Why does pool equipment seem to attract rattlesnakes?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Every home with a pool has a corner of the property where the filter, pump, heater, and other pool mechanisms are hidden away. These items themselves aren’t useful to rattlesnakes \u2013 in fact, I would suspect that the constant vibration and smells could be disliked by them. However, there are some pretty great things here if you happen to be a rattlesnake:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Privacy<\/strong> \u2013 They are often tucked away, obscured by a wall, and seldom visited compared to other areas of the yard.<\/li>
- Comfortable<\/strong> \u2013 They often become the default storage area for materials for unused roof tiles, pavers, and deflated pool toys.<\/li>
- Opportunity<\/strong> \u2013 The vibration and moisture from the equipment can help turn any rodent burrow into a deep cave system.<\/li>
- Fast food<\/strong> \u2013 rodents easily make homes in the soft dirt and create burrows under concrete base slabs.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
More or less, these issues stem from the fact that most designers make an effort to hide the mess of pipes and noisy equipment away from the rest of the yard. As a result, common problems that would otherwise be addressed immediately. Rodent activity, discarded pool toys, materials waiting for bulk-pickup day, and others are often put here and forgotten, inadvertently creating the perfect situation for rattlesnakes to find a home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/92059968_3043728749004619_7198831269357027328_o-1024x576.jpg\")
The base of this concrete slab had an old rodent burrow under it \u2013 widened by vibration and erosion from the equipment, it became a perfect hideaway for a rattlesnake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n How do I keep rattlesnakes out of my pool equipment?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Fortunately, this is relatively simple. All you need to do is treat this part of your property the same as you do the rest of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you follow our other articles<\/a> and social media content<\/a>, you are already quite familiar with how to keep rattlesnakes out of a yard (if you’re new, our Ultimate Guide to Keeping Snakes Out of Your Yard<\/a> is a great place to start). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you are diligent about addressing rodent issues that appear in the visible parts of your property, extend that effort to the hidden pool pump stuff as well.<\/strong> If that inflatable shark you haven’t floated on since the first 5 minutes it came out of the box is just deteriorating behind the filter, throw it away. Likewise, find a new home for the old roofing tiles, the broken pool net, etc. Keep this area as clean and well-maintained as you would any other part of the property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/85138310_2922770091100486_5494096369469620224_o-1024x768.jpg\")
This yard was absolutely beautiful and perfectly-maintained, but a years-old rodent burrow went unnoticed in the pool filter area, and this Western Diamondback Rattlesnake found it to be a perfect winter home.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Above all, make sure that the concrete (or other material) base slabs have no tunnels or erosion under them.<\/strong> These tunnels seem to be exceptional homes for several behavioral phases of rattlesnakes throughout the year, and one of the top situations we remove snakes from each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, the next time you’re in the backyard doing your normal maintenance, give the pool guy a break from a possible rattlesnake encounter and take care of those hidden-away areas, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over the past decade and many thousands of rattlesnakes captured in the backyards of Arizona homes, a few trends have emerged. Most notable: there are certain areas of all yards that seem to attract rattlesnakes more often than others. Perhaps the biggest offender on this list of rattlesnake-attracting features are pool filter systems. Throughout the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,53],"tags":[101,6],"class_list":["post-772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-keep-snakes-away","category-rattlesnake-safety","tag-backyard","tag-rattlesnake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772\/revisions\/777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Comfortable<\/strong> \u2013 They often become the default storage area for materials for unused roof tiles, pavers, and deflated pool toys.<\/li>