In the past few days, I’ve been to a multiple homes to catch rattlesnakes in garages. That’s normal and right on time. Which brings up the topic: when do rattlesnakes start moving again, and what should homeowners expect?
When will rattlesnakes come back? Our predictions, based on 11 years of relocation hotline activity:
Early February (you are here): Rattlesnakes will start to “stage”, or move closer to the entrance of, their winter dens. We will start to receive calls to remove small groups of rattlesnakes from garages, storage closets, sheds, and other out-of-the-way structures. Rattlesnake removal calls will frequently be multiple animals.
Late February: Rattlesnakes will start to appear out in the open near their selected dens. Garage removals will be more common. However, there will be an increase of calls to pool pumps, courtyards, and homes with rip rap and rock pile erosion control.
Early March: Snakes will start to make short movements from dens to hunt, drink, and engage in social behavior. They will be highly visible on the surface with peak activity occurring mid-morning before returning to the den or other nearby staging area. Mating activity is high, and multiple snake removal calls will be common.
Late March: Rattlesnake sightings will become common as they leave dens entirely. Peak activity will be between 3pm and 5pm.
April: Very high rattlesnake activity and sightings will be common. At this point they have entirely left the dens and sightings are more likely to be random encounters.
If you’re a hiker or outdoorsy type, you’re still not likely to see a rattlesnake in February. Be more watchful and aware in March, however.
Now is the best time to get to any maintenance or prevention activities you have on your to-do list. Landscaping, debris removal, fixing the snake fence, having the dog trained … get it done before the snakes show up.
Rattlesnakes often den in the garage. If you are using these last mild-weather days to get to “that” side of the garage, use extra caution.
Educating yourself is the best way to stay safe and feel better about the whole situation
As with most things, fear of rattlesnakes is mostly in our heads. Not the fear itself of course, that’s a real thing, but most of what we believe about rattlesnakes as a culture is simply false. Down to the idea that they are aggressive, or territorial (in the way that people use the word) and more, most of us just haven’t had an opportunity to learn factual information.
If you fear rattlesnakes, spend an afternoon going through these resources and watch what happens 🙂
Videos of early-spring rattlesnake captures and info:
More articles about making peace with rattlesnakes this spring:
The spring emergence of rattlesnakes is a big topic with homeowners and hikers – obviously we’ve discussed this in the past quite a lot! Here are some of those articles that can help make sense of it all.
We’re happy to make the following changes to our COVID91 response based on recommendations by the CDC, effective 05/24/21:
Rattlesnake Solutions personnel visiting homes who are fully vaccinated may no longer wear a mask, either while working outside or inside, unless requested.
If any employees are not yet fully vaccinated, they will wear a mask while indoors, but not outdoors or while working.
Masks will still be worn upon request by any employee in any situation.
Our policy for individuals who suspect they have come in contact with COVID-19 will remain the same:
Any employee or contractor who feels ill or has come in contact with a potential COVID-19-infected person will be removed from rotation to follow a 14-day quarantine.
In the event that one of our team is tested positive for COVID-19, any customers who have been serviced by that individual will be notified immediately.
Starting in early March, rattlesnakes will again be a part of our lives in Arizona! While we’re excited, you may not be as much 🙂 Even when a rattlesnake fence is installed perfectly, things happen; rodents dig, branches fall, gates shift: we’ll make sure you’re good for Spring.
To make sure your yard is as good as it gets before things start getting all rattlesnakey out there, we’re offering a check-up and maintenance service to our Rattlesnake Fence customers through the end of February.
Inspection of rattlesnake fence, and up to 1 hour of repair and maintenance (materials included!)*
Full property inspection, checking landscaping, snake-hiding spots, to look for possible snake dens and advise on potential trouble areas
Removal and relocation of any snakes found, both in and outside of the protected areas
Spot-check garage, storage shed, etc (checking corners and walls for snake tracks and signs of activity)
Booking through the end of February for $200. (You don’t need to be there, but you’ll get more out of it if you are).
If you’re NOT a rattlesnake fence customer, we’ll add an 1-hour credit of labor and materials to an estimate for a new rattlesnake fence, good for anytime in 2021.
* Repairs not related to workmanship or materials requiring more than 1 hour of labor/materials may be performed at additional cost, with your approval
You may notice that our social media feeds are still full of rattlesnake captures and relocations, even in the coolest months of the year. Be assured: yes, rattlesnakes are hibernating (or brumating if you prefer) in the winter, roughly from November through February. However, as we’ve explained in previous winters, they can still be found from time to time on the surface.
The biggest reason you’ll still see so much from us is because we meter our content so that we don’t blow you away with 20+ posts during the summer days, and make you think we’ve disappeared during the winter. Every call is unique and interesting, with lessons and experiences that should be shared, so we space it out. That means that many of the photos you’re seeing in the winter may have been from calls we ran in October, etc.
There are of course snakes that are still active during the winter, both by their own choice, and not. We cover some of the reasons you may see one at your house during the cooler months in a previous post, named after the most common comment we see on photos of snakes found in the cooler months. “I thought they were hibernating!“
Why would rattlesnakes be active when it’s so old outside?
One of the biggest misconceptions about rattlesnake behavior is that they are driven purely by warm temperatures. While it is true that rattlesnakes, like all reptiles, are cold-blooded and depend on external forces to get warm, temperature is just one of many factors that determine whether or not they’ll become active.
Here’s a great example that happened recently. In 2020, the Phoenix area broke several records for the hottest, driest summer in recent history. When rain finally came to the valley after more than 100 days without a drop, it was on a cold December day.
With temperatures barely breaking 50˚F, why would rattlesnakes suddenly become active? Simply: they have to, or risk death. With minimal effort, I was able to find 7 Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes on the surface hoping for rain. The first was found at just 45˚F, and the last at 51˚F. Comparing field notes for the day with a couple of knowledgeable friends, who also knew to put on boots instead of sweatpants for the day, showed similar results. Rattlesnakes, even in relatively cold temperatures, were very active. When rain fell again for a brief period on Christmas day, again, it was not difficult to find a lone Western Diamondback Rattlesnake coming out for a drink.
All of these rattlesnakes were found on the surface in December, 2020.
Just because we see rattlesnakes in the winter doesn’t mean you will.
People are often surprised that we are still able to find rattlesnakes in the winter – in fact it’s probably why you’re reading this right now. If you’re not someone that wants to run into them out there, don’t worry: it’s very unlikely that you will.
Rattlesnakes that we find in the winter aren’t in the same situation that you’d find them during other, warmer periods. They’re not out moving large distances, tracking prey, looking for mates, or any of the other behaviors that most often result in an encounter. This activity is much more specific – just coming to the surface of their den, and back down again when they’ve gotten what they need. That means that if you’re hiking on a trail and not purposefully searching situations that seem likely to house rattlesnakes over the winter, you’re not likely to see them at all.
If you’re looking to move to Arizona, this question may be on your mind. Rattlesnakes seem to be everywhere in the state, so where can you buy a home and know what to expect? Fortunately, rattlesnakes are creatures of habit and where they are found tends to be fairly predictable. This is our overview of what we know about rattlesnakes and where they can be in the city, and a new tool we’ll be using to help communicate this to new Arizona residents.
Check the rattlesnake removal records!
While we will never make any information about an address or community public, we do share information based on zip code. Our removal activity log is available to the public, and is now searchable by zip code. If you’re curious about an area, pop in the zip code and you can see what kind of snake activity has occurred there. Keep in mind that zip codes can be large, so what happens at one house could be literally impossible just a couple of miles away. However, we won’t get more specific than this only to protect the privacy of our customers.
Welcome to Arizona!
The further you are from native desert, the fewer rattlesnakes are found.
Rattlesnakes are specialized desert reptiles, which means that they aren’t great at new things. While a Sonoran Gophersnake or Kingsnake might be found deep into the valley, making use of well-watered lawns and a growing roof rat problem, rattlesnakes are different. Without the presence of native desert habitat, rattlesnakes will not be found.
If you select a home on the interior of the valley, more than a half-mile from the nearest native habitat, your chances of seeing a rattlesnake in your yard are exceedingly low. That doesn’t bar a freak happening, like a snake that hitches a ride in a truck or someone releasing one, but those aren’t meaningful considerations.
The 5-year “Snakey” scale
The easiest way to look at it would be to use this general formula. It’s based on an estimation from our experience and data collected from relocation calls over a 10 year period. It’s not exact, but can be used as a general guideline that is accurate enough to help make home-buying decisions. If you want to go deep on a lot of this, here’s peer-reviewed research using our relocation data to shows some of the reasons how and where contact zones occur.
