How do I make my garden less inviting to snakes?

You cannot make a garden snake-free, and anyone who promises that is selling something. But you can make yours a poor place for a snake to stop, and you can have a plan so a sighting is a phone call, not a panic. If a snake has taken the joy out of being outside, that plan is how you get it back.

Snakes come for three things: food, shelter and warmth. Everything below takes one of those away.

Take away the hiding places

• Keep grass short near the house, paths and play areas. Long grass and dense ground cover are where snakes rest unseen.
• Clear the clutter. Woodpiles, rubble, stacked pots, old boards, tarps and sheets of metal all make cool, sheltered spots. Remove them or raise them off the ground, away from the house.
• Thin low shrubs next to walls and doors, so there is a clear gap a snake would have to cross in the open.
• Work with gloves and a tool, not bare hands, when you lift anything that has been sitting on the ground.

Take away the food

Where there are mice and rats, snakes follow. Store pet food, bird seed and chicken feed in sealed metal bins. Sweep up spill under feeders, or bring feeders in for a while. Keep bins lidded and compost closed. Our mice and rats guide covers the humane ways to cut a rodent problem, and none of them involve poison that could pass up the food chain.

Close the gaps that matter

1. Under sheds, decks and steps. Check nothing is living there, then close the gaps with fine, strong mesh dug into the ground so nothing can push underneath.
2. The base of fences. Fine mesh fixed along the bottom and buried a little stops snakes slipping through gaps and under boards. Chicken wire is usually too open for small snakes.
3. The house itself. Door sweeps, and gaps around pipes and vents sealed. Our sealing gaps guide has the materials.
4. A snake fence, if you live somewhere dangerous snakes are common. Some households fence a play area or the whole garden with fine mesh, buried at the base, with gates that close tight. It only works if every gap stays shut. Ask a local snake catcher or wildlife body what height and mesh suit the snakes where you live.

Two things that do not help

Keeping one snake to keep out another. It is a common belief that a snake that is not venomous will guard your garden against venomous ones. Do not count on it. Snakes are there for food and shelter, the same reasons as any other snake, and a garden that suits one suits others. Leave it be, do not feed it, and keep up the steps above.

Repellents and gadgets. Mothballs, sprinkle-on granules, ultrasonic boxes and vibrating stakes do not reliably keep snakes away, and mothballs add a poisoning risk for children and pets. More on that in do mothballs or ultrasonic devices keep snakes away.

The family plan

Kids and pets: teach children one rule: see a snake, stand still, back away slowly, fetch an adult. Never touch one, alive or dead. Keep dogs on a lead near cover when a snake has been seen. If anyone is bitten, call your emergency number at once; if a pet is bitten, go straight to a vet.

• Save the numbers for local animal control, a licensed snake catcher, your nearest emergency department and your vet.
• Shoes in the garden, and a torch at dusk and after dark.
• Look before you reach into long grass, pots or under the shed.

When one does turn up, follow what to do when there is a snake in the garden: distance first, then the call. Do not try to kill or move it. Many snakes are protected, and trying to handle one is when bites happen.

When to get help

If dangerous snakes keep returning, ask a licensed snake catcher or local wildlife body to walk the garden with you. Tell them where and when each one was seen, with photos taken from a distance. They can point to the shelter or food you have missed, which is worth more than any product.