How to Avoid Snakes Coming to a Landscape

Work to keep snakes out of your yard.

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Although they do have ecological benefits, snakes are creepy critters to many people. Having snakes coming into your yard is likely something that you want to avoid. You probably cannot completely block the reptiles from your landscape, but there are several steps you can take to deter them from entering your space.

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Pets that live in the yard will often deter snakes, so consider adopting a dog or a cat. However, remember that pets are a lot of work, so don't adopt one simply to help with a snake problem. Also, do not leave uneaten or leftover pet food outside, as that can attract snakes.

Remove the Snakes

Move snakes to another location. Snakes typically do not travel or live in groups, so you are likely seeing the same snake repeatedly. Have someone remove it from your landscape and place it in a distant location, and it probably will not come back. If you choose to do this yourself, verify first that the snake is not poisonous.

Hiding Places

Remove any hiding places in your landscape that could be attractive to snakes. This includes piles of sticks, leaves, bricks or other items, along with high vegetation. It probably won't be possible for you to remove all of the potential hiding places, but removing as many as possible will help.

Mice

Snakes often eat mice and rats, so make sure that those pests are not also living within your landscape. If you have a rodent problem on your property, you could also soon have a snake problem. Hire an exterminator to get rid of the mice and rats, and the snakes will likely go away as well.

ReferencesAmerica's Wetland Resources: Keeping Snakes in Their PlacePhoto Credit Tom Brakefield/Stockbyte/Getty ImagesRead Next:

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The Length of Drain Snakes

Clear clogs in a toilet, sink or tub with the appropriate drain snake.

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A drain snake has an auger end that can push through debris that causes blockage in a line. Because a clog might not be near its assumed source, the location of the clog in the pipe will determine what length drain snake to use. Drain snakes are available in several lengths to tackle clogs in sinks, tubs and toilets, and more distant clogs that can travel all the way to the main line.

Related Searches: Standard Drain Snake

Tackling clogs in the pipes that measure up to 2 inches in diameter, a standard drain snake comes in 10-, 25-, 50- and 100-foot lengths. Buying the right one for the home is a matter of determining where the clogs are most likely to occur, and which one works best against the common drain problems. For most homeowners, a 25-foot drain snake works well enough to reach a clog anywhere in the house. The drainage system forms a connection of the pipes from every water source and channels them to the main line, and at several places there are drain pipe access points. So if a clog is unreachable through the sink or tub, accessing the drain pipe below and using the drain snake that way is another way to unclog the drain.

Toilet Drain Snake

A clogged toilet that a plunger cannot remedy requires a closet auger, or toilet drain snake. Available in 3-foot and 6-foot lengths, the design of the toilet drain snake has a drop-head construction -- a bent, solid pipe sleeve that guides the inner drain snake cable down and around the bends of the toilet's drain. A 3-foot model reaches through the toilet and just to the upper part of the drain pipe, while the 6-foot option reaches the drain snake farther into the toilet's sewage line.

Power Drain Snake

Clogs that form farther along in the lines, even into the main drain line, require the use of a power drain snake, or power auger. The length of these drain snakes range from 50 feet to 200 feet, and can tackle a blockage in a large pipes with a 10-inch diameter. This means that if a massive clog travels down the line, even beyond the limits of a house or within an apartment complex, the power drain snake might be able to reach it from the starting location.

Manual or Power

While the larger power drain snake is powered and the smaller toilet drain snake, or closet auger is manual, the standard drain snakes are available as either manual or powered, or both. For a homeowner, buying a 25-foot, dual-powered drain snake gives you the flexibility to use it manually when the clog is easy to reach or to hook up the power when unclogging more tenacious clogs. One such type uses the power of a drill to convert the drain snake into a powered one, making this option a more versatile one.

ReferencesThe Home Depot: Augers and PlungersThis Old House: Clear Any Clogged DrainHometime: Plumbing: Unclogging DrainsResourcesThe Unclog Blog: All About Drain SnakesPhoto Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty ImagesRead Next:

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