The scale I will use here is how many rattlesnakes a homeowner may encounter per 5 year period of occupancy.For example: a score of 1.5 means that a homeowner can expect 1.5 rattlesnake encounters per 5 years of occupancy.
Score: 4on the Snakey Scale. From the nearest native desert habitat, the first row of immediately adjacent homes has the highest chance of encounters, at greater than 100% chance if occupied per 5 years. This group includes, specifically, homes found at the corners or street-ends, where the highest rate of encounter occurs. Homeowners in this situation should to see a rattlesnake about every year or every other year.
Homes on the corner or end of the street, closest to direct access to native desert habitat, have the highest rate of encounter. Generally, each home or street from there decreases the rate of encounter.
Score: 3on the Snakey Scale. From there, the second home or row (across the street) has a pretty high rate of encounter, but not nearly. Rattlesnakes tend to stick closer to access points. While they may be more inclined to just pop around the corner and stick to the wall, we nearly as often see them use the entire side of the first house into the second yard, and across the street as well. Homes in this situation will likely see a few rattlesnakes in a 5 year period of occupancy.
Score: 2.5on the Snakey Scale. Any home in the first street row backing up to the desert. The likelihood in these instances is that the snake could come from both sides, regardless of the placement of the wall. Fortunately this can be easliy fixed, which may dramatically reduce that figure.
Score: 1.5on the Snakey Scale. Homes across the street from the row immediately next to the edge of the desert may expect to see 1 or 2 rattlesnakes in the yard during a 5 year time period.
As you go further from access to native desert, the likelihood of seeing a snake changes quickly. However, it’s seldom this simple.
Score: 0.7on the Snakey Scale. Homes on the first 2 (or so) interior streets could encounter a rattlesnake at some point, but it’s also possible to not see one at all during a 5 year occupancy.
Something as simple as an opening, or a drainage “park” as we commonly see them in Arizona, can dramatically change things for the neighborhood.
Score: 0.3on the Snakey Scale. Homes greater than 2 streets in from native desert habitat, but closer than 5 streets may see a rattlesnake in their yard at some point, but a slim majority will not.
Score: 0.1on the Snakey Scale. Homes more than 5 streets in, but less than 10, from the nearest native desert habitat could see a rattlesnake, but it’s not entirely likely. If it is one, it would more likely be due to construction, displacement, or a wandering baby rattlesnake. Around 1 in 5 homes will experience a rattlesnake in the yard in a 5-year stay.
Score: 0.05on the Snakey Scale. Homes that are more than 10 streets in from the nearest desert habitat will most likely never encounter a rattlesnake in their yard. However, it’s still a possibility, and homeowners should continue to be on guard and follow all of the available safety precautions.
Score: 0on the Snakey Scale. Homes on the interior of the city, more than a mile from the nearest native desert habitat, have almost no chance of seeing a rattlesnake in the yard. Having to cross numerous roadways, a maze of walls and fences, and limited access would make it incredibly hard for a rattlesnake to find its way there. In addition, there’s probably just nothing there that the snake would want, so it wouldn’t be all that motivated to make the journey.
But of course, it’s not that simple. Rattlesnakes are part of a dynamic system.
It should be stated about using this method, too, that there are many variables at play that have nothing to do with location. This is just a general guideline that we use ourselves when evaluating a property for likelihood of rattlesnake encounters. They can usually be mitigated by preparation and snake fencing, and ongoing education. This is also not an indication of how many rattlesnakes actually visit the property, but of how many may be encountered. If you’re a gardener, have a dog, or spend a lot of time in your backyard, you can expect a greater rate of encounter than someone who seldom goes back there.
This is also specific to rattlesnakes. Each group of snakes will have its own scale, based on what it needs and prefers. However, since they’re not harmful, we’re just talking about rattlesnakes here. However, you can use the same guide to loosely estimate similar results for other species, with the knowledge that it’s an entirely different ballgame for more adaptable species.
Additionally, this is based on natural rattlesnake behavior and excludes factors like construction or artificial placement, botched relocation jobs from the fire department, and other activity that more or less isn’t what a rattlesnake would choose to do. This list should not in any way be taken as a guarantee that you’ll never see a snake if you follow these general guidelines.
Most of the time, snakes like this Western Diamondback Rattlesnake use places like this because of easy access and provision of resources. But, as with most things, there are always exceptions to the rules.
How do I know if it’s native desert, or where this scale should start from?
That can be tricky, since neighborhoods are not so black and white as described here. For instance, a 2-acre patch of desertscrub a couple miles into the city just doesn’t have the same quality or snake-carrying capacity as untouched saguaro and Sonoran desert at the edge of the valley … so be subjective.
A good rule of thumb: if you see cactus that wasn’t planted there by someone, you can count on that as being native habitat, and rattlesnakes probably live there. Especially with the presence of rodent holes, you can count on there at least being a strong likelihood of rattlesnake presence.
Watch the washes!
One particular feature to watch for are washes. To our friends moving here from outside the desert southwest: a wash is our word for “stream” or “creek”, or basically a drainage without water in it for most of the year. These areas are one of the most important features for rattlesnakes of most species, and much of their activity is centered around them. Think of washes like desert highways, where animals can travel, find food, and generally find quite useful.
In most of the neighborhoods at the edge of the desert, there are washes that snake deep into the interior of the community. This can’t be avoided – these washes are natural waterways and necessary to prevent flooding and other issues. However that does mean that these homes have a higher saturation level of contact with natural desert habitat than other neighborhoods might. In some areas, washes are common enough that there really aren’t any homes found that don’t score relatively high on our Snakey Scale. If you’re overly concerned with rattlesnakes (or snakes in general, really) the further your new home is from a wash, the better.
But, should you avoid your dream house if snakes are present? No!
Just like moving to the northeast might mean that ticks are on your list of concerns, or moving to Alaska might put bears on your radar, Arizona has snakes. For the most part, you made a pact with Arizona the moment you decided you’re moving here: snakes are here, but they might be part of your life.
Proactive solutions, like having snake fencing installed, can still make it possible to live safely in any area of the state.
If you find the perfect home, be careful not to rule it out because of snakes. For the most part, it’s just not the threat most people believe it to be. Even though the fear of them is certainly real, even that can be challenged and defeated in most cases. To either end, if you need any help to sort through it all, feel free to contact us about any area and we’ll tell you what we can. While we obviously can’t divulge any activity that’s actually happened at a house, we can advise on the general area and work with you to be comfortable … or to high-tail it to the center of the city!
Summer has left us, and cooler temperatures are on the horizon. Yet, rattlesnakes are still incredibly active. In fact, the pre-hibernation flurry of activity means that encounters will be on the rise for a short amount of time.
In just a few short weeks, rattlesnakes need to eat and drink as much as they can, find mates, and travel long distances to their selected winter refuges. That can put them in conflict with people and pets, both on the trail and at home.
Here are some easy things you can do right now to get your property in shape so that any rattlesnakes that might be eyeballing your place as a winter den will keep on crawling.
1. Take care of that long-neglected landscaping project.
We all have one … that overgrown bush along the back wall that just never gets priority treatment, or that messy stack of agave that’s firmly on the “take care of that someday list”. Well, now’s the time! These may be opportunities for rattlesnakes to find the thermal protection they need to den for the winter.
Lantana is a rattlesnake’s best friend.
Over the years, we have removed hundreds of rattlesnakes from overgrown lantana, rosemary, and others. Any plants that tend to drop a lot of leaf-litter are suspect. That deep layer of organic material retains moisture and provides thermal protection.
Time for a yearly deep-maintenance landscaping check in. The rule of thumb: if you can see the ground under a ground-laying bush from above, it’s properly maintained.
2. Make any repairs to, and clean up, the pool equipment areas.
As we’ve mentioned many times, pool equipment is a favorite rattlesnake den for the winter. Concrete pads with rodents, combined with relatively high ambient moisture and a little vibration every time they turn on and off, means the formation of caves. These caves, even though they don’t look like much, can go deep, and be the perfect home for rattlesnakes and other animals.
This situation is what we encounter all winter – these often-neglected spots are perfect for rattlesnakes to camp out over winter.
The back corner of the property, complete with the little wall that usually hides it, is made to forget. For that reason, it often doubles as a graveyard for deflated pool toys, pavers, and old buckets.
Spend a little time this Saturday filling in any holes you find with gravel, repairing any concrete you need to, and cleaning it out. If there are no tunnels, the area is useless for rattlesnakes.
3. Bulk pickup day!
If you’re like most of us, you have a stack of roofing tiles or pavers someone on the property. We stack them there to deal with later, maybe have them around just in case a tile breaks or … whatever. But let’s be honest with ourselves; it’s been years and we haven’t touched them.
