I just found some bird netting at Lowes 14' * 14' with 1/2" spacing for $6. 

Wait till they start to ripen.

Lowes and Home Depot have deer fence in rolls of 7ft by 100ft. I use it on my garden then the trees get what is left. 1/2 in squares of black plastic netting. $13.00 a roll

Thanks for the reply

Here in Indiana people have had black snakes getting caught in deer fencing. The snakes try to crawl through it and get stuck, they crawl through openings that are too small and as they struggle they swell and become hopelessly trapped and die. (just FYI...)
Susan

Susan we have had a snake or two in the plastic fencing we have successfully rescued both of them. My children are snake friendly and my wife will even come watch them but the kids will handle them with care... We have a pair of sissors that are used for removing stitches and used them both times to free the snakes.. We now use wire down at ground level and the deer fence starts at about 18 inches from the ground...

I thought that I might do something like that - with wire fence on the bottom to keep my dogs in and maybe deer fencing above. Haven't done it yet - might use electric wire...The bandage scissors are a great idea and I will pass it on!
Susan

Is this netting found at Lowes better than or as good as the Bird X for which I just paid $40??  If a snake gets caught in my netting, I'm sad to say my career as a fig grower will be done because the birds get my figs every year.

If you have snakes in your area, and you run mesh all the way to the ground, it's almost certain some will get stuck. The snake in the photos was fortunate enough to get trapped in the shade, and lived. I got it loose by cutting a few strands here and there (a "seam picker" used in sewing works well). Those that got caught in sunny spots haven't been so lucky.

No need to give up your fig career though--I was finally able to keep snakes & lizards from getting caught in the netting over my fig by making a 24" high "fence" around the tree with visqueen (clear plastic) and then overhanging the bird netting a few inches down over the top of the plastic, on the outside. The birds didn't get in through the overlap, and no more critters got tangled in the mesh, except for one small bird that got stuck on the outside and died before I found it. Snakes and lizards are still getting stuck in the mesh over my garden, because it is connects to the top of a masonry wall and I can't shield it effectively with the plastic. I'll have to just remove the mesh from the garden, because I can't see any way to keep my scaley friends from getting stuck--but if you have room to create a full perimeter plastic barrier, it works like a charm.

Sorry Ken, I could only read about two thirds of your post before my eyes would hit the pix of the snakes, and even picutres scare me.  My husband put snakeaway all around our property.  Sometimes I worry that that stuff just keeps the snakes IN rather than away. 
What if I just put the net around the branches and don't put it all the way to the ground?  I can somehow fasten it at the bottom of the branch area. 

pigs will clear your property of snakes...

Ken,

That's a NICE little snake!  I'm glad you were able to save it and feel sorry for the ones that didn't make it.  I don't see many snakes around here except some tiny ones from time to time.  More often they are dead than alive, which saddens me.  I like snakes, but always check to see whether they are poisonous, or non-poisonous before getting too close to them.

Vivian

Sorry the pictures made you squeamish--I didn't realize you were afraid of snakes; I just thought you meant you would feel bad if one got trapped and died.

I doubt the snakeaway will do a whole lot either way, but hey--it can't hurt, so why not?

If you've got enough bare trunk to gather the netting around it 18 inches or so above the ground, I don't see why that shouldn't work. Obviously there are no guarantees, but snakes and lizards tend to get stuck at ground level because they try to crawl through it. Their little brains just aren't wired to recognize netting as a threat.

Vivian--

He (She? I didn't check) was a nice little snake--and was also tired enough from struggling in the netting to be less inclined to bite than most coachwhip snakes are when they're being handled. It found enough energy to disappear at high speed, though, once I let it go--and I haven't seen it since.

Venomous snakes are considerably trickier to free. Maybe on a separate thread, so as not to distress Ireilley and any others who are bothered by snake photos, I'll post shots of extricating a trapped rattlesnake.

Hi Ken--Sorry Ireiley--I didn't see your post before I posted to Ken--I'd be interested in seeing how you freed the you-know-what.  ;)

Vivian

On the flip side. if you do not completely enclose the tree, you will still have birds. Either bring it all they way to the ground, and gird it up a little, and tie it tight around the trunk.

Yes, definitely you must totally enclose the tree (other than the section of trunk that holds up all the branches). Sorry I wasn't clear.

Vivian--I'll try to post it tonight, if I can figure out how to embed photos in the text, in the correct sequence. At this point all I know how to do is end up with a bunch of thumbnails at the bottom, in no particular order.