Now is probably a good time to do everything you know to keep snakes away from your property.
Remove places they like to hide or loiter.
Clean out piles of rubbish, unused wood piles, sheets of tin on the ground, excess ground-level vegetation and so on. If you uncover a snake in winter or summer, simply move on and let it move away at its own pace.
Alternatively call a snake catcher.
But be warned, if a snake catcher has removed the snake, you may think that your problem is gone.
It probably isn’t.
Snakes are creatures of habit and most of snake removal calls are to properties that are perfect snake habitats.
If one snake found your property a good place to live, another may do so as well.
Just so you know, snakes generally don’t like their own kind, ... yes they hate each other!
So when you find one, it is unusual to find more than one inhabiting the same site.
However once a snake has been removed from a good living spot, the vacancy is left for another snake.
If your property is good snake real estate then it’s likely you’ll get another snake at some time.
While it’s effectively impossible to stop all snakes entering and living in a property, there are a number of things you can do to discourage the snakes, including cleaning away hiding places as already mentioned.
Snakes have certain needs and the most important is the need to regulate their body’s temperature.
This is called “thermoregulation” and if a snake could have it’s way, it’d have a body temperature of about 30 degrees Celsius all the time. This desire dictates their movements on a day to day basis.
Because most places outside the tropics are are cool most of the time, snakes tend to be found in sunny places and gardens with an aspect facing the sun. That is north in Australia and south in the northern hemisphere.
While they will bask in the open to get warm, they prefer to bask in cover of vegetation and most people will only see snakes if the snake is wandering from place to place, when gardening or when a pet finds them.
The only exception to the preceding is in hot weather when snakes move around more and sometimes enter suboptimal habitats and even houses in search of cooler spots.
If a snake overheats they die!
It’s that simple.
If you live in a bushy area and on a sun facing slope, your property is ripe for snakes and to that extent you can’t do much, but now here’s what you can do to remove housing for snakes.
If you have a rock garden, seal all the holes under the rocks. Don’t give the snakes a place to hide.
Remove overgrown and creeping vegetation as best you can. Snakes will hide and secrete themselves in this and love ground-level vegetation that straddles sunny and shady spots. In other words, remove all Ivy, Agapanthas, Blackberries, Wandering Jew and similar plants. Keep creepers out of your garden.
Creepers on rock gardens are great real estate for snakes.
The best plants are those that grow up on a stem and have a space between the first branches and the ground. Put them in your yard instead.
Avoid plants with spikes, as in cactuses, blackberries and the like.
Besides the direct risk they pose to kids and snake catchers like me, snakes know they give them protection from large animals and so will gravitate to them.
In other words no cactuses around your pool!
Otherwise your yard may end up cactus and with snakes!
While snakes may climb, most kinds don’t, although occasionally some are found on fences, house roofs and the like.
Situations snakes love most are rocky retaining walls with overgrown vegetation, especially if there is a pool or pond nearby.
This is snake heaven. If you have this, then remove overgrown plants at ground level and seal all holes at ground level with cement.
Deny snakes access to hiding spots.
Remove vegetation from fence lines and along the house walls.
Snakes tend to secrete themselves in these situations and move about along the building and fence lines.
If one side of the fence has ground cover and the other doesn’t, then the snake will still be happy. In other words cooperate with your immediate neighbors to make their fence lines and gardens equally snake unfriendly.
Overgrown property boundaries are preferred hiding spots for snakes so don’t let weeds and creepers grow over fences.
These creeping weeds are best chopped out and then regularly poisoned until all shoots die.
This process can take up to two years to complete. The time to do this is now!
If in lock down for Covid-19 or any other reason, use your time at home wisely!
But remember, that if your place is tidy and your neighbor’s place looks like a rubbish tip, you are still likely to get snakes.
And if you need to keep your dog snake from snakes, the best thing to do is Canine Snake Avoidance ®.
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