Time to go! Especially if stored near a wall or against the foundation of the home, as they tend to be, rodents will use them. These situations where rodents create tunnels under a stack of bricks are absolutely perfect for rattlesnakes to use during the winter. Fortunately, it’s as easy to take care of as posting “free pavers! come and get em” on Facebook Marketplace.
Free rattlesnake house!
Any other debris, too, has to go. You’d be surprised to learn how many winter rattlesnakes we pull out of situations like debris from the previous-summers kitchen remodel, old pool toys and unused stuff of all kinds. If you need a little motivation to finally kick this stuff to the curb, here it is: RATTLESNAKES WILL LIVE IN YOUR YARD IF IT’S THERE. Feel free to use that with your spouse this Saturday. You’re welcome.
4. Get snake fencing installed already.
If you live in Arizona, snake fence installations are probably something you’re familiar with. It’s a physical barrier that is designed and installed in such a way that it keeps them out of an area. If done properly by a reputable company *cough cough*, you could make rattlesnake heaven in the backyard and they’d not be able to come in.
Unlike the other items on this list, this one isn’t free. However, it is the most effective way to go, and removes the subjectivity. While everything else will have a high likelihood to decrease the chances of seeing a rattlesnake, snake fencing all-out prevents it.
If getting a snake fence installed has been on your list for awhile, right now is the best time to do it. It’s also near the end of the season, so discounts may be available. Here’s a massive and detailed guide of what to look for in a snake fence provider to help you in your snake-free journey.
You can barely see it, but this viewfence has snake fencing installed.
5. Seal up and clean out the garage.
If someone told you about a spacious, comfortable house … kept nice and warm (or cool), secure and safe, with free food … oh, and free … would you move in? Rattlesnakes say “YES”! The house we’re talking about is your garage. Every winter and early Spring, we get many calls for rattlesnakes who’ve found a comfy garage to spend the cool months.
That stack of boxes along the back wall? That’s cover. To you the garage may be highschool yearbook and christmas tree storage, to snakes it’s a furnished condo. If possible, find another spot for storage. Especially along the walls, rattlesnakes will take advantage of easy hiding spots.
If you are storing in your garage, use plastic boxes with lids so that rodents and snakes can’t use them, too. You can also get storage shelves (easy to buy and install from Amazon and other places) so that they’re up off the ground at least 5 or 6 inches. These actions help reduce the thermal protection that is attractive to snakes.
This Western Diamondback Rattlesnake found a nice place to hide in the corner of this garage. The leaf litter in the corner is an indication that the seal should be replaced.
You should also seal it up! It doesn’t take long for hot weather and rodents to make short work of the rubber seal on the garage door. If your garage door doesn’t close to allow no greater than 1/4″ at any point, you should consider calling a garage door company out to get it replaced. They may have a seal option that is made to keep bugs out, which would work just fine for rattlesnakes as well.
6. Fix any cracks or openings in the foundation
Not only for homes, but external garages and sheds, too. If there’s access under the home, animals will find it and use it. Rattlesnakes certainly do, too. If you notice that there’s a way in or under the foundation of your home, don’t wait to get it fixed.
Walk the property perimeter (this only takes a few minutes) and identify any potential issues. If you want to fix them quickly, you can get something from Home Depot to quickly seal it up. Or, have a concrete repair company make the repairs … you’ll want to get on that quickly, though.
Any opening into the wall or foundation may be used by a rattlesnake. Fortunately, it’s often an easy fix.
7. Attend to the wood pile!
It’s almost firewood season! Unfortunately, rattlesnakes are excited, too. The pile of debris at the side of your house that you haven’t touched since last year is a dream scenario for rodents and snakes alike. It’s basically a free log cabin.
Firewood maintenance can help avoid this sitation.
Fortunately, there are a couple of easy fixes here:
Use a stand or lift to keep the firewood up off the ground at least 6 inches. This will eliminate much of the thermal protection and make it useless to snakes.
Move the location of the woodpile each year. Even if it’s to the spot immediately next to it, it will help. When a woodpile has been in the same location for years, it invites rodents, often has tunnels under it, rotting material, and all the good stuff that they like.
8. Go deep! Go through the full checklist
The steps you take to keep rattlesnakes away from the yard are really not different than you’d do in other times of year, though the priority may shift to those potential den situations. If you want to do more, that’s always better. Review the Ultimate Guide to Keep Rattlesnakes Away and follow all instructions that apply.
What to expect.
If you take care of these items, and have an overall perspective of keeping habitat opportunities to a minimum, you will likely never see a rattlesnake in the winter. The spots that they choose are very specific, allowing them to survive and wait for Spring. If none of these spots are offered, your yard is simply not useful.
Usually, based on call volume to our snake relocation hotline and surveys, rattlesnakes are more or less where they intend to be for the Winter by the second week of November. That means that October will be busy. You can expect the most activity to occur in the late afternoon until about 1 hour after sunset. It’s important to keep your garage doors closed during this time, even as weather finally becomes more reasonable.
A rattlesnake in the backyard is one thing … but how about in the house, in the bedroom, and even under the bed? It happens, though, thankfully very rarely.
The thing is: rattlesnakes don’t want to be in your home. There are species of snakes that get in often, daily even, like Nightsakes and baby Longnosed snakes. Rattlesnakes, on the otherhand, for one reason or another just don’t make an effort to come inside. If I were to assume, based on how rattlesnakes handle stress and modify their behavior accordingly, the activity inside a home makes them less than ideal hiding spots.
This rattlesnake was found inside a home; a rare event.
How often does a rattlesnake get inside?
Fortunately, Rattlesnake Solutions has a very large collection of human-conflict data of this sort from over ten thousand individual encounters. It happens, but not very often.
Of all encounters we’ve documented, fewer than 100 were rattlesnakes inside the home. If you remove homes that were previously abandoned, missing entire walls, or in a condition where they should be condemned … you end up with fewer than 40. That puts the chances of a rattlesnake encounter in your home, based on snake removal records, at 0.4%. That puts it into a solid “don’t worry about it and go on with your day” category.
Most of the time, a call to catch a rattlesnake inside a home ends up with a Desert Nightsnake in our bucket. These little guys look quite a bit like a rattlesnake and are often mistaken for them.
Not a rattlesnake.
How does a rattlesnake get into the house?
Fortunately, rattlesnakes are easy to keep out of the house. They come in the same way we do – right through the front door. Most of the time, a rattlesnake inside a house, and in fact a good portion of the other types of snakes as well, come in through a door left open.
Who leaves the door open in Arizona? Everyone, it seems, on the right cool day. Especially our midwestern friends, where it seems an open backdoor on a breezy spring day is a normal thing, tend to leave that sliding door open a bit during prime rattlesnake activity time.
On other relocation calls where we’ve captured rattlesnakes inside the home, the situation is often similar. A home with a wall partially removed during construction, a partially-completed vent removal allowing access, large gaps under garage doors or patio doors, etc. Simply, if there is access to inside the home, animals may find their way in.
What’s going on with this photo of the rattlesnake under a bed?
This photo was from an apartment complex in the North Phoenix, Cave Creek area. Mitch ran out to capture it. Upon arriving, he assumed it would be another nightsnake (which it often is) and had to run back out to the car to get his tongs and bucket after seeing this.
Not a nightsnake!
He was able to quickly and safely capture it. But how and why was it in there? And does the resident need to worry about more of them?
As we described earlier, it turns out that the resident left the home for less than 5 minutes, leaving the door slightly ajar. That’s all the time it takes for a wandering rattlesnake to find the cool, air conditioned “cave”, and slip inside.
This also does not mean there are others. Rattlesnakes, while being quite social in a variety of situations, are most often found at homes alone. They do not, as a popular myth goes, travel in pairs.
This also does not indicate that there are more rattlesnake encounters in the Cave Creek area … that is just true, regardless of this particular encounter.
How to keep rattlesnakes out of the house?
The best way to keep rattlesnakes out of your home is to keep doors closed and eliminate access, down to a 1/4″ space.
Sometimes that can be tricky, however. Something we have seen with homes in the valley is an issue with how cabinets are put together. This seems to be the reason behind a majority of nightsnake visits, and at least a few rattlesnakes.
If you look under the sink in your kitchen or bathroom, you’ll most likely see the pipes disappearing into the wall in an orderly, well-sealed way. Behind the cabinets, though, is a different story. The pipes coming into the home may be unsealed. That means if there are any gaps under the cabinet overhang (there most often are), there’s a direct highway from under the home to your bedroom bathroom. This may also be the cause for your scorpion and rodent issues.
