Fencing Helps Avoid a Snake in the Grass

Question: The backyard of our new home backs onto open space. I’m wondering whether there are ways to deter rattlesnakes from getting into our yard. Our back wall is a retaining wall, with the soil level behind it only about 4 inches below the top of the brick. The remaining height of wall is wrought iron.

--M.M., Agoura Hills

Answer: Rattlesnakes neither dig nor do they scale vertical surfaces like walls and fences. So you can deter them from entering your yard by constructing perimeter fencing.

Do this by fortifying the lower 3 feet of existing fence with galvanized wire mesh or a similar material. For best results, angle the fence outward at a 30-degree angle, placing supporting stakes inside the fence. Of course, you’ll have to fence the entire yard this way and make sure there are no other ways for the snakes to get in, such as through an open garage door or an unhinged side gate.

Keep the vegetation trimmed back so snakes won’t be able to leverage their way over the 3-foot barricade. Clearing brush and removing wood stacks, rock piles and any debris lying around will also reduce the areas snakes and their primary food source, rodents, use as protective cover.

Because rattlers can’t regulate their own body heat, you’ll see them during hotter and colder times of the year. When it’s sweltering outside, they’ll try to get into houses, sheds and other dark, chilly spots to cool down. It’s not unusual for homeowners to find them sprawled on the nippy tiles of porches during hot summer nights.

Conversely, as the weather turns cooler in the fall, rattlesnakes will move out into the street or onto the sidewalk to bask in the sun and draw heat into their bodies.

There’s a granular repellent called Snake-a-Way that has received very mixed reviews. In university laboratory tests, it performed poorly. But some wildlife-control professionals swear by it.

You might give it a try, but don’t do it in lieu of perimeter fencing. You can order Snake-a-Way by calling (800) 299-6288. Rattlesnakes in the yard are a real hazard, especially to children. You’re wise to keep them out.

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Since I answered a reader’s question about preventing ducks from swimming in her pool and nesting in the surrounding shrubs, I’ve heard from other readers who have battled the same problem.

Here are some of their solutions:

“I know a good way to keep ducks out of the pool. A friend puts a couple of beach balls in the pool. They float around with the breeze and the ducks don’t seem to like them at all. She hasn’t had any duck problems since.”

Several other readers mentioned leaving blowup toys floating in the pool, particularly menacing-looking ones, such as alligators.

This concept has merit. In Europe they’ve been keeping waterfowl out of sewage treatment ponds and industrial tanks for years with a product called Bird Balls, 4-inch molded plastic balls made out of the same stuff as your average milk jug.

Bird Balls are a new phenomenon in the United States. Depending on the extent of the water surface, hundreds or thousands of these balls are used to form a floating barrier. The birds see the barrier, not the water, and move on to another location.

The Department of the Interior is using them in Arizona to protect endangered condors from being drowned in cattle tanks, and state-run fish hatcheries in Montana and Wyoming are using them to protect fingerlings from depredation.

When I asked Wildlife Control Technology, the Fresno-based company that distributes Bird Balls in the United States, why they weren’t available for homeowners, I was told they’re not safe where people--particularly children--swim.

Because the floating balls completely cover the surface of the water, anyone accidentally falling into a pool would be instantly covered by them, precluding rescue.

Another reader writes, “We installed two-dimensional hawks which hung from a pole similar to a fishing pole with a line at the end. These were attached to structures near the pool so they hung over it and looked like hawks in flight. The ducks left when these were installed.”

If you try these or other “kites” that sway in the breeze, remember to install them as early as possible to prevent the birds from becoming established in your pool area.

I question the effectiveness of scarecrows, particularly when no other control techniques are used. But who can argue with success?

Got critter conflicts? Send your queries to wildlife biologist Andrea Kitay at P.O. Box 2489, Camarillo, CA 93011, or via e-mail to andrea@livingwithwildlife.com. Please include your name and city. Questions cannot be answered individually.

For a list of Wildlife Bulletins that provide sound advice on homeowner-wildlife conflicts ($4 each), send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the above address, or visit https://www.livingwithwildlife.com.