"A favorite hiding spot for snakes is underneath objects like rocks, logs, and leaves. This helps them stay hidden and also keeps them protected," experts from lawn care and pest control company The Turf Doctor tell Best Life.
You can usually tell if the snake is about to strike by watching their tail. The positioning of the tail is what will eventually give them leverage and more lunging power. The snake will slowly move its tail into a tighter position and may even prop its tail up against something nearby to give it more leverage.
If you find a dry, scaly sheet of the skin or a crumpled heap somewhere close to an entrance into the walls of your home or small space areas. If you are inspecting a dusty area or crawl space, you might notice slither tracks that indicate where a snake has traveled. Snakes have a distinctive smell that is noticeable.
In addition to hiding in tall grass, snakes will hide in yard debris. Tall grasses and shrubs are two ideal hiding spots for these reptiles. They also tend to hide away in storage sheds, piles of wood, or in fallen branches and limbs.
Snakes are most active at night and during early morning and late evening hours, the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension says. One of the most common species of snakes isn't venomous at all.
Use Natural Predators
Foxes and raccoons are common predators of snakes. Guinea hens, turkeys, pigs, and cats will also help keep snakes away. If foxes are indigenous to your area, fox urine is a very good natural repellent for snakes when spread around your property.
Research has shown that cinnamon oil, clove oil, and eugenol are effective snake repellents. Snakes will retreat when sprayed directly with these oils and will exit cargo or other confined spaces when these oils are introduced to the area.
When it's cooler, snakes are typically out moving. Just because you see one does not mean there are more. If you see 6+ babies or adults in the same location in a short amount of time, then you have a problem.
Do Snakes Sleep In The Same Place? In the wild, snakes choose different locations to sleep and rarely ever stay in a place for long, as doing so would make them easy targets for predators. As you probably know, several animals prey on snakes, and like other animals in the wild, snakes have to actively avoid predators.
Rattlesnake Den Locations
As snakes are not capable of digging holes, it is common for rattlesnakes to make dens out of vacant rodent burrows. Snakes typically seek out locations on high hillsides with plenty of sun exposure. Rattlesnakes can spend the winter under logs and piles of wood or rock as well.
Most snakes can fit through a 1/2-inch-wide crack. Fill cracks during the summer when snakes are not around, using tuck-pointing, expandable caulking, or other standard repair techniques.
Examine areas where you've seen snakes and look for holes in the ground that might indicate a nest. You shouldn't try to deal with these spots yourself, but you can make a note of them for when a pest control company arrives. Remember that snakes prefer damp, cool, and dark areas.
Watch where you step and where you sit when outdoors. Wear loose, long pants and high, thick leather or rubber boots. Shine a flashlight on your path when walking outside at night. Never handle a snake, even if you think it is dead.
Fact or Myth? Sprinkling sulfur or other store bought chemicals will keep snakes out of your yard. Snakes can bite or strike from any position. Coiling does increase the distance that a snake can strike but seeing a coiled snake doesn't mean it's ready to strike.
They found that all snakes could accelerate at more than 160 metres per second squared (ms−2) and reach speeds approaching 3 metres per second. This enables the animals to cover average distances of 13.6–16.7 centimetres in 66–74 milliseconds.
Natural repellents including sulfur, clove and cinnamon oil, and vinegar may help repel snakes. Pour these substances around the perimeter of your property, any place you have noticed snake activity.
When snakes excrete waste, it is actually a mixture of feces and urine that looks white and is more of a liquid than a solid, much like bird droppings. The pests' waste may contain bones, hair, scales, and other indigestible materials leftover from meals.
When a storm moves into an area that brings heavy rain, these underground dens and burrowed tunnels will begin to fill with water, essentially flooding the snake's home. This will drive the snake to leave their den and seek dry, safe shelter.
Use Natural Predators
Snakes have a few natural predators that can help keep them away. Common snake predators include cats, raccoons, pigs, turkeys, guinea hens, and foxes. Keeping any of these animals around your home will help deter snakes from coming near.
Relocating snakes short distances is ineffective because they will likely find their way back to their home range. If you have one snake in your yard, that means there are others around! Removing one or more snakes often creates a false sense of security.
Baby snakes tend to be independent almost immediately after birth. Some stay near their mothers initially, but adult snakes do not provide protection to their offspring. As such, young must capture their own food to survive.
Ammonia is a common snake repellent. Snakes hate the smell of ammonia and won't come near it. Soak rags in ammonia and place them in unsealed plastic bags. Leave the bags where you usually see snakes to keep them away.
Calcium cyanide is a good chemical for killing snakes taking refuge in burrows, while there are several gases that sometimes work in fumigating dens.
It's likely that most snakes won't choose to go near dogs. They're bigger, noisier, and more of a hassle than a good snack. Simply by having your dog around, you will likely help to keep snakes away.