Avoid This Landscaping Mistake To Keep Snakes Far Away From Your Home
While you might be eager to attract a range of beneficial critters like pollinators to the outdoor area around your home, you might not be as keen to find a snake slithering around your property. Fortunately, there are a few ways to keep snakes out of your yard, and that includes making sure that you're mowing your lawn on a regular basis and keeping it nice and short. Along with the fact that keeping your grass trimmed makes your property look well-maintained and cared for, snakes don't like short grass. Instead, these creatures tend to prefer longer grass, which provides them with a few important perks. For instance, while slithering through longer grass, snakes can hide from predators like falcons, hawks, and owls that might swoop down for the hunt.
On top of that, longer grass is ideal for little critters to make their home and travel around your yard. These creatures also make a tasty meal for snakes. Indeed, if you don't keep your grass short, then you might notice more grasshoppers, spiders, mice, and other pests in the area which can, in turn, attract snakes.
How long should grass be to repel snakes?
In order to prevent unwelcome snakes from wandering around your yard and potentially even making it their home, you should keep your grass a few inches tall and not let it get any longer. If you want to be more specific, then think about the kind of snakes that might be found in your neighborhood and make sure that your grass is shorter than the height of the smallest snakes in your area. For instance, garter snakes are a common variety found in backyards around the United States, as are gopher snakes, king snakes, and the unfortunately but aptly named rat snakes.
To keep your grass short enough to avoid snakes from moving into your yard, you'll likely want to mow your yard once a week or every other week, depending on how fast it grows. You may also want to use the lowest setting on your mower to ensure that you're clipping it close to the ground. After you do this, there are a few other areas around your yard that you should take care of in order to repel snakes from your property.
Remove yard waste that might attract snakes
After you've cut your grass in order to keep it short and make it less attractive to snakes, you also need to toss out the clippings right away. Leaving any yard waste in the area may still provide an ideal spot for snakes to hide. This can also include piles of firewood on your property, as well as leaves and compost. Take a look around and try to spot any places that are cool, shady, or wet, and this is where you might find a snake or two.
This also applies to the landscaping around your yard. If you have a garden that keeps the soil beneath it nice and cool, then snakes might find it an attractive spot to travel through or even burrow. That's why you need to make sure that every time you cut your grass, you also spend a little time collecting any twigs or small branches that have fallen onto the ground, pruning and trimming your plants, and removing weeds and other growth that may have popped up. If you do this, then snakes may end up avoiding your yard altogether.