One reptile that most people fear most is snake! A garden is a great place for snakes to hide and hunt. A snake has no reason than searching for food to enter the garden. Learning how to avoid snakes in your garden is simple if you know what to do.
Snakes are part of nature and getting rid of them will unbalance nature. Rodents and other pests are under control with the help of snakes. Without snakes, pests would overrun most cities. For that reason, we should not eliminate snakes, but learn to live along with them. To do this, all you need is a prevention plan to keep them from away from your garden.
Signs There Are Snakes in Your Garden
Snakes are secretive creatures and they are usually in hiding during the day. Just because you don’t see them, doesn’t mean that they are there.
A garden is a great place for them to hide and hunt for food. The bigger your garden is, the more difficult it will be to spot them. Most snakes have coloration that helps them blend with their surroundings as well.
Below are some of the things to look for when snakes are present in your garden.
- Snakeskin: This is one sign that a snake is somewhere in your garden. A snake will find a place like a garden to shed their skin. After shedding, their skin is soft so they will not move around often.
- Snake Tracks: When a snake moves, it will leave a distinguishable trail. If you see winding trails in and around the garden, this is a good indication a snake has been in your garden.
- Rodents: One of the snake’s favorite food is rodents. If you see a lot of rodents in your garden, you can be sure the snakes are nearby.
How to Prevent Snakes From Getting in Your Garden
While you can’t prevent the snake from coming to your garden entirely, there are some things that you can do to limit them from coming.
Step One: Get Rid of Snake Hiding Spots
- Large Rocks: If you have large rocks in or around the garden, it’s a good idea to remove them. Snakes tend to seek these large rocks to hide in.
- Clutters: Look throughout your garden to see if there are any piles of leaves, stacks of wood, or piles of mulch laying around. These things make a great hiding place for snakes.
- Low Lying Plants: If you have low-lying plants like wildflowers and vegetable plants that grow along the ground, it provides a great place for snakes to hide in. Most snakes will prefer to stay under plants because it’s easier for them to escape when they feel threatened.
Step Two: Get Rid of Any Snake Food Source
If the snakes are coming to your garden often, there’s a good chance that there is a lot of food for them to prey on.
Besides the usual rodents that they prey on, snakes are known to eat bugs, grasshoppers, roaches, and other pests. If it moves, most likely a snake will make it a meal.
For pests, you can use organic pesticides to keep them out of your garden.
For rodents, you can lay down traps to catch them. Another solution is to use fencing around your entire garden.
By getting rid of rodents and pests from the garden will discourage the snakes from coming to your garden.
Step Three: Use Snakeproof Fencing
Snakeproof fencing is a great way to keep the slithering creature from entering your garden. It isn’t completely foolproof, but it makes an effective way of preventing the snakes from going into the garden.
The fence is simply a nylon or metal mesh that is angled outward but flushes to the ground. When the fence is at this angle, it will be hard for them to slither beneath the fence or climb over it.
Step Four: Use Snake Repellent
- Garlic: Garlic has a distinctive smell that helps repel snakes. Snakes use their smell to find food. By having garlic around the garden, it gives off an odor that confuses the snakes. When the snakes are unsure about the smell, they will turn around and go somewhere else.
- Onion: This is another great snake-repelling plant. If you haven’t grown them in your garden yet, you should consider them. Onions produce a pungent smell that confuses the snake. Plant onions all around your garden and it should keep snakes out of your garden.
- Essential Oils: Essential oils are known to help relieve stress. However, they have many other benefits as well, such as repelling snakes. Essential oils such as cinnamon, clove, and cedarwood are great for repelling snakes. In and around the garden, you can put these essential oils all over the place.
- Lemongrass: Lemongrass produces a citrus scent that snakes dislike. Plant them all around the garden and once every couple of weeks, trim them down. If you don’t they can grow all over the place. In addition, lemongrass is a great plant for repelling ticks and mosquitoes as well.
- Mother-in-Law’s Tongue: This plant is a great deterrent for snakes. Mother-in-Law’s tongue rejuvenates oxygen in the air at a high rate that scares snakes. Also, the leaves are sharp and long which makes it hard for the snakes to slither through. Plant these around entrance points where snakes are known to crawl into the garden from.
Additional Tips To Prevent Snakes From Getting Into Your Garden
Using A Trap: Using a trap is fine as long as you know exactly what type of snake it is. For most people, telling the difference between a poisonous and a nonpoisonous snake is not possible. It’s best to not use a trap unless you’re an expert at snake handling
Using Vibration: A great way to get rid of snakes from the garden is to use vibrations. This could be from a lawnmower or any gardening equipment that moves. By causing vibration on the ground, the snakes will likely move away from the area.
Conclusion
Snakes have no reason to go into the garden except to search for food. If there are no food sources in the garden, they will not wander into your garden. While you can’t prevent their food sources from the garden, the only viable choice is to prevent them from coming into the garden. The above article should give you plenty of ideas on how to avoid snakes in your garden.
