Snakes hiding under your house is a scary feeling. You can’t see them but you can hear them.
Not only is it scary, it puts your family at risk of getting bitten by a snake.
Unfortunately, getting rid of a snakes is not easy. Finding them and catching them is difficult.
Don’t worry, I’m here to help.
In this post, I will go over ten steps you can take to get rid of snakes from under your house, deck, porch, or patio.
Let’s get started.
1. Inspect and Seal All Entry Points
The best thing you can do to get rid of a snake hiding under your house, deck, or porch is to seal all potential entry points.
Typically, the easiest way to seal large gaps or holes under decks or porches is to use mire mesh over these areas. This will prevent snakes from getting inside. Wire mesh can sometimes be unappealing to look at.
As an alternative, you can place wooden fence coves over these areas instead. In most cases, you will still need to apply wire mesh to ensure that snakes don’t fit through any of the designs.
But, the wood or plastic covers will give you a more modern and finished look to your home.
You also want to cover up and cracks, crevices, and holes that may lead to under your house, deck, or porch.
Snakes can squeeze into tight locations, especially when they are young. The best way to cover up any cracks and crevices is using caulk and steel wool.
This will allow you to cover large and small holes with ease.
2. Remove Debris and Keep It Clean
Snakes often like to hide in dark, cool places. Under your house, porch, or deck is a location that often creates ideal living conditions for snakes.
Another thing that can make these locations even more desirable is plenty of debris, trash, or other items inside.
It’s common for people to store debris, leftover wood, equipment, or other objects under homes, porches, and decks.
Unfortunately, this will make these locations highly desirable to snakes. Remember, snakes prefer to hide in tight, dark places.
Debris will create an ideal environment for snakes.
You always want to make sure that the space in your crawlspace, porch, or deck is free of debris. Another thing you want to avoid is overgrown grass or large piles of loose soil.
Grass should be removed or kept short and well maintained. Loose soil should be patted down to make it more difficult for snakes to create holes and dens inside the soil.
These locations can be hard to reach and difficult to cut. I recommend using a handheld weed trimmer or hedge trimmer to reach under and cut any overgrown vegetation.
Likewise, you should remove any debris or items under these locations and store them in proper locations.
3. Use One Way Doors
One-way doors are another option you can use to get rid of snakes hiding under your house, porch, or deck.
To be effective, you must first cover any potential entry points the lead under your house, deck, or shed.
You want to leave one opening that will allow you to place the one-way trap.
The one-way trap will allow the snake to leave from under your home, but it won’t be able to get back inside.
I recommend leaving some bait just outside the one-way trap. This will make it more enticing for the snakes to leave.
Using a motion-activated camera near the trap will help you track when the snake leaves the trap. Once you see that the snake leaves from under your home, you can remove the trap and seal the area.
By sealing the area, you won’t ever have to worry about snakes getting under these areas again.
4. Use Traps
While one-way traps are the easiest option, they are not always viable options. In some cases, the cracks or crevice may be too small to trap an effective one way.
If this is the case, I recommend using live traps. You can use live bait inside the live traps to entice the snake to leave from underneath your home.
Live bait works the best because the snacks will be able to see and hear the bait. This will attract the snake even if they aren’t near it or if they are hiding.
I recommend using:
- Mice
- Frogs
- Insects
- Small rodents
The best place to get live bait is at your local pet store or an online source. When purchasing bait online, it’s important that they are live bait and not frozen or dead.
If you can’t find live bait, you can opt for a frozen option, but these are not as effective.
5. Use Snake Tongs
Another effective option when snakes hide under your home, porch, or deck is to use snake tongs.
Snake tongs will allow you to reach into tight spaces and grab the snake and pull it out.
Remember to have a snake bag or container to place the snake once you remove it from under the snake from under the concrete.
If the location is tight and you can’t see where the snake is, you can use an endoscope to locate the snake.
An endoscope can fit into tight and dark areas and give you a clear idea of where the snake is hiding. In the past, endoscopes were expensive, but today you can get a decent endoscope for less than $60.
6. Pro Tip: Wear Protective Equipment
If you are going to tackle getting rid of the snake on your own, I recommend using protective equipment. This includes protective gloves and gaiters.
Snake-proof gaiters will protect you if any snakes try to jump out and bite you on your legs. This is crucial protection since snakes typically bite around the legs.
This is especially true since the snakes will be hiding under your house, deck, or porch. When hiding in these locations, they can be hard to see and can jump out at any time.
7. Use Snake Repellents
Another way you can get rid of snakes is by using snake repellents.
