Snakes and Crawlies in South West France Tarn/Aveyron Border

[Euge]

We recently bought a beautiful barn in a fantastic country setting. The only problems are:

Poisonous Snakes in the meadow by the river

Large spiders visiting through open windows etc.

Are we over-reacting?

1. On the snakes any advice in relation to

(a) Marketing Property - Best not to mention at that stage??
(b) Safety advice to guests prior to arrival.

2. Spiders: Is there a mesh roller blind or similar that can be fitted?


Any advice would be much appreciated

Merci

Eugene

[Alan Knighting]

Eugene,

Snakes and spiders in France? Same as the UK.

Are they poisonous? Same as the UK.

How to keep them out? Same as the UK.

They are an irrelevance! Same as the UK.

Alan

[Paul Carmel]

Euge

Wait till the wild boar decide to pay a visit........did we have a garden??????

[alexia s.]

Eugene,
You HAVE to be new to the countryside!
Spiders have been here for tens of thousands of years; no amount of mesh will keep them out. They eat insects (mosquitoes, for ex) and anyway have more right to be here than we have. Encourage your guests to enjoy them.
Snakes are also part of the environment. Our guests confess to being terrified of them or tell us how wonderful it was to see one. Anyone who has a phobia about snakes or spiders should avoid the countryside.
Do you warn your guests that they could be killed driving on the autoroute to your place? Do I warn my guests that there are spiders & snakes in the countryside?
Along with the wild pigs, you are going to see scorpions. They live in the south of France (we used to have them until our cat arrived).
In spring you will see bees, wasps, hornets.
Before a heavy rainfall you will see bugs which may come inside and climb up the walls.
The alternative to all of this is to holiday on cement.

[cromercrabholiday]

Come to North Norfolk - no dangerous animals reported. Bracing climate, none of this too hot to go out in the sun nonsense. The natives speak English (with a delightful accent) and are friendly.

John

[marcus]

no problem: ants, spiders, small number of small rodents in the property, snakes, lizards, wasps, frogs, toads, salamanders, woodworm, invasions of small black worms in the house during heavy rain, bees, birds, rabbits (it'sa bit annoying when baby rabbits drown in the pool though), praying mantis etc etc

problem: large number of small rodents in the property, small number of large rodents in the property, hornets nest in the chimney (twice in three years - hornet stings are not funny for guests with wasp allergies); wild boar in the garden (never had this yet but they are very damaging); deer walking through the garden and snapping every tree you've planted; stone marten in the attic (three friends have had this - they are destructive and hard to get rid of); termites; coypu (ragondin) blocking your streams; the foxes that killed all our cats...

A couple of weeks ago our part of Lot et Garonne had a 'daddy long legs' invasion which was a bit irritating. In the summer a guest asked me to extract his child's toy from the large snake that had wrapped itself around it while trying to eat an enormous toad. People love seeing snakes, even if they are scared of them (we get mostly the big colourful ones rather than adders/vipers) although a painter who stayed here shriekd rather loudly and fell of her chair when she reached for a paintbrush and there was a snake sat on it, and someone else had to remove a snake from the pool before his child could get in.

You will get used to it,never a week goes by without nature barging in on us. People staying love it, we just talk more about deer, buzzards and kites, and crane migrations than some of the less popular beasts. But you will certainly never keep it away - that's why we're in the countryside isn't it?

[la vache!]

Marcus is spot on - we had mice in 2 of the cottages during the summer, just gave the guests a mousetrap and they kept a score of the mice they caught. People know if they are going to the countryside they have to expect animals, insects, reptiles and arachnids. Maybe not all in the house! We have had a barn owl nesting in the attic of one house for the last 2 years and guests love that - not to lention the gloworms and the fact they can see the stars at night. We included a paragraph in our Ts and Cs stating that we are in the country and cannot be held responsible for the wildlife.
Marcus, did foxes really eat all your cats? How do you know? I lost my beautiful marmelade cat back in April (having just spent a fortune on an injury he had in his leg having been shot by a hunter at Christmas.) I guessed a fox must have got him, but
was never sure, after all, cats can be quite vicious?? My dogs never argue with them!

[mpprh]

Hi

Yep, there are snakes, spiders & scorpions.

Will you see them ? Highly unlikely.

And they are more scared of you than you are of them.

Peter

[marcus]

Over the course of three years we had 5 cats, all went missing without a trace (usually shortly after expensive vet treatment). Shortly afterwards the chasseurs were called in to deal with a den of foxes that had set up home in the next property along from us (derelict, a few hundred metres away). We never saw a fox.
To be fair we can't be sure it was the foxes but I think it almost certainly was.
We don't have cats any more, the stress being too great every time one of them walks off for half an hour. We never have had dogs. The cats were all pretty small (less than a year old) when they disappeared, and weren't very viscious (but too big for a buzzard, I think)

We're now considering chickens.

[vrooje]

My personal favorite are the house centipedes. They eat all kinds of other bugs and so are actually great to have around if you can stand them... but most people can't. Me included.

[MadDogWoman]

The chasseurs dogs are more likley to be reponsible for lost cats than foxes. I've seen several chasse dogs with cats in their mouths, sadly.

[julesb]

Hi Euge
I've just joined this site - we too are on the Tarn/Aveyron border so may be quite near to you. It's fantastic here isn't it! I had a big problem over snake dilemma as my sister is totally snake phobic - just before she was due to arrive we hit 'snake season' and seemed to see them everywhere. I had to ring my brother-in-law secretly and ask whether or not to tell her. We decided not to in the end + guess what, she never did see a snake + had a great holiday - deal with it if it comes up - but perhaps warn people if they have small children + there are areas of long grass to play in.
Jules

PS love to know where you are!