not want to take the chance call me, Brendan Mangnitz, and I can talk to you over the phone and even do an inspection for you or send you one of my inspectors to help out. I recommend hiring a Snake removal specialist for safety reasons, but if you do want to do the inspection then continue reading?

wear a resiprator to remove Snake poop

Anytime that you enter an attic for Snakes there are a few things that you need to keep in mind. Snakes are dangerous, they are territorial, they are Nasty and have tons of bacteria, so you want to make sure you are prepared. Snake feces is one of the most Bactria infested feces that we deal with her on the regular so you will want to make sure you wear a respirator like the one on the left. There are a few issues with Snake feces that I will touch on to make sure you are protected, get it removed, and the attic and your home is contamination free.

Wildlife are known to carry many different zoonotic diseases, meaning they can be transmitted to humans. We will discuss each of those in detail. We are not intending to scare you by discussing the diseases associated with Snakes, but feel you should be informed of the health risk to you and your pets. The following is a list of some of the zoonotic diseases that you and your pets could be exposed to from wildlife in your attic.

Snake poop is dangerous

Leptospirosis: The bacteria that cause leptospirosis are spread through the urine of infected animals, which can get into water or soil and can survive there for weeks to months. Many different kinds of wild and domestic animals carry the bacterium. These can include, but are not limited to cattle, pigs, horses, dogs, rodents, and wild animals.

When these animals are infected, they may have no symptoms of the disease. Infected animals may continue to excrete the bacteria into the environment continuously or every once in a while for a few months up to several years. Humans can become infected through: contact with urine (or other body fluids, except saliva) from infected animals or contact with water, soil, or food contaminated with the urine of infected animals.
* There have been cases this year in Florida of leptospirosis including at least 2 cases in Orlando.

Canine Distemper: Canine distemper is a viral disease that affects animals in the families Canidae (dogs, wolves, foxes, etc.), Mustelidae (ferrets, weasels, otters, etc.), Mephitidae (skunks), Hyaenidae (Hyenas), Ailuridae (the red panda), Procyonidae (racoons, ringtails, etc.), Pinnipedia (seals, walrus, sea lion, etc.), some Viverridae (racoon-like animals in South Asia) and Felidae (cats) (though not domestic cats; feline distemper or panleukopenia is a different virus exclusive to cats). The disease is highly contagious (via inhalation) and fatal 50% of the time, thus making it the leading cause of infectious disease death in dogs. The virus infects the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, the brain, and spinal cord.

Common symptoms can include:
1) High fever,
2) Watery discharge from the eyes and nose,
3) Vomiting and diarrhea,
4) Hardening of the footpads and nose,
5) Seizures (of any part of the body, but seizures that look as if the dog is chewing gum are unique to distemper), and
6) Paralysis.

It is most commonly associated with domestic animals such as dogs and ferrets, although it can infect wild animals as well such as possums. It is a single-stranded RNA virus of the family paramyxovirus, and thus a close relative of measles and rinderpest. Despite extensive vaccination in many regions, it remains a major disease of dogs. Hantavirus: Infection with hantavirus can progress to Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), which can be fatal. People become infected through contact with hantavirus-infected rodents or their urine and droppings. Rodent control in and around the home remains the primary strategy for preventing hantavirus infection. All cases of Hantavirus infection are reported to the CDC.

Histoplasmosis: Histoplasmosis is an infection caused by breathing in spores of a fungus often found in bird and Snake droppings. Histoplasmosis is most commonly transmitted when these spores become airborne, often during cleanup or demolition projects. Soil contaminated by bird or Snake droppings also can transmit histoplasmosis, so farmers and landscapers are at a higher risk of the disease. In the United States, histoplasmosis most commonly occurs in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys. Most people with histoplasmosis never develop symptoms and aren't aware they're infected. But for some people — primarily infants and those with compromised immune systems — histoplasmosis can be serious. Effective treatments are available for even the most severe forms of histoplasmosis.

