Found a snake skin in the boat. Now what?

[KD4UPL]

My 23' open bow is stored on the trailer at my house. We live on wooded property in the mountains of VA. Today my wife was getting life jackets out of a compartment to hang them up to dry. In the bottom of the compartment was a snake skin. That compartment was emptied and cleaned back in June so it's appeared since then.
So now what do I do? I have no idea if there is actually one or more snakes still on the boat. I have no idea where they might be and there are PLENTY of places to hide. Even if I start tearing the boat apart I can't get to all the little crevices. And what do I do if I find a snake? I don't want to reach into a dark hole and grab and unknown snake. My normal practice is to shoot them with my .38 and snake shot but I don't think that will work on board the boat either.
I was thinking maybe stapling some glue traps to plywood and laying them around on the floor? Any other ideas? I don't want to just sell the boat but it's awfully hard to relax when you know a snake might boating with you.

 

[Earl Cordova]

After shedding it's skin in a secluded place,
the snake moved on to find something to eat.

Unless you have other edible critters in your boat as well.
Then glue traps might be a good idea.

 

[dwco5051]

The bright side is you may not have to worry about mice chewing your wiring.

 

[BWR1953]

Burn it! Burn it to the ground!

 

[Texasmark]

I'd identify the species if possible. If its not a "pit viper"..triangular head, rattler, moccossin, copper head, or coral snake...small head, black, yellow, orange striped, small body for length I wouldn't worry about it. I know of no instance where these climb above ground spaces.

Chicken snakes climb, grow to be very large with normal sized heads to fit their body width, and like to get into tight spaces...not harmful. When challenged they freeze and adjust their length in abrupt zig zag geometry. Had a neighbor with one in the top of his barn and lived there for many years unmolested and didn't bother anybody....grew to be very very large....rat and mouse vacuum.

 

[Roadking57]

pour a bit of watered down bleach in the boat into all the holes followed by a good rinse with water hose about 10 minutes later. standby with a hoe

 

[Real_TripleB]

I agree with @Roadking57 , you can flush the boat thru holes and make sure there is no snake eggs or feces that clogged anything. If a snake comes out, have a bat, gaff, or Bebe gun and kill it lol. Obviously hit it when it’s not on or in the boat.

 

[Lectro88]

Hot water is a sure fire way to get a snake moving.
Most snakes are at home in water., But you heat it up things change quickly.
I only kill poisonous snakes.
Now my Ex would not ever get on that boat again.

 

[TyeeMan]

No, really, BURN IT! I would never set foot in that boat again. The only good snake is the one that's doing about 50 mph out the side chute of my John Deere tractor.

 

[robert graham]

I’ve found snake skins in the attic, in my basement, in my garage/ shed….it’s no big deal…snakes just do it and move on….no need to share the snake skin find with your wife, who may become paranoid over it….

 

[KD4UPL]

I’ve found snake skins in the attic, in my basement, in my garage/ shed….it’s no big deal…snakes just do it and move on….no need to share the snake skin find with your wife, who may become paranoid over it….

The problem there is she's the one who found it. I'm already getting the "I'm not sure I want to go on the boat again" talk.

Thanks for the suggestions of bleach and hot water. If nothing else the nether regions of the boat could stand a good cleaning I guess. The last thing I need is a snake appearing while we're out on the water.

 

[robert graham]

It shouldn’t be too hard to give the boat a good cleaning…maybe bleach, pine oil, or something snakes don’t like the smell of. Moth balls scattered in all the nooks and crannies of the boat would be a good idea and will impress your wife….use lots of them!….so whenever you get near the boat the boss-lady will smell them and feel good about it!….My brother had a snake get in his swimming pool(which they WILL do) and his wife was traumatized by it, so I understand your dilemma!

 

[crazy charlie]

Found same under my cockpit carpet last year.Then saw the little guy on my seat.Was about to smash it and my wife chimed in "Dont hurt it" ...as I hesitated ,the snake scurried under another cockpit seat and never saw him again.Extremely strange to see in NY.the daytime temp in my cockpit when the boat is closed up is well in excess of 125. He probably fried up crispy.Dont sweat it ......it freaked us out for about 10 minutes and have been sleeping like a baby on overnighters ever since.Dont sweat it!!! Charlie

 

[roscoe]

I'll take it off your hands.

 

[Davetowz]

Burn it! Burn it to the ground!

What He said......

 

[Meames1]

Yeah, burn it. LOL. While I'm not a fan of snakes, my wife is abnormally Terrified of them. I mean, like out of her mind terrified. If she ever found a skin on our boat, she would never step foot on it again...and I'm not kidding. We've been married 30 years and the only thing I've ever kept from her is when I see a garter snake in our yard.
I like the hot water idea. Good Luck !

 

[nola mike]

Presumably the OP was killed by the snake, since they haven't updated in 3 months.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Years ago I had just pulled my boat out of the lake. My 5yr old daughter was helping her Daddy get the boat ready to trailer home when a 3ft red & black garter snake came slithering towards the back of the boat. I called my daughter over and picked up the snake by the tail. Scared at first, she touched it's skin before I set him down in the cattails next to the boat launch. He must have slithered down a dock rope at the cabin while we were there.

Until I rebuilt our outhouse, garter snakes would find their way into the barrel. Ladies do not like going to an outhouse, especially if there is a snake involved!