Herpetologist in Virginia? Seeking snake advice (1 Viewer)

[Golgo13]

A friend at work was visiting his aging parents in Amissville, VA and found a mating ball of snakes on their property. The snakes were black, approx 2-3ft long and had a "pig-nose." I'm assuming this is an Eastern Hognose from the description alone.
Said friend is worried about the snakes taking up residence in/around the home and becoming a possible threat to his parents health. He is looking for a way to get the snakes to disperse and leave, if possible, or to just be relocated.
My first suggestion was to contact a Herpetologist in the area and it seems there is a herpetology society in Virginia(VHS).

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Or is VHS going to be the best route?

 

[OGBeno]

@Godwin

The man, the myth, the legend.

 

[Godwin]

A friend at work was visiting his aging parents in Amissville, VA and found a mating ball of snakes on their property. The snakes were black, approx 2-3ft long and had a "pig-nose." I'm assuming this is an Eastern Hognose from the description alone.
Said friend is worried about the snakes taking up residence in/around the home and becoming a possible threat to his parents health. He is looking for a way to get the snakes to disperse and leave, if possible, or to just be relocated.
My first suggestion was to contact a Herpetologist in the area and it seems there is a herpetology society in Virginia(VHS).

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Or is VHS going to be the best route?

Not much of a description but "pig-nose" is a good characteristic for eastern hognose snake. Hognose is harmless, non-venomous, and even when provoked is very, very, very unlikely to bite. The greatest threat is one of friend's parents being startled by a snake and falling.

Seeing the snakes on the property indicates that they are already residents, but seeing them again may never happen. Snakes are often present but never seen and being able to find these hognose again could be quite difficult.

I suggest contacting the VHS to see is any members would be willing to come out and look around and talk with your friend and his parents to ease their concerns.

 

[Godwin]

@Godwin

The man, the myth, the legend.

The legend

 

[Golgo13]

Thanks, Jim, I'll let my friend know about all of this. I'm sure he will appreciate it and his parents would also get some relief.
Snakes don't bother me, but I can certainly understand if someone is surprised and/or terrified of them.

 

[bkfj40]

With all the rain we have been having, we have been seeing snakes around our property near the location where this couple is located. Typically, we see black snakes and maybe once every couple of years, a rattle snake.

So far this year, our sightings have included:
one rattle snake beneath our front porch,
two milk snakes
one copper head at our cabin (on the same property)
one copper head near our gate
two copper heads at the rear of the house,
and this weekend, I relocated a copper head out of the chicken coop.

I'm betting that the snakes they are seeing might not be a common sight under normal summers....