The easy fix? Seal the gaps under the cabinet overhang. You could go through the trouble to pull out the whole cabinet, but without knowing for sure there’s a problem to begin with, that’s probably overkill. A Saturday afternoon with some expanding foam is all you likely need.
This small Western Diamondback Rattlesnake was in a kitchen under the cabinets
The other thing you should do is to take steps to reduce the overall number of rattlesnakes visiting your property. That is best done by a combination of property modification (landscaping, etc., here’s our step-by-step guide) and physical barriers, like properly sealed garage doors and rattlesnake fence installation.
So rest easy. While a rattlesnake inside the home is something that does happen from time to time, it’s nothing to be overly concerned with. No need to call the realtor or burn the house down; just keep the door closed and you’ll be just fine.
Better late than never – rattlesnakes are giving birth, even without the rain. One of the services we offer are serial property inspections, to continuously monitor properties to evaluate possible rattlesnake activity and provide recommendations to landscapers, pest control, and property managers.
We have been inspecting this particular property for many years, and this is the most interesting thing found there to date.
On the previous inspection, Greyson noted a shed skin in an area at the edge of the property. Knowing a fresh shed during this hot and dry period could indicate an estivation den nearby, he focused on that spot during his visit yesterday, and, whoa.
This mother rattlesnake gave birth to babies after being captured at a home in Phoenix.
Here is what was found: a late-season estivation den with a mixed bag of Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes, with one having given birth in the recent past, and another in a deep blue phase (preparing to shed skin)
While this is not entirely unusual, what is different about this year is that we are seeing that rattlesnakes are having their babies later than usual, and they are doing so in their estivation dens instead of moving to their usually-preferred birthing spots.
This is likely a response to our exceptionally hot (the hottest on record) summer and near-complete lack of rain. This is similar to a recent visit to a home by Dave in Tucson (I’ll be posting this shortly as well) where he captured a total of 14 rattlesnakes.
Are rattlesnakes giving birth later this year than normal?
According to our observations and activity on the relocation hotline: yes, it appears that rattlesnakes are having babies later this year than usual. In a normal year, we start to receive our first calls to capture groups of mother Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes with their newborn babies in early July, usually hitting its peak around the first week of August, then trickling in here or there until around the first week of September. This year, it took much longer for this to be normal, only now (mid-August) has it become routine.
Rattlesnakes give live birth and hang out with the babies for a period of time afterward.
Likewise, rattlesnakes seen in informal surveys and in our study of rattlesnakes in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve have shown that Western Diamondback Rattlesnake and Tiger Rattlesnakes that would have likely given birth by now are still languishing in a gravid (pregnant) state at estivation dens.
While this is in no way a full representation of what’s happening out there, but does represent 10 years of data collection and informal survey observations. It should also be noted that while this is the case in the Phoenix and Tucson areas, it is unlikely to represent behavior in other regions.
Why are baby rattlesnakes being born later this year than usual?
This year makes that a little bit tougher than normal. If monsoon rain triggers pregnant rattlesnakes to give birth, what happens when there is no rain at all?
They have to give birth eventually … so what we are seeing is this: The mother rattlesnakes are staying at estivation sites (spots selected to hide away during the hottest summer months) far longer than they normally would. Rather than moving to a birthing site as they normally would, they are having their babies right in place.
This likely isn’t good for the babies, ultimately and unfortunately. They lose moisture more than twice as quickly as adults (J. Agugliaro, H. Reinert 2005). Unless we get some rain soon, that could be big trouble for this year’s babies. We’re hoping for the best, but looking at the forecast … hoping is all there is to do.
How homeowners can keep baby rattlesnakes out of the yard
Keeping the smallest rattlesnakes out of your area is a bit different than the larger ones.
First, the space they need to get in is much smaller … anything more than about a third of an inch can allow access. Second, they make frequent movements and may not necessarily know where they’re going. Unlike adults, who’ve had a lifetime to map out a homerange, babies may show up any place, any time. For that reason, physical barriers are the best bet. Rather than go too far into detail here, I’ll refer you to our guide to keep baby rattlesnakes out of the yard.
References
Schuett, G.W., Repp, R.A., Hoss, S.K. and Herrmann, H.‐W. (2013), Parturition in a Desert Rattlesnake. Biol J Linn Soc Lond, 110: 866-877. doi:10.1111/bij.12166
Agugliaro J, Reinert HK. Comparative skin permeability of neonatal and adult timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus). Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2005;141(1):70-75. doi:10.1016/j.cbpb.2005.04.002
The world is changing, and whether a temporary event or longer-term, we have made some changes to our processes so that we can continue working with homeowners in Arizona to peacefully resolve rattlesnake conflicts.
Fortunately, the nature of our works makes this relatively easy for us with just a few changes. We don’t have a central office and already have used technology to organize and cooperate remotely for almost 10 years. We’re a bunch of snake nerds, so “social distancing” kind of comes naturally for us 🙂
Here’s what we’re doing. A lot of it sounds scary but we want you to know that we are taking this situation as seriously as you are:
Update 05/24/21: Masks are no longer necessary in most situations, based on CDC guidance. For more information about this update, please read this.
Update 05/17/20: In accordance with recommendations from State of Arizona, we are changing our COVID-19 response policies to include these revisions:
We will resume cash/check/credit card payments upon request.
We will resume snakes found within buildings and homes, and masks will be worn in these instances.
Company-wide:
All Rattlesnake Solutions employees and contractors are required to follow CDC-recommended social distancing procedures at work and at home.
Though Arizona has not issued any “shelter in place” action at this point, where only businesses determined to be “essential” to the health and well-being of the community, are allowed to operate. Categorically, Rattlesnake Solutions would be listed under “exterminators” and “construction” by the guidelines available for states who have issued this order, and federal recommendations. We will watch this closely and continue to provide rattlesnake-related services as needed for as long as we are able to.
Any employee or contractor who feels ill or has come in contact with a potential COVID-19-infected person will be removed from rotation to follow a 14-day quarantine.
In the event that one of our team is tested positive for COVID-19, any customers who have been serviced by that individual will be notified immediately.
Rattlesnake Relocation Services
Our team will not enter any homes unless absolutely necessary (the snake is inside the home, or no other access to the backyard, etc.). We will use side-gates or any alternative entry-points available instead.
All conversations with our customers will take place outside with a minimum of 6’of distance. We’d love to shake your hand, but at the moment it’s not a great idea.
Payment for services will be restricted to invoices sent by email, which can be securely paid online by credit/debit card
Property Inspection Services
All discussion and review of the property will be performed outside, on the phone, or at a distance of greater than 6′.
Our team will not enter any homes unless absolutely necessary (the snake is inside the home, or no other access to the backyard, etc.). We will use side-gates or any alternative entry-points available instead.
All conversations with our customers will take place outside with a minimum of 6’of distance. We’d love to shake your hand, but at the moment it’s not a great idea.
Payment for services will be restricted to invoices sent by email, which can be securely paid online by credit/debit card
Snake Fencing Services
All discussion and review of the property will be performed outside, on the phone, or at a distance of greater than 6′.
Our team will not enter any homes unless absolutely necessary (the snake is inside the home, or no other access to the backyard, etc.). We will use side-gates or any alternative entry-points available instead.
All conversations with our customers will take place outside with a minimum of 6’of distance. We’d love to shake your hand, but at the moment it’s not a great idea.
The sales team, installers, quality assurance personnel can complete all tasks without in-person conversation and will make all attempts to do so.
Payment for services will be restricted to invoices sent by email which can be securely paid online by credit/debit card, or by phone.
Education and Training
All educational events, presentations, displays, and training sessions have been canceled or postponed until further notice.
For many homeowners living in rural areas or urban contact zones, snake encounters on the property are a concern. Most of these encounters are harmless, but venomous varieties, such as rattlesnakes, are not at all uncommon. Whether it be due to potential dangers or just because people just don’t like snakes, just how to keep them away is often a matter of debate.
In this article, we’ll cover methods of keeping snakes away that actually work, and which you should avoid. This is based on thousands of snake relocation and encounter records at homes in Arizona, and generally accepted advice and recommendations from qualified biologists and herpetologists across the country. What you will not find here are quips from pest control companies or your ‘interesting’ neighbor. Consider this your be-all guide for keeping snakes away, all based on real situations.
Fortunately, these are methods that can also not cause any harm to local wildlife, even the snakes that you probably dislike if you’re reading this article. Along with actions that will keep snakes away come others that will help you along the path of being ok with the ones that show up anyway.
