Snake on the boat

walts

walts

New Member
Oct 5, 2006
89
Bolivia, NC
Boat Info
340 Sundancer
Engines
454 mercruisers
Saturday as I was washing the boat I noticed that one of the pieces of carpet I have stuffed in the air vents on the side of the boat ( to prevent birds from nesting) was missing. OK, the bleeping birds are back. I bent over the side and as I was getting ready to stick my hand in to find the nest, a copperhead sticks it's nose out. After I changed my depends one of my dockmates and I managed to get it out far enough to push it into the water and it swam away. Any ideas how it got there? How can I prevent this from reoccurring?
 
Walt
I dont know how it got in,but I'm sure going to start checking my bunk before I crawl into it. I'm across the Bay in Rock Hall. I didnt think there were Copper Heads in the area.

Mark
 
Others at the marina confirmed the have been seen. The positive side is that it was not in the cockpit or cabin area. I looked in every nook and cranny for any "friends". Before next weekend I will have snakeshot in one of my clips!
 
I have had copper head problems around my boat for the last 7 years. They are worst and most aggressive in the spring. I have shot gun and that usually fixes the problem with the ones that won't swim away (which is most of them). Two years ago, however, I did blow a hole in the dock.... oh well...
 
Some of the folks on our docks have apparently had that problem as well. I don't know that there is any foolproof way to keep snakes off the boat but on mine I try to seal the obvious places they can enter. Where my shore power cord comes out, I neatly wrap a towel around the cord to fill the opening. I put an old rug under the opening at the bottom of the transom door. And because my whole rear transom tilts back to get to the engine, I also have an opening of about a half inch where the transom meets the starboard side. I use a piece of foam pipe insulation in there. So far no snakes, but there is probably still a place or two where they could enter.
 
Gary
Have they been on the boat? I am still trying to figure out how it got into where it was
 
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I have never had them get into the inside cabin area but they do get up in the exhaust ports. Critters love the big exhaust ports on my boat. The local Sea Ray dealer was telling me about a beaver that crawled up in the exhaust ports of a brand new 52 DB this spring and chewed through the fiberglass and the boat starting listing from taking on water and almost sunk... explain that to the insurance company.

I've also had a copper head get up in the lift of the my ski boat last summer. Turned the lift on and the top half of the snake fell into the boat. Oh... and it was still trying to bite anything it could. Copper heads can climb...
 
Talk about a new #1 on the Departure checklist! There aren't poisonous snakes in most of WI. If that would happen to me I probably have to get a new boat. I'll stick with the bears, wolves and mountain lions, at least I'd be able to tell if one of them was under the covers in the berth.
 
Woody said:
Talk about a new #1 on the Departure checklist! There aren't poisonous snakes in most of WI. If that would happen to me I probably have to get a new boat. I'll stick with the bears, wolves and mountain lions, at least I'd be able to tell if one of them was under the covers in the berth.
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Agreed! Once I had a spider on my boat, is that scary enough? Spiders and yellow jackets are the only thing we worry about. SHHH!! Don't tell anybody!
 
Snakes are very common where we boat. We saw one crossing in front of us yesterday in the water. You'll see them sun bathing on the swim platforms and sometimes in the exhausts of the bigger boats.

Lots of the folks here put a fake owl on there boat..they swear it works.
 
mrsrobinson said:
Snakes are very common where we boat. We saw one crossing in front of us yesterday in the water. You'll see them sun bathing on the swim platforms and sometimes in the exhausts of the bigger boats.

Lots of the folks here put a fake owl on there boat..they swear it works.
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I put a fake owl up to try and keep the purple martins away and they sat on the thing and crapped all over it.
 
Maybe you needed a battery operated one that went "Who, Who, Who" every 5 minutes.

Our "house" neighbor puts snakes in her landscaping to keep the birds from nesting on/in her house. So, at the boat we want the snakes to go away, but at the house we want them to scare off the birds.

Hmmmm...my mind is thinking here...if only I could train the snakes, there could be a business opportunity here....
 
In Okinawa, they brought Habu and Hemi-Habu (extremely poisonous snakes) to the island to cut down on the bird population which was affecting agriculture. Well, the birds were decreased to almost none, so they brought in Mongoose to thin the snakes. When we arrived in 1993, birds were so scarce that we would actually call eachother over to see when birds were in the area.

By the time we left, the bird population was back on the rise and were beginning to become commonplace. Better off left alone?
 
Four Suns said:
I have had copper head problems around my boat for the last 7 years. They are worst and most aggressive in the spring. I have shot gun and that usually fixes the problem with the ones that won't swim away (which is most of them). Two years ago, however, I did blow a hole in the dock.... oh well...
Click to expand...
Are they just in fresh water areas or do they go in salt water too?
 
OMG!!! and I thought the spiders were bad enough!! If I find a snake I will seriously freak!!! But that is something to think about we sometimes see them in the summer! I never thought about them crawling on the boat, just thinking about it gives me the heebies!!
 
I'm so glad to live in the PAC NW and on the West side of Washington. Nothing poisonous and minimal bugs.
 
For those of you who have a "copperhead problem", is it possible to get anti-venom to keep onboard as part of a first aid kit? Might be something worth looking into.

David
 
I think Anti-venom has a very short shelf life and is very difficult to get.
 
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