Oh, Robyn, please help me...... Last night I was throwing pellet food into my pond off of the deck and to my horror, I saw a SNAKE swimming under water. My grandson got a stick and started stirring up my plants, I could have chocked him, looking for the snake. It just seemed to disappear. I am scared to even go next to my pond. What if it is hiding in the rocks that are around it? Do you think the snake has been in there all of the time? I have 3 pretty good size goldfish that I have had approximately 5 years, that use to be in a small pond on my deck. My daughter and I just put the pond in the end of March. I have lots of baby fish, 2 bullfrog tadpoles and a small bullfrog. Also snails. I don't want anything to happen to my fish or any of the other things that I have watched grow. What am I going to do? I am so upset, I am ready to take the pond apart and sell everything except my fish, etc.

See my section on snakes at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/pmamm.htm
Depending on where you live, you may have water snakes. They do eat fish. Here in MD where I live, we just have garter snakes and sometimes other snakes go for a swim. While they can eat fish, they are normally not that adept at it.

I have worked in my pond with a snake in it. Just move slowly. I have pulled plants out of my overgrown waterfall only to discover a snake hidden there. I practically touched one a few times but have never been bitten. Snakes hide well so the snake could have been there for a while. The only way to deter snakes is to have a sterile pond with no hiding places or rocks which I'm sure you don't want. You can try to catch and move the snake but it's not easy. If it's small, a net on a pole or a long branch might work depending on how fast he moves. Larger snakes can be removed with snake grabber tongs but I looked into buying a set, and they're expensive. If the snake is a water snake, it will probably stay around. If it's a garter snake, ribbon snake, black rat snake, etc., it will probably leave after a few days. Whether or not the snake eats your fish, tadpoles, frogs, etc., depends on how big they are and how big the snake is (and how hungry).

Snakes are a part of a pond ecosystem and no more cause for alarm than a large bullfrog that could eat your fish. The raccoons and herons that raid ponds do much more damage.

Robyn,
I live in Tennessee, north of Memphis. Thank you so much for the information. I feel a little better about it, but will be very afraid standing next to the pond.

If you go to enature.com and enter in your zip code, you can see snakes (and other animals) native to your area to try to find which one matches the snake you saw. Hopefully, he's moved on by now.

Robyn,
I thought the snake was gone, but unfortunately it is still in my pond. We have been told there is a good chance that it is a cottonmouth. It has shed its skin in the rocks and partly on top of the water. The skin measures 42 inches. My daughter partially took the rocks off of the back of the waterfall, and that is where he was, at least last night. We have called someone to have it removed, but that could take days or weeks as they are so busy. What in this world are we going to do? Maybe if I describe it to you, you can tell what it is. It is either a light black or a dark gray, with yellow or white under its head and at least the upper part of its body. Its body is thick. It goes down into the water and swims along the bottom and sides and goes up between the rocks. Thank you for any infor you may be able to give to me.

I wouldn't panic. He's been there a while and nothing bad has happened, has it? Just be very wary by the pond until the person comes to catch the snake. I hope they just move him. Here is the enature page on the cottonmouth. It doesn't really match your description:
http://enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?...e=&curPageNum=8