Note: Because this information is based on our experiences with snake removal and prevention in Arizona, it will be most relevant for the prevention of rattlesnake species within the desert southwest. However, these basic principles can be applied anywhere with snakes in general, though perhaps not as specifically.
If you prefer to watch a recorded presentation that covers all of these topics for homeowners to keep rattlesnakes away:
1. No free lunch – eliminate rodents and other food sources.
Snakes are like other animals in that much of their activity is centered around looking for and obtaining food. For most species of snakes that show up in peoples’ yards, that food is a rodent.
Perhaps the best way to keep snakes away is to keep rodents away. Likewise, if your yard is full of unrestricted rodent holes, you’re more or less inviting snakes into the area. If you want to make an immediate dent in how many snakes may be showing up around your house, get on the pest control situation as soon as possible.
Rodent activity can attract snakes from far away, too. Rodents that may be coming in at night to eat the numerous food sources we as homeowners tend to provide leave scent trails that radiate well beyond the borders of your property. That means a snake crawling 100′ past your fence line could detect the rat that’s been getting into your dog food bin each night, and make a course correction to set up an ambush right outside your doggy door.
Unfortunately, this also means that having a generally higher number of rodents in the neighborhood can mean more snake encounters for everyone, so to a large degree, you may be left at the mercy of your neighbors. If there’s a property on the block that you suspect may be bringing more rodents into the area, do what you can to bring it to the attention to the homeowners.
Sometimes the neighbors bring the problem in.
For example, a home I recently visited to capture a Gophersnake had an immaculate yard free of any rodents. The neighbors’ property, however, where the snake crawled over the wall from, was different. Rows of citrus trees, and the leaves and fruits on the dirt, were attracting rodents from the nearby canal and elsewhere. The result is more snakes for everyone. The yard was otherwise very clean and well-maintained, but some situations create more rodent issues, and consequently snake issues.
This rattlesnake is at this home because of the obvious rodent activity.
Not all snakes eat rodents – some are primarily interested in invertebrates and lizards. Though the causes are different, the same rules apply. The fewer prey items are available, the fewer snakes will be attracted to the area to hunt them.
An abundance of crickets, scorpions, centipedes, ants, and even cockroaches can support a variety of small snakes. These bug-eating snakes, like Groundsnakes and Nightsnakes, also tend to be the species that end up inside of the home, just by their nature. In general, the homes where we are called to retrieve multiple instances of these small snakes also have a high volume of insects. An abundance of bugs also helps support a larger lizard population, and then, of course, the snakes that prefer to eat lizards.
So while no snake is going to come into your yard to go after the dog food left outside, rodents will, and then come the snakes. Attracting rodents is the same as attracting snakes, and should be handled as such.
Many species of snakes (including rattlesnakes) also eat birds. If you live where rattlesnakes do, and have a bird feeder (or for squirrels, etc), expect to see rattlesnakes sitting in ambush at its base at some point. If you take action to invite wildlife to your yard, you should know it is inviting all wildlife to your yard.
Important note: in your effort to rid your yard of rodents, pass on any poison bait or traps that use rodenticide. If you use those products, you’re also killing bobcats, birds of prey, coyotes, and a variety of other natural predators. If your pest control guy says this doesn’t happen, spend a few minutes on Google to learn how wrong that is.
Steps you can do right now to reduce the number of snake-prey in your yard:
Keep dogfood inside, and keep dog poop picked up as much as possible (yes, rodents eat it)
Avoid using bird feeders, especially any that use seeds
Find a good pest control company that can help (no poison bait!)
Use water to flood and destroy rodent burrows when you see them
Eliminate all food sources – fruit and nuts from trees, unsecured garbage, grease traps from the grill, etc.
2. Eliminate habitat – landscaping methods to prevent wildlife.
In the wild, vegetation is a very important part of the microhabitat systems that are used by snakes. The right plants provide cover, thermoregulatory dynamics, hunting opportunities, and more. Some of the same plants that we, as homeowners, often choose because they are pretty or provide a certain aesthetic, also give snakes ideal spots to hide and hunt.
The greatest offender? Lantana. These low-to-the-ground flowering plants seem to be on the list of default landscaping choices for most homes in Arizona. The problem? Snakes love them … rattlesnakes in particular. So do rodents, birds, lizards, and invertebrates that snakes eat. It’s not the plant itself that they like, but the deep leaf-litter almost always found under them. They tend to become quickly overgrown, are over-watered, and a mess in general. A decorative rock pile or wall lined with lantana is an absolute snake magnet.
The results of the lantana-and-rock situation descrived above.
Next on the list are any other plants that similarly provide deep cover opportunities, retain water, and catch a deep layer of rotting plant material. The silliest of these is the rosemary plant. There is a myth floating around out there that rosemary repels snakes, when in fact, the opposite is true.
Bush plants are best avoided if you don’t want to see wildlife.
The truth is, any plant that provides unchecked cover, tends to shed a lot of leaves, and needs to be often watered, is useful to snakes. If you have any plants that could be described this way, be sure to keep them as well-maintained as possible, removing all leaf litter, and carefully watering only as much as the plant needs. If you have these plants and wish to keep them, be sure that if you look at them from directly above, you can see some bare ground through the branches.
A rule of thumb for snake-unfriendly landscaping: if you have a bush that you’re not sure you love, get rid of it.
Some plants attract snakes by proxy. As described earlier, citrus trees (or any fruit-bearing plant) and trees that produce a lot of seeds or nuts can attract rodents and birds … which snakes will seek out.
If you prefer cactus, that’s great. They don’t use much water, don’t drop any leaves, and provide almost no shade. However, be careful with prickly pear (and similar) cactus. The base of these cactus is a common home for packrats, which are very important to rattlesnakes.
Perhaps the best thing you can do is to go natural – work with native plants and landscaping that doesn’t need a lot of water, and is easy to maintain. A variety of cactus, Palo Verde trees, ocotillo, creosote and others are all native to the Arizona desert and easy choices. Consider ditching the lawn and mid-western style yard for something a little more in-line with natural soundings, and you won’t be providing an unintentional oasis for snakes.
Steps you can do right now to reduce the number of snake-prey in your yard:
Go natural – design landscaping with native plants, cactus and others that require less water and provide minimal shade
Remove or replace lantana, rosemary, and similarly “heavy”, leafy and shaded plants.
If you do keep lantana or rosemary, keep it well-maintained and always remove leaf-litter
Change the watering schedule to be only as much as needed. If you have native plants that are healthy, consider removing the drip system entirely.
3. End the oasis – keeping water sources dry and unavailable.
Especially in desert areas, providing water sources can be a major source of snake encounters. Snakes need water, like all animals, and they’ll often stop by to take a drink when it’s offered.
Swimming pools are a common source of water, and you can’t do a lot to prevent that. However, a lot of swimming pool snake encounters are because the snake actually falls into the pool, and can’t escape. There are, fortunately, a lot of cheap products available to help with this. You’ll also inadvertently be finding fewer dead rodents in the pool, too.
Water gives much more than a cool drink on a hot day.
Water doesn’t just attract snakes that want a drink – free water sources are a place that other animals use as well. A dripping air conditioner condensation pipe, or example, makes a great bird bath, or spot for rabbits and rats to visit and get a drink. Snakes go where the prey is, and if you’re attracting a supply of rodents and birds, you’ll also attract the animals looking to eat them. Even worse, rodents that live and move well outside of your property lines may be using your home as a resource, and those scent paths lead right to back to your place.
Gardens are often cool sources of shade and water. This Western Diamondback Rattlesnake removed from a home in Phoenix agrees!
Water also helps to just keep an area cool, which is a major challenge to desert-dwelling animals, including snakes. A shaded corner of the backyard becomes even more attractive when the leaky hose provides, essentially, an evaporative air conditioner.
Automatic sprinkler systems and drip hoses are standard features with any new home in Arizona. They come with a lot of opportunities for wasted water and the creation of a mini-oasis for local wildlife, including snakes. If you have automatic sprinklers, be sure to adjust the timing to be just as much as is needed, in the places it should be. If there’s a native palo verde tree at the edge of your property, it likely does not need daily watering.
An unfortunately common part of new housing developments, from our experience, are poorly-planned and managed parks, often with “drip systems to nowhere” at the edges that are watering native plants, or in many cases, nothing at all. Even though this is not at all on your property, there may be something you can do about it (see the later section on homeowners associations).