Snake repellents aren’t always effective and shouldn’t be used alone.
It would be best if you always combined snake repellents with other methods, such as building a fence and making your yard less attractive.
There are multiple ways you can apply snake repellent, including granules, liquids, and powders.
Use the option that best suits your yard and your needs.
Granules are ideal if you have sprinklers, while liquids are ideal if you want to target specific areas that are hard to reach.
8. Call A Professional
Getting rid of snakes can be difficult and dangerous, depending on the species.
Not only are snakes scary, but they are also hard to find and hard to handle.
If you want to keep your hands clean and get rid of the snakes in your yard, you should call a professional snake removal team.
Often, there are specialized organizations that will remove and relocate any snakes you have in the yard.
9. Eliminate Excess Moisture
Many species of snakes prefer to live in damp, cool environments.
You can get rid of snakes and make your yard less appealing to reduce any excess moisture around your home.
Some common sources of excess moisture around yards include:
- Leaking pipes
- Leaking water hose
- Broken sprinklers
- Excess watering
- Unleveled yard
- Leaking pond, water fountain, or birdbath
- Broken downspouts or gutters
Inspect under your house, deck, or patio that could be causing moisture to build up in these areas.
Don’t enter this area if you suspect there is a snake hiding inside. This can put you in harms way if the snake attempts to bite you.
Once you determine the source, you can take steps to eliminate the excess moisture.
10. Eliminate Rodents And Other Snake Food Under Your House
Snakes are more likely to hide under your home, patio, or deck if there is a consistent food source.
Unfortunately, this happens quite often. Rodents and many common household insects often make this areas their home. In most cases, this is harmless but it can start to attract snakes.
Exclusion
To eliminate rodents and larger animals all you need to do is seal the area to prevent anything from getting inside.
This will be effective for both snakes and rodents.
For smaller insects you can spray chemical insecticides inside these areas. Remember that some chemicals are toxic to snakes. If you want to relocate the snake then you should opt for a natural alternative.
Use Diatomaceous Earth
One of the most effective options is using DE. DE is highly effective against insects but harmless to snakes.
You can use DE as a powder and pray pumps into these tight areas. In some cases, this isn’t easy if the area is large. Another option is to create a DE slurry and combine it with water.
Using a pressurized sprayer, you can apply a layer of spray inside all these crevices with ease. Once the surface dries, and insects that come in contact with it will slowly die.
The DE will destroy their exoskeleton and cause them to dehydrate.
For DE to remain effective, it must stay dry after application. If you have automatic sprinklers or it rains, you should reapply the solution.
Remember, when applying this to your yard, it will inadvertently kill other small insects with exoskeletons as well.
One huge benefit is that DE is non-toxic. It’s safe to use around humans, children, and in gardens without posing any serious dangers.
How To Get Rid of Snakes In Basement
When there is a snake in your basement, you don’t have many options to get rid of it. First, you need to take immediate action to secure the location to make sure it does not move to another room inside your house.
1. Use Traps
If you don’t need to access your snake and leave a snake trap sitting until the snake enters the trap, this might be the safest and most effective option.
You can set the trap in your basement. Ideally, you want to create an ideal nesting environment for the snake, so I recommend adding some branches, leaves, or grass inside the trap. You can also cover it with a towel to make it dark and more attractive to snakes.
To make your trap more enticing, you can use live bait or frozen bait to attract snakes quickly.
I recommend using:
- Mice
- Frogs
- Insects
- Small rodents
The best place to get live bait is at your local pet store or an online source. When purchasing bait online, it’s important that they are live bait and not frozen or dead.
If you can’t find live bait, you can opt for a frozen option, but these are not as effective.
2. Use Snake Tongs
Using snake tongs is typically the way professionals remove snakes from your home. Unfortunately, this puts you in the biting range of the snake.
If you opt for this option, I recommend you wear plenty of protective equipment such as gaiters, gloves, long sleeves, and long pants.
Gaiters and protective gloves will prevent the snakes from biting you. Even if they do make contact, they won’t be able to break the material’s surface.
You also want to make sure that you have a snake bag ready. As soon as you catch the snake, you can place it into the bag and close it.
Once you catch the snake, you can reach out to a snake removal service to assist you with relocation, or you can relocate the snake yourself.
3. Call a Professional
When a snake is inside an enclosed area, this makes it difficult to get rid of it. This typically means you need to come in direct contact with the snake.
In most cases, if there is a snake anywhere inside your home, you can reach out to snake removal services. These services will come to your home and remove the snake for you without you having to do anything.
This is a much safer route that if you decide to do it yourself.