How To Keep Snakes Out of Greenhouse

Snakes enjoy hanging out in places that offer them cover to slither and go almost unnoticed. The cover helps them sneak up on their prey or keeps them from the sun’s harsh heat.

One of the best places to find such comfort is a greenhouse. Although snakes can be kept as pets, everyone deserves the right to make that choice intentionally without being coerced into a reptilian relationship.

When you consider that you could also risk harboring a venomous snake, it becomes more important to keep them as far away from you as possible.

So, you are looking for a way to preserve your greenery while keeping it out of bounds for snakes.

Here are our top recommendations for keeping snakes out of a greenhouse.

6 Ways To Keep Snakes Out of Greenhouse

Snakes are dangerous but almost inevitable if you have a greenhouse.

Greenhouses also attract many insects, birds, and rodents, making a worthy buffet for snakes.

To effectively shut snakes out, you must make your greenhouse less attractive. So, it is no longer a five-star lodging for snakes but a rundown motel they would rather not live in.

1. Use Fox Urine

Snakes defend themselves from predators by staying away when alerted to the presence of a predator. Foxes are one of the most common killers of snakes.

Snakes use their sense of smell to detect and avoid areas where foxes are near.

Since getting a fox to guide your greenhouse may be difficult, you can use the next best thing. That’s fox urine. You can spray it or pour it generously around your greenhouse.

If you cannot cover cracks and holes, you could use fox urine as a temporary fix.

2. Use Natural Repellents

You can make snake repellents with several natural items. A classic example is ammonia.

Snakes cannot stand the smell of ammonia, so you can use it to point them away from your garden.

Just soak an old piece of clothing in ammonia, and place it near the entrance to your greenhouse.

3. Use Mothballs

You could also make mixtures of clove and cinnamon oils as anti-snake sprays. The combined scent of these strong-smelling spices will chase snakes away.

Mothballs are also a version of natural repellents, but they deserve a separate mention. A typical mothball contains a good amount of a substance called naphthalene.

Most snake-repelling products contain naphthalene because it’s effective at repelling snakes. It is also the primary ingredient in mothballs.

To use them against snakes, place the balls around where you have seen snakes. If you aren’t sure, place them close to any holes or gaps.

Then leave the mothballs to release the naphthalene. Any nearby snakes would move away from the smell.

Depending on how strategic you are with the placements, it can kick them out for good.

4. Seal Holes and Cracks

Slithering and sneaking around is the nature of snakes. So, they can slide into holes, cracks, and gaps in the walls of your building.

You won’t have any if a snake cannot enter your greenhouse. So, finding snakes is a sign that the security of your building is shaky.

To avoid such visits, ensure that any crack or hole around your building is sealed off. Remember that there are little snakes, so even the tiniest holes must be dealt with.

5. Trim Overgrown Bushes

Long grasses and hedges also provide perfect cover for snakes. They like to hide and sneak up on unsuspecting prey.

However, if your grasses are neatly trimmed, snakes will have fewer places to hide and feel less confident about coming to your greenhouse. If you have grasses, keep them as short as possible.

A clean open space would also help you spot and eliminate other pests. Better still, the chances of having such unwanted visitors will be far reduced.

6. Remove the Water Sources

Snakes may be drawn to your greenhouse by the presence of water. It could be a swimming pool, watering system, or standing water due to overwatering your flowers and plants.

Snakes love water, so the absence of it would drive them away. Conduct an inspection of your greenhouse and determine any sources of water snakes can feed on.

It could be dripping taps or clogged drains. Then, ensure that you remove or fix whatever is creating the water source for snakes.

Conclusion

Snakes enjoy the safe shelter and warm ambiance that greenhouses have. Other animals are drawn to the same ambiance, thus becoming prey to snakes.

For instance, rodents and birds are also attracted to greenhouses. As long as such prey animals remain available, snakes will settle nicely in your greenhouse.

So, ensuring that other prey animals do not roam around would help drive snakes away. And the best way to do so is to maintain proper gardening.