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OK, let's do some back of the envelope calculations here. Assume 3000 km of border, and say a 5 meter wide trench. So that's 15 million square meters of water to fill. Let's assume low snake density - say 3 square meters per snake. You're going to need 5 million snakes.
You can get a venomous snake for about $200. But there's nowhere near the market supply for 5 million, so either you have to buy them piecemeal over time or you're going to end up driving up prices.
There's no natural food supply for the snakes, of course, so buying them is just the first step. A snake costs about $50 a month to feed - so $600 a year, and already you're paying $3 billion a year.
I've assumed here, by the way, the snakes acting as a kind of roving threat rather than the sort of Indiana Jones type density probably running through Trump's brain.
Guys, I don't think this is a practical plan.
Honestly, alligators are a more plausible option - a single alligator can deter a wider stretch of the moat than a snake. But that drives the food costs up even higher.
Plus, of course, given frequent heavy rains, you need extensive fencing to prevent a snake and alligator problem instead of a migrant 'problem'
On the other hand, if you can bring this in under $7 billion, it's still a cheaper way to fund poisonous vermin that terrify innocent people than the ICE budget.
