Removing Snakes In The Greater Metro Atlanta Area:

 

I offer your basic search and rescue type service. I will search the property for the snake and rescue the fair maiden from her own hysteria. My basic service starts with the call. Most folks will see a snake or find a shed and will call with the idea that all they need is for me to come out, find the snake and grab it and go.

While that is a fine thing to do it is not really trying to address the underlying issues like we should do on every call. When I quote my fee I outline what they will get for their money. First a complete inspection of the area where the snake was last seen, and if the snake is visible I ask the client to keep it in sight but do not go near it. Once the snake has been captured or the area searched I will determine to the best of my ability just how the snake entered the area and most importantly why. The why is what escapes most people but when you explain it that snakes are like any other animal with three basic needs food, shelter and sex they begin to grasp the concept. That’s about as far as I go on the phone to reassure them that they will get the full monte.

Once on site I try to keep it simple for folks and use two concepts for them.

The first to get them off the ceiling is to crunch the numbers for them. Of the 42 species of snakes present in Georgia only 6 are of any concern as venomous, the Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake, the Timber or Canebrake rattlesnake, the Pygmy rattlesnake, the Water Moccasin aka Cottonmouth, the Copperhead and the Coral Snake. Of these six we can first rule out the coral as it is a fossorial (living at or under the surface of the earth) species that prefers sandy soils that only occur in isolated pockets throughout the state, not a common species by any means to find one means you have sought it out. The next bad boy is the Eastern Diamondback and it is confined to the coastal plain of south Georgia and will not be found in my area. Now contrary to popular opinion the Water Moccasin is not widespread in Georgia, in areas it is locally common but not in the area I operate in. You will not find the Cottonmouth in the metro Atlanta area as the furthest north they are found is in the Flint river drainage with the furthest north population being just south of the airport in Clayton county. This snake also requires larger bodies of water than your typical ditch or retention pond as found in the metro in order to find the fish they feed on. This leaves the Pygmy, Timber and Copperhead to be concerned about. Of these the Timber is a creature of the woodlands, a squirrel specialist and does not like disturbance of any kind. You will not find this one in highly urbanized areas. The Pygmy while nominally found throughout Georgia is not common anywhere, I have not actually seen one in the wild in the last decade. That leaves the Copperhead with is quite common and found in all areas, fortunately the is the least dangerous as it not only has the least toxic venom of our dangerous snakes it is also a small snake that carries a smaller dose of venom. Very few people actually die from Copperhead envenomation.