Snake Roundworm: Baylisascaris infection is caused by a roundworm found in Snakes. This roundworm can infect people as well as a variety of other animals, including dogs. Human infections are rare, but can be severe if the parasites invade the eye (ocular larva migrans), organs (visceral larva migrans) or the brain (neural larva migrans). Rabies: Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. The vast majority of rabies cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year occur in wild animals like Snakes, skunks, Snakes, and foxes.

So with all these Diseases and Bacteria MAKE SURE YOU WEAR YOUR RESPIRATOR AND MAKE SURE YOU STAY PROTECTED AND REOMVE ALL THE BACTERIA POOP AND CONTAMINATION FROM YOUR ATTIC.

Snake damage

Next step once your lungs are protected you will want to make sure you were safety glasses and gloves. I ASLO strongly recommend you take your phone in the attic with you or even a blue tooth speaker and you should blare some music. Snakes in the attic will be afraid of all this noise. They will think that there was a party in your attic and will become afraid and want to hide or leave. This is what you want when you do an inspection, if you are doing an inspection of Snakes in the attic yourself you do not want to come in contact with a mother Snake she may get defensive and you do not want to run the chance of her attacking you. So blare some music, have a disco in the attic, whatever just make sure you make a lot of noise to scare the Snake. Once you are certain the the Snake is out of the attic, go ahead and take out your flashlight and do an inspection remember to walk on the beams in your attic, you don’t want to fall through the attic like my buddy James did when he was doing an inspection. Walk around the attic and look for the evidence of a Snake infestation. Do you see Snake poop do you see urine, do you see Snake trails? If you do then you can confirm that you are having an issue with Snakes in the attic. If you do not see any of the sign, great, you caught the issue before it became a real big problem. Either or what you are going to want to do is continue ready for the steps below for how to trap and remove the Snake from your attic, lawn or property. Then next you will want to close off any of the openings on the home to prevent future Snakes from coming back. If you do not have them in the attic but just on the lawn you still want to close off these openings or access points otherwise it’s only a matter of time that the Snake will want to explore and go into your attic. Its always a good thing to be proactive and preventative when dealing with Snakes. The damage and destruction Snakes can cause can get into the $1000’s of Dollars.

Ok so Next Step: Removal of the Snake: Trapping! Trapping is the most successful and humane way to remove Snakes. There are deterrents for Snakes that you can use, and I will discuss tools to trap Snakes, but in all honestly the best way to remove Snakes is to Trap them. I prefer Havahart Snake Traps. You generally want to buy and use 2 traps when dealing with Snakes in case there are several in the area. You want to put the traps around the property where you are seeing the signs of a Snake infestation. So put the traps around the garbage, put them on the areas on the lawn where you are seeing the activity. Once you have determined the correct place for the Snake traps you will want to set those Snake traps. Here is a video of me, Brendan Managnitz, setting a Snake trap at our Office.

Live Snake Trapping and removal can take some time. I generally give it a total of t weeks trapping from start to finish until I catch all the Snakes. Normally Snakes travel in pairs or groups, so even if you catch just one Snake I would recommend keeping the Snake traps out there for a extended period of time. Be patient, give it time and don’t mess with the traps. Let the bait sit there for a few days and try to catch the Snake. Bait will normally stay good for about 72 hours depending on weather conditions, but remember Snakes are used to eating trash, so the Snake will not be picky if it smells a little.

handling baby Snakes

Next Step: I caught the Snake what do I do next?? Simple – Humanely relocate the Snake. Snakes have a great sense of smell and direction. So when you caught the Snake you will want to make sure you relocate it from far away from your home. 25 miles or so should do the trick. Ever state and county is different, you will want to contact your local wildlife management agency like fish and wildlife commission and get their state statues on relocation. Generally it’s a 40 acre plot of land where you have written consent from the owner. You want to relocate the Snakes to an area that you know they will thrive in and be safe. Examples of good areas would be like wildlife management preserves, forests, areas that are their natural habitat.

