We had a really hard rain last night. My cats wanted to go out on the patio a little before dawn so I let hem out to play. Shortly after, Grace came inside and started following me around. I thought that was a little strange. When I went to the door to call them in and shut it, I saw Blondie in a wrestling match with a small black snake! Grace was standing a few feet away just watching and a little unsure this was a suitable toy. I kept yelling No Blondie! and trying to pull her off, but she kept leaping back on the poor thing. I struggled with her and finally pulled her off and put her inside with Grace and the little snake went back under the hose hider where it must have been hiding/living. I went out to the store and got moth balls and put a netted bag of the stinky things inside the hose hider and covered it back up. Hopefully that will drive all living creatures away. It reeks of old lady out there though. Anyone have any other snake repellant suggestions?

How strong is a snake's sense of smell??? Why do 99% of women hate snakes? I hate the sight of them and can't even touch a picture with one in them - and hate when a snake appears in my Facebook feed.

However, I just googled "snake repellent" and find there are several products on the market available at Walmart, Home Depot that you might want to try! The majority of snakes are harmless and are terrified of you, although I did have a cat who to bit by a pigmy rattlesnake when we lived in Palm Beach County. Thankfully, he recovered just fine. Cats are definitely fascinated by the slithering movement. Hope you can get rid of the snake -- I'm sure there are animal-removal services where you live. I'd rather have the snake completely GONE.

Thankfully, it was a non-poisonous one for your Blondie.

I know! The neighbor had a coral snake in her yard a couple of years ago. I have seen the black snakes from time to time and it was small. But Blondie kept pouncing on it and it was all over her too trying to get away. I see why she got so excited, almost out of her mind. It was like the ultimate toy. But if I hadn't pried her off of it she would have tortured it to death, yuck. She keeps looking for it and smelling the ground so they must leave a smell behind. I think the moth balls will keep it out of the turtle hose hider.

Did you google moth balls and snakes??

"Mothballs are commonly thought to repel snakes, but they are not intended to be used this way and have little effect on snakes."

Maybe they just want to sell you snake repellents. However, moth balls are toxic to cats -- so you need to make sure Grace and Blondie don't go anywhere near it (the smell alone should repel them). I would definitely check into an actual snake repellent! You never know -- Florida has a billion snakes. You're lucky that you saw only a black snake, however, you probably have dozens that you cannot see and if you live near water, you have copperheads and water moccasins, too. YUK!!! I was always seeing snakes in Florida. Lived in Nashville since 1992 and haven't seen one live snake yet -- but now that I've said that, I'm sure I will spot one. There was a baby snake dead in the road a few weeks ago.

Personally, I think of snakes the way I think of spiders, roaches, and rats. As long as they stay in their domain, I shall stay in mine.
But, there are some cute snakes out there!
Anyways, I think you should just have a pest service come in and remove it.

A snake is a snake and I've never seen a "cute" snake in my life! We do have a ton of spiders in the summer time -- and they get into the house through the tiniest cracks. Had to kill a large one climbing up my bedroom wall. Yuk! I needed an extra large magazine to beat it with. Normally I scream for my husband to kill them. I walk through dozens of spider webs every day when I walk Raiden, too. He loves walking in the woods behind our house and I knock the webs down one morning and they are back up the next. Not crazy about rodents either!

Well I don't know if the snake is still in the hose hider with the stinky moth balls or not. I am hoping he slithered away. The rodent is back on my roof teasing my cats. I paid an astronomical fee to have openings on my roof sealed up by Rat Busters and they flushed the rodent out with the hose and let him run free only to return back to the same area! I called Rat Busters over the weekend and they said they could come out and set some traps (they said that the first time and never did it) and then they started in on closing up that open gutter and I told him I had spent enough already. He hasn't called me back to schedule the traps...

I didn't realize rats return to a certain area. That is horrible, Jill! I don't want rodents or snakes anywhere near me and we back up to a large wooded area! I'm positive there are a million of each back there. We did have starlings get into an area under our roof after we had just moved into the house, but we had that taken care of immediately and they were gone. I hear squirrels running all over my roof -- at least I hope they aren't in the attic! Hope you get Rory the Rat out of your life.

I guess it is a roof rat. They flushed him out with a hose and sealed up the area that leads to the patio but he went back to the same spot with the open gutter. I is not cool to be on the patio with friends having dinner and he makes an appearance directly over head and runs along the roof and the screen to the other gutter. I keep imagining he is in the house and hearing things. Sometimes it keeps me awake. It's my imagination I am sure but I don't want it around.

I saw a big ole rat running across the floor in our garage last week. I'm trying to get my husband to put some traps out - I don't want those nasty things running around

He keeps telling me to just put Diesel out there for a few hours and let him catch it not happening!

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Dallas, TX USA
Diesel - snow Bengal born 09/01/2013 adopted Feb 2014
Tuck, Chloe, Buddy, Lewis & Tia - rescue kitties
Clyde, Bleu & Coal - Great Danes

Can you imagine the mess, plus who knows if the rodent would make your cat sick or not. The Rat Buster guy called me today. They are going to put 3 traps out with poison food. $25 per trap and $30 per month to rebait the traps. Supposedly the rodent eats the food and wanders off to die…I am spending over $1,000 to get rid of this rat. They sealed up all the openings on the roof and patio gutters for $950 and the darn thing is still on my roof laughing down at me.

I definitely worry about the diseases rats carry and would not even let Raiden eat a mouse! Legs catches them and devours them. YUK!!! Crazy to spend that type of money on a measly little rat, Jill. But you have to do what you have to do. They carry diseases and you don't want Grace or Blondie dealing with a rat. Hopefully, all will work out very quickly for you and you don't have another "tenant" take its place.

We lost two of our cats to a snake. The next time we seen him going over the fence we called in the experts.