Should you find a snake in the home, use a long-handled implement (e.g., snow shovel, multi-tined pitchfork) to scoop up the animal and transport it outdoors. Unless you have had prior experience in the handling of snakes and accurately can identify the species involved, it is not recommended that you try to catch the animal by hand. In extreme cases where you know a snake has entered the home but you cannot locate it, several approaches can be followed. Most snakes generally migrate toward sources of warmth and moisture, so concentrate your search near appliances such as refrigerators, freezers, or washers. Placing a slightly dampened but loosely rumpled bath towel against the floorboards near these appliances often will attract the animal, and it will wriggle its way under the towel to hide or rest. You can then pull the towel off and scoop the animal into a shovel for removal. In stubborn cases where you simply cannot find the animal, specially designed glue traps are available commercially. These devices can best be described as long, thin cardboard boxes that have an opening at each end and the interior bottom surface is covered with a tacky adhesive. When placed along the floorboards at the perimeter of a room, the snake enters the box and becomes trapped on the adhesive. You then can transport the box and snake safely outside and, with an application of several tablespoons of vegetable oil, the snake can be freed from the adhesive and released a safe distance away from the home. Remember, it also is illegal in Virginia to remove a captured wild animal from your property and release it on property that you do not own. Thus, you are not allowed to relocate a snake you may have captured in your home to the national forest or the city park for release.

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