Things you can do to reduce water sources and lessen the chances of finding a snake in your yard:
Replace any leaking hose, spigot, or anything else that’s dripping. Wet dirt = snakes
Buy and install critter ramps and filter covers to make sure snakes that do drink from the pool can escape
Put a coffee can or bucket under air conditioning condensation pipes to avoid unintentional bird baths
Adjust automatic sprinklers to be efficient and eliminate any waste
Consider native plants and landscaping that uses less water
Fountains, birdbaths, ponds, and decorative water features that can be removed, should be
4. Maximize exposure – even snakes want to stay cool.
While the common belief is that snakes like it hot, the truth is that they spend much of their time trying to stay cool. Active thermoregulation is the behavior of cold-blooded animals to seek out not just hot temperatures, but the right ones, and in the desert southwest that mostly means trying to stay out of the sun.
A body temperature of only around 110ºF is lethal to a rattlesnake. Anyone in Arizona who’s tried to go get the mail barefoot knows that the ground is much hotter than this almost any day. Through most of the year, the open, unshaded ground is simply lethal to snakes, and they will look for opportunities to stay cool.
That’s not much different than how we behave in an Arizona summer. Your property most likely has many of these shade opportunities as a result. But eliminating them to keep snakes away isn’t a simple task – it may require some tough choices, and could impact how the property looks and feels. Basically, the more that your yard resembles the surface of the moon, the fewer snakes will be able to make use of it. Most of us don’t need to go that far, and there are some easy solutions that can usually be implemented without a lot of aesthetic heartbreak.
Proper landscaping can help minimize shaded hiding spots.
As stated elsewhere in this article, landscaping choices have a large impact on how much cover is available to snakes. To keep snakes away, you’d be better off choosing plants that can be cut high off the ground and don’t provide overly shaded areas.
Hedges and rows of bushes along walls are notorious for providing shade to rattlesnakes. If you can’t see the ground under your bushes, it’s time to cut them back. If that’s not possible, it may be good to consider a different landscaping choice.
Decorative rock piles are a major source of snake conflict issues. Where we most often see these issues are in the decorative rock formations that are commonly placed near swimming pools. The concrete that is used to bind the rocks together deteriorates faster than the rock itself, leaving large openings that snakes love. If you have one of these features, make sure that it’s always well-maintained, and fix any issues that you see immediately.
Other types of decorative rock can also cause problems, but not for the reasons many people expect. The standard rip rap used to line properties and slow erosion is typically installed in a way that is far too shallow for snakes to make use of. If they’re looking for shade, they’d find an oven. However, if you have rip rap that is stacked or placed in a way that is multiple layers deep, you may have issues.
More than a meal: rodents are builders of snake homes.
As stated earlier, rodents should always be kept in check. In addition to being a food source, rodents dig tunnels and provide shelter opportunities for snakes. What’s better than a free meal? A free meal and a sheltered place to nap afterward. If you avoid providing these situations, snakes have little use for your backyard.
Rodent activity in some areas can create ideal situations to attract snakes. In particular, the concrete pads where pool pumps and air conditioning units are placed, are absolute snake magnets when combined with a busy rodent. These also tend to be in places where people seldom visit, and even heavy rodent activity can go unnoticed for a long time.
This young Western Diamondback Rattlesnake was found living in a space under a pool pump, caused by erosion.
You may also be unknowingly providing shelter for snakes by just not having a clean yard. That’s always the elephant in the room when talking about how to keep snakes out of a yard, but quite simply: if the property is used to store junk, you can expect animals to move in.
We all have that area in the yard where we put our unused pavers, tiles, the woodpile, pool toys we mean to throw away, and other “some weekend when it cools down” items. These are most likely in the side-yard, or somewhere that isn’t under as much supervision as other parts of the yard, which all lead to ideal situations for snakes to move right in. One of the best things you can do right now to make your yard less attractive to snakes is to spend a Saturday going through the yard removing all of these items.
Any space where animals can get access to stay out of the heat should be considered a possible snake hiding spot. Other common situations are plastic tool sheds and pool toy boxes that are stored on dirt. If it’s cool, it’s useful.
Wood piles, too, are notorious for snake activity, especially during the winter months. If you keep a pile of firewood outdoors, make sure it is on a platform at least a foot above the ground. You should also rotate the wood pile out completely every season, and make sure that you don’t end up keeping a few perpetual logs at the bottom that just never get used. Consider moving the entire thing each year, too, to a new location. These actions will greatly diminish its usefulness to anything that may want to hide under it.
Things you can do to reduce shade opportunities and see fewer snakes in your yard:
Keep landscaping in a way that minimizes shade
Decorative rock formations need to be well-maintained and rodent-free
Rip rap and erosion-control rock placements should be only a single rock-layer deep
Keep rodent activity under control, especially near structures like AC units and pool pump equipment
Get rid of the junk and storage items in the yard
Keep wood piles up off the ground, and rotate them out each season
5. Keep walkways clear
A surprising number of snake encounters happen right where people would least like them: right at the front door. This doesn’t necessarily mean that snakes really love these areas, though. It’s more likely that people just have more encounters here because it’s where we tend to be the most often. Every day we come and go from these entryways multiple times, so if something new is there, like a rattlesnake, we tend to notice it.
Covered entryways do provide some good stuff for snakes. Mostly, this is in the form of well-shaded cover. Covered entryways are a popular feature at most newly-built homes in Arizona, and these shaded overhangs superficially resemble the shallow caves and spaces that rattlesnakes call home during the summer months.
This is, of course, nothing you can do a lot about without some major changes to your home’s construction. But there are still some things you can do to help keep visiting snakes moving along, and less likely to set up shop opposite the welcome mat.
You want to keep the area as clear and open as possible. If there’s a snake there, you want to see it. The pots and decorations that are usually in the corners of entryways help provide a bit more cover, and we find snakes behind them every day. Pull them back, expose the space, and make it less of a hiding spot.
Avoid adding more water to further cool the area, too. If you have plants in the area, avoid situations that could further attract snakes. Lantana, rosemary, and other plants that provide deep cover only make these easy-to-access ‘caves’ all the more attractive to snakes.
To avoid snakes hanging out by the front door, here are some things you can do:
Pull pots and plants away from the corners and leave as much space as possible between it and the wall.
Avoid extra plants or landscaping that provides deep cover
Keep decorations to a minimum, or none at all
6. No free rent – keep up on building maintenance
Perhaps the greatest potential source of shelter for snakes on any property is the house itself. It doesn’t take much for a rodent to get into a faulty foundation, dig under patio pavers, or otherwise create access for snakes to move in.
The best way to keep that from happening is to simply keep absolutely up-to-date on any maintenance issues that pop up. If you see a crack in the foundation, don’t wait, get that fixed immediately. The more time it goes without correction, the more rodents will dig into it, animals will learn to use it, and the more your foundation turns into a welcoming, cool cave.
As stated earlier, decorative rock formations are great to attract snakes to a property. It’s not the rocks, but the tendency for them to quickly degrade. If you see any cracks forming, fix it right away. That goes for any other similar situation (mostly associated with the pool). If you see a crack, fix it.
Unsealed cracks between the concrete and base of a home are just what this Nightsnake needs to consider it a place to live.
Concrete areas, like driveways and walkways, are often installed over material that makes it easy for rodents to dig. This can create caves that snakes may find useful. Along with any other area of the property, make sure to jump right on any cave that looks to be forming underneath. We have recovered many rattlesnakes over the years from holes caused by rodents or erosion in these situations.
Manufactured homes present another issue, often requiring more immediate attention than homes with a dug-in concrete foundation. The skirting material that surrounds the base of the home is often poorly sealed and comes apart easily after only a few years. Every year, we receive numerous phone calls from homeowners who discover (usually by someone trying to fix the air conditioning ducts under the home) that there are rattlesnakes living underneath. If you have a manufactured home, I can’t stress enough that your skirting needs to be sealed completely and always in top condition.
Things you can do to your buildings to see fewer snakes in your yard:
Fix any maintenance issue immediately, especially if it could provide access to the foundation
Watch for rodent activity and erosion under concrete areas, walkways, and the driveway
Always keep the skirting around manufactured homes in flawless condition and allow no access under the home.
Any deterioration or gaps in the flashing along the underside of the home should be fixed immediately.
7. Keep out and stay out! – physical barriers and snake fencing
The best thing that you can possibly do to keep potentially dangerous snakes out of your yard is to install physical barriers. These barriers may work better for some species than others, but the majority of the solutions out there focus on keeping venomous snakes out.
Avoid anything called a “snake trap” or any sort of fencing, plastic mesh, or netting that actually captures and kills the snakes. Even if you don’t care much about the well-being of the snakes, you’ll also be killing a lot of other animals that people do tend to like, like birds, rabbits, lizards, and others. You could also be put in danger by having to deal with a trapped, injured, and terrified rattlesnake.