When you have the snake in the trap you want to make sure that you handle the animal safe. DO NOT put your fingers in the trap, do not mess with it, the animal can scratch or bit you which would then be a rabies scare to cause you to need to go and get tested. What you need to do is buy good Kevlar Glove like these and these are rated for animal handling. If you caught the animal the law states that the animal has to be released from the trap within 24 hours of the Snake being caught. The sooner the better for the longer that the animal is in the trap the more it will suffer. We want to focus on humane and safe animal trapping.

Traps have a handle on the top of the trap and a safety plate. You want to grab the handle of the trap, NO OTHER AREA of the trap. The Snake may try and stick its arm out the trap that is why you want to wear the Kevlar animal handling gloves and only hold the handle. Be careful when you are holding the trap, don’t keep it to close to your legs or it may reach out and try to grab your legs or shoes. Be very safe when holding the trap and transporting the animal.

Finally when you have chosen the area in which you are going to want to relocate the Snake you will want to safely set the Snake trap down. Point the trap away from you, and in the direction in which you intent to relocate the animal. ALWAYs stand behind the trap when you are ready to release the animal. You will want to push down on the safety bar and spring, this will then allow the door to be pulled up. Then you will want to pull the door all the way up, this will allow the Snake to safely exit the trap. Generally the Snake will run right out of the trap. In the event that the Snake slowly leaves the trap and is facing you put your arms in the air as if you are a bear and make several loud predator sounds this will scare the Snake causing the Snake to leave and run away.

Final and Last Step! Clean up the mess behind. No one said this was all fun and trapping games, Snake removal is hard and dirty work, but its got to get done. Now that you have trapped the Snake, gotten the Snakes out of the attic, did the animal exclusion and repair work, you are on the final steps to completing the job. The last thing that you want to do is remove all the mess that the Snake left behind in the attic. This is honestly one of the most important parts of Snake removal and my how to guides for removing Snakes and getting rid of Snakes, but so many time homeowner’s skip this step and have more and more issues in the future.

Why: Feces Urine contaminates, this is all bacteria in the attic. Do you want this over your head at night when you sleep? NO that is why it must be removed. There are duct works and airways that lead from the attic into your home. Just look up, you see those vents in your ceiling? Where do you think the duct work and vents are? Your attic, and what if there is an opening or cut in the ducts from the Snakes, well then you re breathing in all that bacteria that was left in the attic. Remember the harms from the Snake poop I was talking about before? Well that’s in your attic, you want to remove that asap. Breathing in bacteria from a Snake infestation can be fatal and causes many other severe respiratory issues. You will want to wear a full Protective suite and make sure you are fully covered and protected, you can uses a shop vac with HELP filter or use your hand and bags and start removing all the insulation that has been contaminated and also all the feces and urine areas, these are called Latrines, when Snakes defecate in one single area. Once ALL the contaminates from your attic and from the Snakes are removed you will want to apply a product such as DSV to all of your attic. You can use a little pump spray like this one from your local hardware store and apply all the product to the insulation and attic. Make sure you read the label and use the correct amounts. Here at 247, I, Brendan Mangnitz, use heavy duty equipment like an atomizer , when I am doing any type of attic sanitation. For my customers I wasn’t to make sure that EVERY single section in the attic is fully taken care of and nothing is left behind. If you are ready this how to article and want to do this yourself just make sure you do a very good job, don’t cut any corners, and be extremely proficient to ensure the safety of your family.

And that is my How to Guide when it comes to snakes in the attic or your property and how to remove them. Like I have mentioned, my name is Brendan Mangnitz, I have being doing pest wildlife and snake removal now for over 6 years. I have worked and trained hundreds of people over the past several years. It takes time, skill, and patience but removing snakes can be very fun, dangerous, but is also something that we deal with on a daily basis here. Snakes have learned how to thrive and do great in the urban setting. This is not something that is going away. With more and more houses coming up every day, more land being constructed and developed we will always have issues with snakes in the residence. Just read and learn how to protect yourself you family and your home and you should be good to go. If you have any questions you can email directly at brendan@247wildlifecontrol.com or call my cell 1-321-236-9031 any time of the day or night 24/7 THANKS!