It’s National Snake Day, but that does not necessarily mean you want snakes in your yard! Although snakes can sometimes be beneficial to our overall yard health most people do not want to deal with them slithering around.
During the spring snakes linger in yards during the day. The probability of a snake popping up on your front door depends on many factors including: surrounding landscape (urban vs. rural); your location (north vs. south); water sources (lakes, rivers, ponds); and your lawn and garden maintenance and design. Even though most snakes do not like contact with people and most are not poisonous, they can still give you a good scare. A great way to avoid trouble with these snakes is to understand their habitats and how to avoid contact with them. The following tips will help you avoid these slithery creatures:
Keep Your Lawn Mowed: Tall grass attracts snakes and brings the food!
Avoid Snake Habitats: Snakes usually hang out in cool, damp, protected areas in your yard. Beware of them around rocky streams, garages, wooded areas, or other places around your house where there might be cave like conditions. Keep wood and debris piles away from house. Screen off porches underneath your house so animals do not crawl into small spaces.
Find Where the Snakes Are: On cold days, expect to find snakes trying to warm themselves. They will be on a warm rock or near a car engine. On a nice spring or fall day, beware…they might be everywhere!
Snake Temperature: Snakes are rather sluggish in the spring when they first come out of hibernation, and in the late fall when they are getting ready to go into hibernation. During these periods, snakes are pretty inactive and may not warm your before striking or moving. During warmer weather\, they may be more energetic and aggressive.
Lift Carefully: When you lift something off the ground that that could have a serpent underneath, use a pole to lift it toward you. This will place an object between you and the snake if necessary.
Feed Pets Inside: feeding your pets outside can attract rodents and insects which may attract snakes. If you do decide to feed your pet outside, make sure you clean up uneaten food right away and store the pet food in a metal can with a tight sealed lid.
Seal the cracks: Seal cracks on house, foundations, and sidewalks to prevent snakes from entering these areas as well. Energy audits can help identify cracks and crevices that allow heat or air conditioning to leave the home. These crevices and cracks can be used by snakes and other small rodents.
Stay Vigilant: Watch out where you reach and walk, especially in rocky areas!
When dealing with the removal of snakes there are some techniques professional wildlife removal experts suggest. Here are a few:
- Use a push broom to sweep away snake. This works well for snakes inside your house, shed, or garage.
- Use gloves and pick up snake and move it to new place. Only do this step if you have identified the snake is safe and not poisonous.
- A professional can be hired to remove the serpent if you do not feel comfortable doing so yourself.
- Install a snake fence around your lawn to keep them out.
- You can set snake traps but they are not always 100% effective.
There are also a few things you should NOT do…such as use mothballs, sulfur, or sticky traps. The chemicals in mothballs are toxic to insects and mammals, but are not effective against snakes. Some toxins may even cause illness to humans and may put your pets at risk as well. Sulfur is also not effective at deterring snakes away. Purchasing it will be a waste of money. Sticky traps can target all sorts of animals not intended to be trapped. This can lead to a slow death for them if kept outside.
While snakes are not something that Sprinkalawn can help you with, we can help you to keep your system in top shape. We can also help if you notice your sprinkler heads may need to be retargeted so you are not watering the street. Contact us today!