Nonvenomous and small snakes can climb walls and other surfaces that provide sufficient grip. Something like a Gophersnake, Ratsnake, or Kingsnake is going to be able to get where it wants to in most cases. Fortunately, this isn’t an issue … they’re harmless.
There should be some separation between the goals of preventing snakes when it gets down to it. Snakes that are harmless that people would just rather not see, and snakes that do actually pose some danger. A solution that is effective for the dangerous snakes, but does not make claims to keep out harmless ones, is a realistic and worthwhile answer to your problems. If anyone does claim to be able to build something that will keep all snakes out 100%, they’re lying to you.
Rattlesnake Fence Installation is a service that places materials, such as steel and concrete, in and around features of the property to create a space that rattlesnakes cannot physically enter. This is something that is often performed by landscapers, pest control companies, and a variety of handyman types … but in evaluating hundreds of yards where this service has been performed, one thing stands out: rattlesnake fencing is not a do-it-yourself task. There are some very specific factors at play that require deep understanding of rattlesnake behavior and physical capabilities. When you’re looking for a rattlesnake fence installer, go with a specialist or don’t bother.
Any materials that are used for rattlesnake fencing need to be permanent. Avoid any plastic, zip-ties, rubber, or anything that will wear out in the sun. Based on basic rattlesnake biology, and a lot of testing we’ve conducted ourselves in our facility, here are minimum requirements for a successful “snake proofing”:
Steel, no rubber or plastic
Installed to a minimum of 30″ (ideally 36″) above the nearest flat surface.
The largest opening in the entire perimeter of the yard must be a maximum of 1/4″, including gates
If installed against the ground, it must be trenched (buried) into the ground a minimum of 4 inches, preferably more and angled properly.
Use screws and metal materials
ALL entry points must be sealed, or there’s no point to it
Concrete and steel used on all gates, with no way to dig under them.
If you are going to install rattlesnake fencing, be sure that the perimeter is completely sealed. One of the most common scenarios we are called to collect snakes from is a yard where snake fencing has been installed on the fence, but the gates have not been modified. This is where what was intended to keep rattlesnakes out ends up being a snake trap instead. A reputable snake fence installer will walk away from projects where a homeowner insists on only a partial job, so if you plan on installing physical barriers, that’s a question you could ask them to see how much they really know about it.
Rather than go into detail about how to select a snake fence installer, I’ll include a link to this detailed article about how to shop for a rattlesnake fence installer like an expert.
Things you should consider when looking for a snake fence installer
Does the company have rattlesnake experts on staff or any specialized snake-specific training?
Do they specialize in rattlesnake fencing and snake prevention, or is it something they do “on the side”?
Do they have installation standards based on science and what snakes actually do?
Do they have a good method to seal gates and entryways entirely without any gaps?
Do they use permanent materials, like steel and concrete?
Do they put emphasis on aesthetics and how the finished product looks?
Do they have good customer service?
Do they have numerous good ratings (Google, Yelp, etc)?
Do they make you pay a large deposit (avoid this)?
Are they able to answer your detailed questions about snakes, how to keep them away, and how snake fencing fits into the big picture?
Are they licensed, bonded, and insured?
8. Snake repellents – a stinky scam
There are a number of products on the market that make the claim that they can keep snakes away. While some are chemicals, and others are mechanical or create vibrations, there’s one thing they all have in common: snake repellant products do nothing at all to deter snakes from your yard.
How do I know? As the owner of one of the busiest snake prevention and removal business in the world, I have personally captured hundreds of snakes from yards heavily treated in these products. If expanded to our entire team, that figure is in the thousands. Our records indicate that there is no correlation between spending money on this stuff and seeing fewer snakes in your yard.
Pest control companies will disagree, but that makes sense. Many just don’t know that they don’t work and honestly believe they are helping their customers. However, I’ve had far too many personal conversations with pest control operators where something like “we know it doesn’t work, but our customers ask for it” is muttered. If you’re wasting money on this stuff: cancel it immediately, and or spend that money on increasing (non-poison) rodent control.
There are other regional myths that are passed around as well. The idea that mothballs, rope of any kind, coffee grounds, rubber pellets, the skin of a kingsnake, cat urine, or any others out there actually keep snakes away is not based in reality.
Some may disbelieve all of this, but that’s easy to explain. This is an example of confirmation bias, where information is unintentionally selected that supports a belief. If a person spends hundreds of dollars on a snake repellent, then reports that they see fewer snakes, that person may be left with the idea that snake repellents do indeed keep snakes away. However, it’s more likely that they just haven’t seen more of them, and they are doing other things right as a result of an encounter. By the numbers: don’t buy this junk.
Taken by one of our rattlesnake removal field agents, as found. This stuff doesn’t work!
9. Make the Home Owners Association do their part
Some of the biggest issues that we see in neighborhoods where snakes are common aren’t even things that the homeowners can directly control. These are areas between properties, along the edge, the parks, drainages, and areas that are managed by the property managers and homeowners association.
But, just like overgrown grass or some other problem with the neighborhood, you can (or should be able to) demand action if you believe your safety is in danger.
A major offender here are the drainage catchments and parks at the end of outer-area blocks. The default design tends to be just to water everything, even native plants that don’t need it. They create a well-watered, cool transition against the dry desert, and rattlesnakes love to hunt here. If you have one of these parks around your home, especially if you live at the end of the block, you can expect to see more snakes.
In areas like much of Cave Creek and Scottsdale, Arizona, there are spaces between properties where native vegetation is maintained. In these areas, fed by an abundance of trash and citrus-fueled rodents, snakes can have a pretty great life. When it gets too overgrown, however, you may start seeing them in your yard. Even if you have something as effective as a rattlesnake fence installed, if the neighboring trees are growing over it to create a bridge, you’ll have issues. Ideally, all vegetation and trees should be cut back a minimum of 3 feet from the edge of your wall. The clear area will help reduce the usefulness of the wall to rodents, and therefore, snakes. This should be something you can request from the HOA, or have it taken care of yourself with approval.
Some HOAs have rules that actually prevent you from doing what you need to protect your property from potentially dangerous snakes. A great example of this are the varied and largely arbitrary rules dictating the installation of rattlesnake fencing. These seem to be based on appearance alone, ignoring the fact that something as important as a rattlesnake fence needs to, primarily, provide the function of keeping venomous snakes out of a backyard.
The height requirements, approved materials, and installation techniques should be designed for this purpose, but sadly, usually are not. In our experience, most HOAs will gladly modify their regulations if they learn that they are preventing the safety of their residents. Of course this can take a bit of work, so gather information and be prepared to make a case. If you contact the HOA concerned for your safety, and then you are denied the ability to handle that, this may present some concern for them. You can find the most complete list of tested, effective snake fence installation standards in this article.
Things you can request from your HOA to see fewer snakes in your yard:
Modification to drainages and parks to cut back on excessive or redundant watering, especially at the edges.
Cut any outer-area vegetation back at least 3′ from the wall or fence. This can be requested from the HOA directly, or as permission to do it yourself.
Make sure you are able to install snake fencing to the correct specification to actually do the job. If HOA regulations prevent that, campaign to have those rules changed.
10. Your garage is not a cave – your house isn’t either!
Each year, especially in the early spring and again in the hottest times of the year, we are called to capture hundreds of snakes found in garages. The reasons are simple enough – the garage, when accessible, is just a cave. It’s useful to stay warm in the winter, and provides refuge from the brutal summer heat. When the ‘cave’ is filled with a bunch of junk that’s been sitting there for years and even has some mice here and there, why shouldn’t snakes move right in?
You can prevent this, largely, by simply preventing access to the garage. Make sure the garage-door seal is in great condition and fully seals against the ground when closed. Remember that some snakes are tiny … rattlesnakes only need just more than a quarter inch to get in, so make sure it’s absolute. Make sure it is sealed all the way to the sides, and there are no gaps in the moulding or deterioration in the concrete. Any seams or gaps should be filled in along the base where the door closes, too, to prevent snakes from just crawling right in. If you see leaves and dirt in the garage-corners by the door, that’s a good indication that there’s more than enough space for snakes to get in, too.
During the shoulder seasons, when snakes are moving to and from winter den sites or are otherwise very active, make sure to keep the garage door closed. Leaving the door open for long stretches of time on the weekends, which we all can be guilty of from time to time, snakes can crawl right in. Even worse, you can trap them in there when you close the door. If you live in an area where there are a lot of rattlesnakes, consider an open garage an invitation.
For storing items in the garage (who doesn’t?), make sure that they aren’t positioned in a way that would make them useful to snakes. If you can, use plastic boxes or other storage bins that prevent entry, and keep them up off the ground. If you have long-term storage items, make sure that you change their location from time to time, or store them on elevated shelves.
