Question
I live on the west slope of Twin Peaks, adjacent to many open spaces. I am morbidly afraid of snakes and I have seen several in the area and one in my yard. I am landscaping the backyard and need to know the best way to keep snakes out of my yard.
Susan
San Francisco
Answer
I cannot help you with your phobia of snakes, but be assured, the snakes that you have seen are probably not poisonous. I suspect that you have seen garter snakes (black w/ yellow stripes or orangey green) and bull or gopher snakes (ochre yellow and brown to 6' long). While there may be an occasional Pacific rattlesnake, they tend to live in Manzanita/oak chaparral by creeks. Gopher and bull snakes hunt frogs, lizards, rats, mice and birds.
To keep them from intruding, I would not have a backyard pond or plant material that uses a lot of water. Any area that is irrigated more than 3 times a week will entice little frogs and salamanders. Bird feeders may invite little field mice.
Overgrown shrubberies and ivy will be appealing to rats. You may want to consider putting out some of the new safe rodent baits (they only target rodents, not cats, dogs, birds, etc) to reduce your chances of having rats and mice about. There is also a snake repellant called, fittingly, Snake Away. Sloat does not carry it but it is available online. It is basically napthalate (the main ingredient in moth balls). You may want to consider sprinkling moth crystals or some such along your more "wild" borders.
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