help with cottonmouths

[sassyblue]

I live in northeast texas and in the last two weeks I have racked up over $700.00 in vetrinarian bills. Two dogs had to be treated for snakebite and one dog died. A total of three of my french bullhauhaus have been bitten by cottonmouths. The one who died did not exhibit any swelling that I could see but died in the space of less than 24 hrs. Most of my dogs weigh less than 15 lbs. I killed a 4 ft. cottonmouth and a 2.5 ft. cottonmouth and a baby cottonmouth about 13" long last week within a couple of days of each other. I heard the story about how there are an abundance of copperheads in texas now because of the cicada hatchings but i wonder how accurate this can be because snakes like meat! So my questions are: why would I find two adult cottonmouths virtually 10 ft. from my house near the base of crepe myrtle trees and no where near water? (unless you count an above ground swimming pool with a ladder) and yes they WERE cottonmouths. Would a cottonmouth of these sizes try to eat a small dog? At first I thought the baby I killed was a copperhead but after researching cottonmouths I discovered it was a brightly colored baby cottonmouth, so my next question is: Is it likely there are more babies out there (this one was 3 ft. from my front door and of course all my doofus little dogs were lined up around it barking like crazy and it was coiled up with its little mouth wide open. Do snakes travel in pairs? I love non poisoinous snakes and wish I had a pair of kingsnakes. For some reason my little dogs are seeming to make it their mission to hunt inside my 2 acre chainlink fenced area for something(more snakes?). After dark they are constantly barking and raising cain to go out but I do not let them go out alone at night anymore. Do I need to fear that they may encounter more cottonmouths. P.S. as an answer to the guy who wanted to introduce his dog to to his snake my recommendation would be a Big Fat $$$NO unless the snake will not bite or squeeze. Any answers or recommendations on how to drive snakes away besides sulphur or cats or snake repellant would be greatly appreciated. Any info on why I would find 3 cottonmouths of this description w/i 2 wks of each other in the same area?