If You're Not Cleaning This Room, You're Inviting Snakes to Your Home
EXPERTS WARN THAT THIS OFTEN OVERLOOKED SPACE CAN BE A HUGE DRAW FOR THE SLITHERING REPTILES.
There are many rooms in the house that are almost impossible to go long without cleaning. But just because your kitchen tends to be spotless and your bathroom is almost always sparkling doesn't mean there are areas of your home that go neglected. Unfortunately, there's one room that you're probably overlooking—and it could be inviting snakes into your home if you're not cleaning it regularly. Read on to see which part of your home you should be tidying up more often.
RELATED: This Is the No. 1 Sign There's a Snake in Your House, Experts Say.
Your attic could be inviting snakes into your home if you're not cleaning it.
iStock
It may be the perfect place to store all of your winter gear, rarely used tools, or odds and ends. But surprisingly, your attic could be attracting snakes into your house if you're not taking care to clean it regularly.
According to experts, your top floor can provide ample meals for snakes looking for mice, rats, bats, or squirrels that have managed to sneak their way in. By not giving your attic a somewhat regular reorganization and tidying up, it might only be a matter of time before a slithering intruder makes its way into your house.
Believe it or not, many snakes can climb or scale walls or trees to get to your top floors.
Shutterstock/Kyla Metzker
While snakes certainly don't have the advantage of flight or even a set of arms and legs that might make it easy to reach your top floor, experts point out that some types of snakes are gifted climbers. They'll often use overgrown trees, bushes, telephone poles, and light posts to follow a rodent scent that could bring them right to the same undetected opening in your attic that other pests can use. In some cases, it can be as obvious as a window, a gap in roof eaves, or a vent.
According to experts, snakes have a much harder time climbing smooth surfaces than they do stone, brick, or tree bark. If your home has coarse exterior walls or overgrown foliage, make sure there are no cracks or crevices that could allow pests or snakes to enter on an upper floor.
RELATED: This Is When You're Most Likely to Encounter a Snake, Experts Say.
Try to manage your attic clutter to avoid providing a home to snakes' favorite prey.
Shutterstock
It's doubtful that you're leaving food scraps in your attic that could be attracting the rodents that snakes love to eat. But storing items haphazardly, leaving chaotic piles around, and not checking for any signs of infestation regularly, you're essentially rolling out a welcome mat. And even without pests, this can be true for snakes themselves looking to find a place to stay warm over the cold winter months.
Take time every so often to tidy up your top room, especially if you're swapping out items at the beginning or end of a season. Instead of letting clothing, documents, or items pile up, consider putting them in tightly sealed storage bins or garment bags that will stop them from becoming rodent residences when you're not looking.
You should also resist the temptation to store large bags of pet food, birdseed, or other items in your attic, which can become all-you-can-eat buffets for rodents. If you do keep bulk supplies of those items around the house, be sure to keep them in tightly sealed animal-proof storage containers and regularly check them for signs of rodent tampering.
For more helpful home tips sent straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
Set rodent traps and check for signs of snakes in the attic and around your home.
Shutterstock/Africa Studio
It's probably likely you'll notice a mouse scurry across your kitchen before you notice a bat hanging up in your attic. But by taking some proactive measures and sticking to a cleaning schedule, you could avoid a full-blown infestation that could bring snakes into your attic.
Set a reminder in your calendar to give your top floor a quick tidying every three to four months. Use the time to check for any signs of rodents, such as droppings or nests, and for signs of snakes, such as shed skins or droppings with bones or fur in them. If you hear the scurrying of a mouse, rat, or squirrel in your walls, set traps in your attic immediately or call a pest control service that can help you avoid a long-lasting problem.
RELATED: Leaving This in Your Garage Is Bringing Snakes to Your Home, Experts Warn.