Cooler temperatures and the approach of Fall means rattlesnakes are highly active. For the weekend, here are some quick things that you can do to greatly reduce your chances of seeing a rattlesnake in your yard. All of these take less than 1 hour to do, so it’s easy to incorporate them into your Saturday plans.
If you have more than an hour (it may take half an hour to even read this one!) here’s the more thorough, ultimate guide to keeping snakes away.
1. Make life hard for the local rodents
Take an hour and walk your property. You probably already know where the rodent holes are, and have been wondering who has made them. Fewer rodents mean fewer rattlesnakes. Wherever there are rodent holes, destroy them by doing this:
- Use a garden hose, placed near the entrance (not inside), and use a low flow of water (maybe 1/4th total flow, if that). You want water to flow into the hole without collapsing the entrance, so that water flows all the way down and fills from the bottom up.
- When water has filled to the top, let it soak for a moment, then do it again,until it is clear that the entire hole complex has been flooded. Then, use a tool (or just your boot) and collapse the entrance.
- From now on, every time you see a rodent hole, don’t wait – just collapse it with your shoe right then. Make this part of your usual maintenance activity in the yard.
- Adjust drip system and automatic sprinkler timers to use just what is needed and eliminate waste.
2. Clean up any debris that you can
The pavers along the side of the house that have been laying in stacks for months? The tarp that you’ve been meaning to get rid of forever? How about the old flower pots left over from last Spring? Well, now’s the time to get rid of it. Clean up what you can, either throw it in the trash (or otherwise get rid of it), or make arrangements for it to be picked up.
If whatever it is is too big to throw away immediately, you can minimize how useful it is by simply moving it a short distance. If there is an old tarp, for instance, if it’s been there for months, the rodent holes and dirt under it may be a lot less attractive to visiting animals if it’s just moved to a new location.
- Do a once-over of the entire property to pick up anything that’s creating shaded spots for animals to hide.
- If it’s not possible to throw something away quickly, just moving it a short distance to new ground can help.
3. Get rid of the leaf-litter
This one takes more or less time to do yourself, depending on your yard. However, it possibly has the greatest immediate impact. If you have any plants, like lantana or rosemary, with a lot of fallen leaf litter underneath it, get a rake and get rid of it! This material is where rodents often nest, snakes often hide, and is a great place to hide during the day throughout the year. Until you are able to talk to the landscapers to get the landscaping as it should be to keep snakes away (watch for a future article about this one 😉 the best and fastest thing you can do is clean up the ground immediately underneath.
4. Fix the leaky hose!
Snakes, like all animals, need water. A leaky hose is not only a valuable resource for snakes, but their prey of rodents and birds also visit. The result is a mini-magnet for snakes – which is fortunately usually pretty easy and quick to fix. If you have a leaky hose, get a new one. Do whatever you need to so that your yard isn’t an easy oasis for wildlife.
- Replace old and leaking hoses, and repair dripping spigots.
- Place a coffee can or pan under A/C condensation runoff pipes so water quickly evaporates and doesn’t create a patch of wet ground.
- Repair leaky drip systems.
- Consider throwing the birdbath out. Birds are great to see, but you’re also inviting the animals that eat birds.
5. Pull the pots in the front entryway away from the wall
Rattlesnakes often rest along the wall in corners of front-entryways. About every day, we are called out to capture at least one snake found in this situation. Even a little bit of cover helps them feel secure, and that cover most often comes in the form of a decorative pot or statue. If you have one of these in the corners by your front door (or back patio), pull them out away from the wall several inches and this can help lessen this effect. For narrow areas, just pull it down the wall so the corner can be clearly seen.
There’s much more … but this is a big, quick start.
The topic of keeping snakes out of your yard obviously goes much deeper than this, but you’d be surprised how much of a dent you can make with just these three steps. Later, we’ll be publishing a full list of things you can do to make your yard less attractive to snakes, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. If you have any snake-related concerns, any or all of these are an easy Saturday project that can make the rest of the weekend a lot more enjoyable.
To get more in-depth, here’s a presentation for homeowners to learn how to keep rattlesnakes away from your yard and feel better about the whole situation: