Get Rid Of This Landscaping Feature If You Hate Snakes (And What To Replace It With)

If you live anywhere near large areas of natural vegetation, forested areas, or even fields and farmland, it's likely there'll be plenty of wildlife around — including snakes. While these slithery creatures are an important part of the ecosystem, you probably don't want to invite them into your garden. So, if you're interested in some simple but effective ways to deter snakes from your yard, there's one popular landscaping feature that you'll want to get rid of: large rocks. If you have these, you may want to replace them with gravel or river stones, which can be packed tightly to cover the ground.

Along with popular ground cover plants, large rocks are great at providing hiding spots for snakes and their food supply, such as mice, rats, and small lizards. They also provide the perfect nesting spot and a safe place for snakes to hide out over winter. Similarly, a retaining wall made from large rocks can be the perfect habitat for meal-size rodents, as well as a lovely warm spot for snakes to bask once the sun comes out. You may also find that the shade provided by large rocks is attractive to snakes, who spend quite a bit of time trying to cool down when it's hot outside.

There are plenty of ways you can landscape your yard to make it less attractive to snakes. For example, you can replace any large rocks with a layer of gravel or small river stones. This provides a more tightly packed surface without any crevices for snakes or their prey to find shelter in. This type of surface is not only perfect for garden beds, but also makes for nice, neat pathways, especially if you also add some large, flat paving stones. You'll also find that using gravel is a garden trend that's gaining popularity because it promotes smart water usage.

If you don't like the idea of covering all your garden beds with gravel, consider using pine bark mulch instead, as this provides a fairly rough surface that's unpleasant for snakes to slither over. Definitely avoid using pine straw, which ends up providing the perfect hiding spot for a variety of snake species. The pine bark mulch also tends to break down, creating a fairly movable cover that snakes don't particularly like — this is because they prefer not to be exposed when they're moving about or foraging for food. If you happen to have a rock retaining wall, you'll need to fill all those crevices and the area behind the wall with gravel, then continue to top this up regularly. Better yet, you might want to replace the rocks with a more solid material, such as tightly packed bricks connected with mortar. Or, you could use something like a poured concrete wall, which has no crevices at all.