THE ALL STAR ADVANTAGE

All Star Animal Trapping has over 18 years of experience with trapping wild animals and rodents. We also have a license from the Fish and Wildlife Department of California, and more. Our snake trappers are similarly experienced.

HOW TO GET RID OF SNAKES

Snakes are one of the most common animal control calls, and it doesn’t help that there are about 50 snake species across the US. There’s usually at least one snake species in every area, meaning that city or rural, you’re likely to find one at some point or another. To learn more about snake removal techniques from experts visit snake-removal.com.

It’s not surprising that many are afraid to get rid of snakes, bolstered by the fact that many are venomous. So, with that in mind, let’s look at how to get rid of snakes.

• Identify the Snake

There are two major categories that snakes fall into: venomous or non-venomous. Both snakes can be potentially dangerous, but only venomous snakes can inflict you with toxins. As such, it’s very important to know what you or a removal company is dealing with. There are a few ways to tell the reptile types apart, but the easiest is to quickly view their head:

Venomous Snakes

These snakes have triangular heads, with thin vertical pupils. Oftentimes with yellow or green eyes, venomous snakes take all sorts of colors. There’s no real way to determine if you’re dealing with a venomous snake other than to see or feel its fangs, so if you see a triangular head, stay back, or protect yourself.

If you’re dealing with a venomous snake, the thing to do is to call the professionals or animal control. One of the most common California snakes is the Mojave rattlesnake, which is the most debilitating and deadly rattlesnake. Its venom can kill you in four to six hours, meaning that the best thing to do is let a professional take care of it.

Non-Venomous Snakes

These snakes have rounded heads, oftentimes shaped like an egg or spoon. That continues to their eyes, with rounded pupils. It’s easier to remember that venomous snakes have pointed heads and eyes, signifying pointy fangs, while non-venomous snakes are rounded and have no sharp fangs.

• Find What’s Attracting Snakes and Where They Rest

If there’s a snake in your house, skip this step; this really only applies to outdoor snakes or those that don’t have you immediately in danger. For those snakes outdoors, determine what’s attracting them. Whether it’s rodents, fish, frogs, snails, or other small animals, there are quite a few attractants for a snake. It’s important to determine what’s attracting them first, as it’ll let you take proactive moves first. 

Looking for small animals or food, glance across the ground for large rocks or holes. Snakes live in dark, enclosed spaces, such as with holes and under rocks. Other areas would include brush, leaves, tall grass, moist areas, ponds, and hoses. You need to find where the snake lives first, as it’ll let you decide what to do next.

• Make Proactive Moves

The easiest things to do are those which don’t put you near snakes. These would be proactive moves, which don’t require you to actually do anything that puts you at risk. This would include seeing whether or not a snake is venomous or non-venomous, an important step that’s number 1 on this list. Once you’ve verified the snake is non-venomous, move to get rid of their food sources. Whether this means removing any small ponds, cleaning up trash, or sealing off your yard, do what you can to block off snakes from food.

Remove Standing Water and Shelter

The next thing to do is get rid of standing water. Snakes love water, and ponds, hoses, and birdbaths are one of the biggest attractors. To get rid of snakes’ incentive to move onto your property, or stay, remove the water, and keep it cleaned. You may also need to fill in holes and burrows with gravel or dirt, a task that often falls to a burrowing control company.

Oftentimes, removing shelters such as rocks or tall areas is great, with snake-proof fencing being a great help. This mesh or sheeting shield generally lays 3 feet high and 4 feet deep and prevents snakes from entering or exiting your yard. Once you’ve removed shelter, you may want to employ a natural predator or repellant, often in the form of fox urine or smoke, both of which snakes despise.

Once you’ve exhausted these options, observe to see if snakes are still on your property. If they are, then:

• Call the Pros or Trap Snakes Yourself

Store-bought snake traps are likely the safest way for you to get rid of a snake. That, or using a trash can, placing it atop the snake, then weighing the can down until animal control arrives. Remember, only do this if you’re confident the snake is non-venomous, as it could go wrong quickly. That’s why we recommend you just call the pros instead.

Our team at All Star Animal Trapping has experience dealing with both venomous and non-venomous snakes alike, and we’re ready to work for you. We employ humane strategies to remove snakes without killing them. They’re a huge part of the ecosystem, and so we take the utmost precaution to protect both you and the snake, if possible, relocating them and repairing any damage. All Star Animal Trapping will also provide prevention services, helping to prevent this from happening again. We’re just a call awa

How to Remove Snakes From The Attic

Snakes are definitely some of the scarier home intruders that homeowners in the U.S. need to worry about. Although depending on the area that you live in, the chances of encountering a venomous snake may be quite low, a snake is still an enemy to fear and treat accordingly.

So in this article, we look at how you can remove snakes from your attic safely, as well as how you can prevent future infestations.

Call a professional.

We’d like to point out that snake removal from inside the home or yard should be left to professional wildlife removal experts. They come prepared with protective gear, and more importantly, with experience in handling live snakes. They also have all the necessary equipment to smoothly remove the serpent, and fix your home, so that you don’t need to worry about a future infestation.

Not only that, but wildlife removal experts aren’t just about extermination, anymore. Many services, in fact, offer live trapping options that will remove the animal and release it in an area where it can’t harm anyone. 

