Some property managers need to kill them to keep control of the environment. But killing too many can be bad as well. Snakes manage rodent populatons.

Just a side note. Last week while playing frisbee golf on a local Northern California brewery's property, my buddies and I came upon the littlest baby rattler staking out an ant hole. It was maybe 8-10 inches long. We simply played through but it was cool to come upon it.

With a big field full of mice and rats behind my house, I need all the help I can get.

Snakes are welcome in my yard and I've taught my child how to watch for them and give them the respect they deserve.

That's really the best thing they've ever been for, and personally, I think I'd rather just carry a big stick if the most dangerous thing in the woods was a snake.

Walk around snakes is a wise advice if you see one... I was in Belize and stock my hand into the hole when I came up from diving and had a bad encounter with a coral snake (still have a graze scar on my hand. He tried to bite me and if it wasnt for dive gloves we would have a big problem. Also when in Africa I saw a Black Adler on the trial just hanging out. No way to go around him so we waited for 30 minutes for him to move. Also saw green mambas but they were scared of humans.

I dont like snakes. I'm not walking around looking to blast them away but when I see one I give them a wide berth.

out here in the west we have a snake call a MOHAVE GREEN, which is a member of the ratelsnake famley. and let me assure you they will attack, or chase you. and I am speaking from experence.

I carry snakeshot in my .44, but it is pretty much strictly for ruffed and/or blue grouse, AKA "Pine Hens." The damn things are stupid enough to let you get close enough that the extra-wide patterns of the shot charges are still effective. The only time I would shoot a snake is if it bit somebody. As others have said, in that case it is nice to have the remains for identification purposes in order to aid treatment.

I've had to deal with 3 snakes on my little piece of suburbia. Because of my suburban environment and lack of a place to relocate them, I had to "dispatch" 2 of them, as they were either venmous or aggressive. In a neighborhood with small children I felt this was necessary for safety. The third, however was a good-sized water snake that wanted nothing more than to beat a hasty retreat from my somewhat fixated and lighting-fast rat terrier. I removed the dog and the snake removed itself, at high speed.