An item that is notorious for snakes is the fake Christmas tree. They are used once a year for a month, then stored again until the following year. They’re completely ignored in the meantime, and we’ve removed more snakes from these fake trees than any other single feature within buildings.
Things you can do to keep snakes out of your garage:
Make sure that the door seal and edges are in perfect shape and seal the outer area completely
Keep the garage door closed at all times unless you are actually coming and going
Keep any stored items away from walls at last a few inches, use plastic bins, and elevate them on shelves whenever possible.
Don’t use the garage for long-term storage. The more stuff is in there, the more snakes (and other things you’d likely not want in there) can use it.
To a rattlesnake, an unsealed garage is just a cave.
Something you won’t really need to worry about as much as most people think they do: rattlesnakes (or other venomous snakes) coming inside your home. We do very occasionally get a call to capture a rattlesnake inside a home, however it’s exceptionally rare, and generally easy to avoid.
In most of these cases where a rattlesnake is inside a home, the answer to how it got there and why it’s there is obvious. The door was left open on a spring day, the garage was left open while the homeowners were on vacation, etc.. In one instance, the home was so full of rodents that the place should have been condemned, and a rattlesnake moved right in to take advantage of it. These are not typical situations, and rattlesnakes being found inside homes is also atypical.
Other types of snakes may be able to get in other ways. Fortunately, these are very seldom dangerous, but it’s understandable that you’d not want them inside the house! Most of these come in through pretty small openings, like unsealed gaps in doors, and the tracks in sliding glass doors.
In Arizona, a snake that is notorious for getting inside the home is called a Nightsnake. They are often found in the bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room. The reason: pipes. They often end up coming up through drains and into the home.
In some homes, too, the way that cabinets are installed leaves an easy way in for snakes. If you look under the sink, you’ll likely see that pipes are nice and sealed into the hole coming into the cabinet. Behind the cabinet, however, there may be a large hole around the pipes coming into the home. If the cabinets aren’t sealed well underneath, that means there’s direct access from underneath the home to your master bath.
Things you can do to keep snakes out of your home:
Keep doors closed at all times (even nice spring days). It doesn’t take long for a snake to cruise right in.
Make sure sliding doors are sealed up tight
Seal all holes around pipes leading into the house, and make sure cabinets are sealed all around (even under the overhang)
This Tiger Rattlesnake was found inside a home in Fountain Hills, Arizona. It was able to come in through a door that was left open.
11. Sometimes, there’s nothing you can do.
Sometimes, even if you do every single thing on this list, and make your yard look like the surface of Mars … snakes will still show up. The reason: you happen to live where there are a lot of snakes! Without physical barriers, and no matter what you do to make the yard less attractive to snakes, there is always the possibility for random snakes to be passing through and have an encounter with you.
Some houses are more susceptible to this than others. A great example: houses at the end of the street tend to get many more snake visits than houses on the interior. The shared block wall behind rows of homes, with desert or a wash behind it all, acts like a funnel. Rodents (and snakes) follow the walls one way or another, and if you’re on the end of that funnel, your backyard is the first opportunity to hide, get a drink, and more. This is something for the snake-phobic keep in mind when shopping for a home near wild areas.
Things you should consider with purchasing a home, if you don’t like to see snakes:
Buy on the interior of the neighborhood, rather than the edge.
The last house on the street will usually see more snakes than the others
Contact a snake removal service to ask about specific neighborhoods to gauge how snake-friendly it may be
Ask your realtor about snake activity in the area
This Speckled Rattlesnake was found in the front of a home in Phoenix. The home was in perfect condition, but across the street from a drainage where rattlesnakes are common.
12. Learn everything you can about the local snakes
One of the best things you can do to keep yourself and your family safe from snakes is the very activity you’re doing right now: learning about them. Each environment and area has its own variety of snakes, both venomous and harmless, and the more that you know about them, the better you’ll be able to make decisions. Those decisions are both important during the prevention state of snake-safety, and perhaps even more so when you do happen to come across a snake in your yard.
So the snake you just saw racing through your backyard bushes … it was grown, kind of blotchy, thin, but not too thin … is it dangerous? Do you have to lock up the dogs and kids? Move to Canada? Burn the house down? If you had even a basic understanding of the snakes that live in your area, you’d know that, even if it’s not something you care to see, it’s nothing to worry about.
Just about every city or county has some sort of local educational resource available to help you learn the natural history of your local variety of snakes. You can find dedicated reptile-related nature groups, and Facebook groups that offer information and assistance with the identification of snakes. Your local nature center at your regional and municipal parks will also have good information.
Here are some examples of the types of educational materials that are out there in abundance. Even if you’re not really interested in snakes at all, or even science in general, knowing the details of the things you fear can greatly help diminish that fear at the time you may most need it. Eliminating fear is all about preparation, and with snake-related fears, that opportunity exists in abundance.
Don’t be afraid to deep-dive into snake information. The best thing you can do is to inform yourself. If you’ve read this far into the article, you’re already well on your way, and likely the personality type that can make good use of information to change your world view.
Even if not related to snakes around the home, understanding snake behavior and what really happens when people are around them can help make the snake-fearful feel better.
Knowing the difference between some of the local harmless species, even though they’re not dangerous, can help you feel better if you do happen to come across one of them.Learn to identify the snake species in your area. This simple identification key that is distributed around the Phoenix area, shows the top-5 most common snakes people encounter, and how to tell the difference between them.
13. If you do see a snake:
Despite all efforts, if you live where snakes do, you will likely run into one at some point. From the experiences of thousands of our customers: it will be when you aren’t expecting it, and you will be ok.
As stated previously, if you’ve done your homework, you may already know which species it is (or at least, if it’s dangerous or not). Depending on level of knowledge, how fearful you are of snakes, and other factors, there are a few things that you can do to help make the situation safe and feel better about the whole thing.
First, you’ll want to identify it. If you don’t know, take a quick picture and send it to a local snake expert. That could be a herpetologist at your local university, or a nature guide at the nearest regional park. There should be quite a few services out there (including groups on Facebook) that offer free snake ID services. This is something best done long before you ever see a snake, so you can access it quickly without having to search for it.
If it’s a harmless snake, you really don’t need to do anything at all. While there may be some reasons why people still want to remove harmless species of snakes, this would be purely for the benefit of the snake and to ease fears. Whenever possible, once it is known that a snake is harmless, it’s best to be just left alone and it will leave on its own.
If it is a venomous snake, or you are unsure, do not under any circumstances attempt to capture, kill, or otherwise harass the snake yourself. This is not only, ultimately, not the most useful action, but it puts you in danger. Call a snake removal service, or wait for the snake to leave. If you call a snake removal group, follow their instructions, and they should be able to remove the snake, as well as provide a few other key services.
While the intention is respectable, it may not be best to have the local fire department or well-intentioned neighbor handle the situation. They’re not usually well trained in what to do with the snake after it’s been captured, and often injure the snakes in the process. Instead of a rattlesnake in the yard, you could end up with an injured, panicked rattlesnake dropped on the other side of your yard, trying to return. It’s best to stick with professionals.
While the snake removal person is at your home, and after the snake has been captured, ask them a lot of questions … after all, you are most likely paying for it! Ask them to search for more snakes, and why the snake they just caught was there to begin with.
Ironically, actually finding a snake in the yard is often the kick-off point for learning about how to avoid them. If you are reading this article, and have read this far, there’s a good chance it all started with a snake sighting.
If you see a snake in your yard:
Try and take a quick photo of the snake, and send it to the snake identification experts that you’ve already taken note of
If it’s harmless, leave it alone. It will leave.
If it’s venomous or you aren’t sure, either leave it alone, or call a professional snake removal service to handle it.
Do not attempt to handle it yourself, or allow a helpful neighbor do the same. You would be putting yourself in danger and may be responsible if someone else does the same.
Watch the snake until help arrives
Ask the snake removal person about why the snake is there, how it got into the yard, and how to prevent more from showing up
Above all, don’t worry too much 🙂 Snakes aren’t out to get you.
In most places where snakes can be found near homes, this is a hot topic. Snakes are a topic people seem to even, to some extent, enjoy fearing and not knowing much about. However, inevitably, the more that even the most snake-fearing person learns about them, the smaller and smaller the threat becomes.
Remember that in the United States, snakebite is almost never fatal. Accidental bites (where the person isn’t playing with it or trying to kill it) are very rare, too. The danger is mostly in our collective minds, and part of American culture. Odds are, you really don’t have as much to worry about as you may think. You may never want to see a snake in your yard; just remember that snakes don’t want to meet you, either!
