How To Keep Snakes Out Of Your Yard
Summit Environmental Solutions can help you snake-proof your yard in Northern Virginia. A snake slithering around inside your yard, or worse, inside your crawl space can be very upsetting for homeowners, and for good reason! While most snakes are harmless pest control agents, Virginia is home to a few species of venomous snakes, including Eastern Copperheads, Water Moccasins (Cottonmouths), and Timber Rattlesnakes. These snakes can deliver a powerful, venomous bite that is excruciatingly painful, and may even require antivenom. Beyond the danger that venomous snakes pose, even non-venomous snakes can leave behind their snake skins and create anxiety for the residents of your home. It’s important to look at what the snakes are coming to your property for, so you can properly implement measures to prevent them from returning.
What Attracts Snakes?
Snakes are attracted to your property for the same things that all living creatures need to survive: food, water, and shelter. However, snakes will find food and shelter in places around the home and yard that you might not even think of. It’s important to find out what parts of your property attract snakes so you can properly take corrective action to keep them out and snake-proof your yard and home.
Food
Snakes are predators, and they eat mostly rodents, like rats, mice, and voles. Snakes will also eat smaller birds, bird eggs, and amphibians like frogs and toads, as well as smaller lizards. If your yard provides ample sources of these small critters for snakes to eat, then they will happily settle down on your property. Weather and landscaping practices can also influence the amount of snake prey in your yard. If your grass and soil become oversaturated with water due to constant rains or over-watering practices, this can cause an increase in amphibians on your property, which will lead to more snakes. If rodents are getting inside your attic, basement, or crawl space, snakes will follow them inside for an easy meal.
Shelter
Snakes prefer to nest inside places that are safe and secluded. In your yard, this could include tall grass, woodpiles, fallen trees/rotting logs, heavy mulch, rock piles, brush piles, heavy weeds, shrubbery, and any other type of lawn debris that provides them cover. Snakes can even get comfortable inside overturned wheelbarrows or kiddie pools. Snakes will also get comfortable inside garages, sheds, basements, crawl spaces, and even attics, especially if there’s already a rodent infestation they can prey on.
Habitat Modification To Snake-Proof Your Yard
Habitat modification is the process of removing anything that might attract or encourage wildlife and pest populations on your property. For snakes, a big one is keeping the yard clear. Most animals, both predators like snakes and their prey, mice, don’t like to be exposed and out in the open. Keeping your grass cut short, pruning weeds and shrubs, removing rock and wood piles, and eliminating clutter and debris will keep snakes from sticking around your yard for too long. Making sure you don’t overwater your grass will help keep amphibians away, which will remove another food source for the snake, as will removing things that attract birds, like bird baths and bird feeders.
Pest Control and Exclusions to Deter Snakes
Another great way to ensure that snakes stay off your land is to have a good pest control program from a licensed pest control professional like Summit Wildlife Removal. Our team can treat your property for rodents like rats and mice, and after we eliminate the population of these critters, snakes will have no reason to stay on your property.
Additionally, we can also provide you with snake removal and snake exclusion services. One of our expert technicians can catch and remove the snake, and afterwards, we will carefully inspect your home for all potential cracks and gaps the snake entered through. After locating these entry points, we will seal and fortify them, preventing the snake from getting back inside.
Best Snake Removal and Prevention in Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax and Fredericksburg
Snakes can be dangerous and frightening for you and your family. Virginia is home to a few venomous snakes that can deliver powerful, painful bites, and the non-venomous snakes can still leave behind snake skins and droppings, as well as spread diseases like salmonella. Snakes are often a signifier of an underlying rodent issue in your home or yard. If you need snake removal, exclusion, and rodent pest control services in the Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, and Fredericksburg areas, contact the experts at Summit Wildlife Removal! We can safely and humanely remove snakes without any biting incidents, and we can comprehensively treat your property for rodent problems. We can also provide you with exclusions and seal-outs to keep snakes from getting inside your home. Contact our team today to snake-proof your yard at (703) 884-2124!
