Alabama It’s Snake Season Here’s How To Keep Your Home Protected
Spring is in the air, okay with the temps lately it may not seem like it, but it is just around the corner! That means it’s the beginning of snake season!
That’s what I call it because once the sun is shining and the days get warmer, those slithering creatures come out from hiding.
I know that there are people who love snakes, but I am not one of them. I can see one from a distance and admire its beauty, like in a glass terrarium, but not when I step outside and see one sunning near my doorway. Maybe because I will not get close enough to see if it’s a danger to me, that would be like tempting fate and I don’t like to gamble with life or death.
Let’s talk about what we can do to make our homes not welcoming to any of them. Yes, we can do things that make our humble abodes not so inviting to a snake.
One very easy way to prevent them is to keep our grass cut short. Snakes love to hide in taller grass. Tall grass keeps them out of sight and allows them free range in our yards. Rodents love tall grass and that’s a meal for a hungry snake. So keeping our lawns manicured keeps away unwanted snakes.
If you have shrubs, bushes, or tall ornamental grasses in your yard, there is a tip to prevent a nice hiding spot for a snake. Soak a rag in ammonia and place it inside an unsealed plastic bag. Place that beneath or around your landscape and the smell will help keep snakes away. Now that spring is near, that also means that our family pools will be open and enjoyed. So what do we do to keep any unwanted guests from floating in our pools?
Experts say the secret to keeping unwanted snakes out of our pools is to pour vinegar around the area. Snakes will absorb the vinegar through their skin and they will then avoid that area.
To help prevent them from entering your home is as easy as walking around your house and doing a visual inspection. Look for any area that has a gap. Fill the gaps to seal off any entrance that can be used. Install weather stripping to seal off gaps under doorways.
If you have any type of debris laying near your home or yard, remove it. Snakes love to hide under and around rocks, construction debris, and log piles. They hide to keep themselves safe from predators that consider them a meal. So eliminating those places keeps them safely away from your yard.
Now the main thing we need to talk about is keeping a food source out of our yards so snakes don’t find an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Snakes love to eat lizards, mice, and other small critters. If you have pets and leave food for them outdoors, stop doing that. Pet food attracts rodents and snakes eat rodents. Yes, a snake may be a way to eliminate a mouse issue, but we can eliminate both of them with some common sense. We don’t have to keep our yard or home as an open invitation, some small changes can help. This way nature can live peacefully away from us while we enjoy our yards critter free.