Snakes look for warm hiding places and food sources. Accumulated debris in and around your yard will attract snakes. It's important to make sure your house is snake proof as well, since snakes can crawl into the smallest holes and cracks in walls, windows and doors [source: UMass]. It's best to prevent snakes from coming into your yard by making it unattractive. Simply get rid of any accumulated debris and seal up any potential snake accesses. However, if you already have snakes in your yard, you might want to try the following:
- Remove any piles of debris and trim overgrown bushes. An overgrown yard or a yard with lots of vegetation and brush piles can be very attractive to snakes [source: Minnesota].
- Mow the lawn. Shorter grass keeps snakes away [source: UMass].
- Seal up any crevices or holes in stone walls so snakes won't crawl in [source: Heyne].
- Seal cracks in the house's foundation, patio and stoop, to keep snakes out of these warm hiding places [source: Minnesota].
- Consider storing your compost in an enclosed bin or turning your compost over from time to time [source: Heyne]. In addition to being good hiding places, compost piles attract mice, which are food for snakes Similarly, mice control around the house and yard will remove potential food sources for hungry snakes [source: Minnesota].
- Install a fence around your yard. Make sure the fence goes all the way around the yard, doesn't have openings along the bottom, and is buried 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) in the ground [source: Minnesota].
If you do encounter a snake on your property, don't try to interfere with it in any way -- you don't want it to attack. Call a professional snake catcher and keep an eye on the snake from a safe distance until help arrives [source: Heyne].
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