So we strongly recommend hiring a professional snake removal service, rather than attempting to do it yourself. But in case you don’t…

Protect yourself. Do your research.

If you decide to attempt removing the snake yourself, we first recommend doing a bit of reading and familiarizing yourself with the snakes most likely to inhabit your area. This can give you a fair idea of the danger level of your snake infestation.

However, that shouldn’t mean leaving your guard down. Even if you suspect the snakes in your attic aren’t venomous, you should still wear plenty of protective gear (rubber boots, long, thick pants, rubber gloves, long sleeves, etc.). Remember that while the bite of a non-venomous snake won’t kill you outright, it can still be very painful, not to mention expose you to a variety of diseases.

Choose your trap.

Next, you’ll need to choose your trapping option. As we’ve seen, you can usually opt between extermination methods, such as poison, or lethal trapping, and non-lethal options, like live trapping, or exclusion.

The choice is yours. 

Once you’ve chosen your trip, we recommend placing it along the snake’s natural path, as much as you can identify it. For instance, if you’ve identified the snake’s entry point into your attic, you may want to place your trap or poison near that entry point, as the snake is bound to pass by it a lot.

Check on the trap regularly. Depending on the option you went with, you’ll then either have to release the snake into the wild or get rid of the dead snake. We still suggest wearing protective gear, as dead snakes can be as dangerous as live ones, in terms of bacteria.

In the aftermath - prevention is key.

Once the snake is safely removed from your attic, the next thing you want to do is focus on preventive measures. This will usually entail sealing the snake’s entry point, using a material like expandable foam, wire mesh, or caulk - generally, things that are difficult to chew or gnaw through, so as not to appeal to future wildlife infestations.

Sealing the entry point should be your number one concern, because the longer that stays open, the more likely it is to attract other animals. Once that’s sealed, set about thoroughly sanitizing and disinfecting the attic area the snake inhabited. Use strong cleaning products, to make sure you remove feces, shed skin, and other potential bacteria carriers.

Ideally, you’ll also want to clean up the attic, and get rid of unnecessary clutter, as this often appeals to wildlife as a hiding spot.

THE ALL STAR ADVANTAGE

All Star Animal Trapping has over 18 years of experience with trapping wild animals and rodents. We also have a license from the Fish and Wildlife Department of California, and more. Our snake trappers are similarly experienced.

How to keep snakes out of the attic?

Snakes tend to be elusive, stealthy, and unnoticeable, usually hiding in gardens, garages, and very rarely in the attic. This is why we offer you solutions to prevent a big scare or a potential risk.

The first thing you should determine is what kind of snake it is, and try to discover the possible reasons why it is there. There is no actual way to detect them, nor is there an antidote to avoid them, when they decide to visit you they simply arrive.

The Farther, The Better

Experts say that we should not take this matter lightly; there is a  great variety of venomous reptiles whose potential lethal range is unknown. So it is best to take every precaution to keep them away from home.

Often scurrying for food, or simply looking for a comfortable place to nest, these crawling animals can find their way into your attic if it provides them with food or warmth.

Take note of these resources that might help you.

Getting rid of snakes is primarily a matter of being cautious and making sure you know which species you're dealing with. The important thing is to seek help from experts in the field, pest control or animal protection, someone who can really help from an experienced place.

The following tips will help you to organize more effectively the capture of the unwanted animal:

• Although snakes are beneficial for gardening, they are very dangerous indoors: eating fish, hamsters, and even small kittens. They are as well dangerous to small children.
• Snakes attack and a bite in the face can be dangerous, that is why we recommend you never bend down to see them, nor try to grab it without knowing what species it is.

It is indispensable to know that they are seasonal animals and that many of them become slower during the summer. The way they behave has a lot to do with the weather.

• Snakes can go for long periods without feeding or survive on small morsels. They are ambitious and when they hunt, they go after the largest prey possible.
• The reason repellents are useless is that they smell with their tongues.
• They do not usually approach urban areas, but their need to feed or shelter forces them to sneak into houses.
• They are deaf but perceive the vibrations of the ground, so they are alerted to human footsteps.
• They do not settle in a fixed place, they can move for miles just to get food.

What can be done to keep them away?

All preventive options are worth a try

1. Mainly keep windows closed, use screens if you have to leave them open.
2. Keep order from the outside in, a clean and tidy yard is the first step to prevent them from entering your home.
3. Some homemade traps will help keep them away, or at least trap them effectively.
4. The lawnmower usually scares them away because of the vibrations they emit, doing it regularly helps a lot.
5. Keeping the house free of pests guarantees that they will not stay, which is why mice, slugs, or any kind of pests are not good guests.
6. Sprinklers are a good tool to repel them.

The most advisable thing to do is prevent their arrival. However, if you find yourself in this situation, with a big venomous reptile in your household, it is important to avoid killing the animal. It is best to release it in a place where it is not in danger, but also where it does not become a potential danger to others.

Since these reptiles are difficult to deal with, and you never know how they will react, caution is the best way to get rid of them. Follow the advice of making some home repairs to close down any potential hiding places for them. Furthermore, frequently checking places, such as the attic, basement, garage, and yard will ensure your safety.