Water snakes are at an advantage because of their aquatic habitat. It limits your snake-deterring methods. Glue traps, repellents or ground cover will not be as effective as you want them to be. Don’t give up, buddy. That’s where your brain comes into play.
Today, I’ll show you how to make a snake trap for water snakes. If glue traps, repellents and snake-repelling plants are out of the equation, we have minnow traps and our creativity. You can turn a minnow trap into a trapping device for water moccasins by making a few adjustments. Other than that, you can make a DIY trap for water snakes with some inexpensive basic supplies.
The article below contains two simple methods for building water snake traps. Villagers living near aquatic bodies and professionals use them to capture aquatic snakes and other non-venomous snakes. So, let’s dive in.
How to Make a Snake Trap for Water Snakes
You can create traps for water moccasins through different techniques. We will discuss two methods for building traps for water snakes that require little effort and supplies.
Method 1: Turning Minnow Trap into a Trap for Water Snakes
You can turn a simple minnow trap into an instrument for catching aquatic snakes living near a pool of water, such as a pond, creek, pool etc.
Supplies Required
Just gather the following supplies to create a DIY trap for ensnaring a bothersome water moccasin.
- A minnow trap
- A paracord (10-15 feet)
- Snake bait
Steps for Building the Trap
I saw a professional snake exterminator modify a minnow trap into a water snake trap in a flash. Here is what he did.
- Join the two pieces of minnow trap with inverted narrow parts on both ends.
- Take the clip – the piece that locks the two parts of a minnow trap – and tie one end of the paracord to it using an overhand knot.
- Put the clip in the loop to lock the joined sections of the minnow trap.
- Take fresh chicken eggs, at least 2, for snake bait. You can also use a couple of crawfish, also known as crayfish, for bait.
Note: I recommend you use freshly laid eggs if you have a hen at home or buy from a farmer. Fresh eggs have the smell of chickens that attracts the snakes. Store-bought eggs are cleaned with cleaning products, so the natural smell you need is gone. Besides, other baits can also lure creatures like raccoons or mice. Therefore, fresh farm eggs are the best option in the given scenario.
- Now, place the minnow cage in the shallower part of the water. Don’t fully submerge it in the water. Some of it should be out of the water, a few inches at least.
It is necessary to leave around half of the part in the open air because the snake needs fresh air to breathe. Come on, man, we are not planning to drown the critter. Also, snakes usually prefer to stay in the shallower section of the water.
- Secure the other end of the paracord around a nearby rock, stump or tree. This is to ensure the trap doesn’t float away with the water current; it will just wriggle here and there a little in its place.
- Do your routine activities and check the trap a couple of hours later. You might have a water mocassin imprisoned in the minnow trap.
- Set the little guy free away from your residence or hire a professional to handle it. That’s up to you.
Method 2: Trap from Plastic Net/Mesh
Many people living in villages near freshwater bodies or ponds construct snake traps from plastic-like netting or meshes. These are easy to build and effective. Besides, you don’t need to buy dozens of accessories.
Supplies Required
The only things you need to make a water snake trap from netting are:
- A Large plastic-like netting piece or durable mesh material
- Bungee-cord kind of thread
- Scissors
- Plastic cutter
- An empty plastic bottle of coke (1-2 litre bottle)
- Snake bait
Steps for Building the Trap
Follow the given steps to create a DIY water snake trap.
- Cut a large piece of netting. It should be large enough to form a cylindrical tube.
- Sew the two sides with a bungee cord to make a telescope-like tube.
- Take an empty and cleaned coke bottle and cut it in half.
- Make parallel cuts along the narrow mouth of the bottle.
- Now, insert that part of the cut bottle into one end of the hollow cylinder. Make sure the narrow mouth of the bottle is inwards.
- Securely sew the inserted bottle piece with the net from two points to ensure it doesn’t slip inwards.
- Fix the other piece of the bottle on the remaining opening of the cylinder.
- Secure it with the netting the same way using a plastic thread.
- Put crawfish or cut heads of raw fish in the net funnel. These baits are best for attracting water snakes.
- Now set the cylinder in the water. Again, don’t let it sink into the water completely.
- You can set large stones or branches around the trap to prevent it from moving. Alternately, you can use a rope or cord to keep the trap in place, as mentioned in the 1st method.
- Check a couple of hours later to see if the snake got caught or not.
Conclusion
Water snakes can be caught with minnow traps, with a little modification, or homemade DIY traps. If you know how to make a snake trap for water traps from the available equipment, you can finish the project in a couple of minutes. As you read above, creating traps for water mocassins is neither time-consuming nor costly or complicated. You can use one of the two methods I listed above to set up a homemade capturing device with the basic supplies available. Both can help you clear your premises of the troubling aquatic snakes and other serpents without foreign help.
