Near the end of a work-from-home day on a Friday, I began to stretch out my shoulders and loosen up my neck. You could probably imagine my surprise when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a snake--In my house. I was actually quite excited because snakes are super cool, but they belong outside. Since it was a harmless black snake, I put on some heavy leather gloves, carefully picked him up, and took him back outside. In light of my friendly snake visit, in today’s blog, we’ll look at some common methods used to keep small, unexpected visitors from entering your house.

First are simple mesh screens, something so commonplace in our country, you probably don’t put much thought into them. Whether on your windows or doors, these simple devices keep most insects where we want them: outdoors. Screens can be made from metal or synthetic materials, which are effective deterrents for insects but are not a perfect solution as many animals can claw or chew through them. So, if you want to keep an alligator out, screens aren’t going to be your best friend.

Moving up to larger nuisance critters, let’s talk about rat slabs. A rat slab is simply a several-inch-thick slab of concrete poured over the dirt floor of a crawlspace. They have a few health benefits, such as preventing mold and fungus growth, but most importantly they prevent burrowing animals from entering a house.

Rat slabs are great at protecting you from burrowing animals, but little critters are tenacious and can often find their way into your home by other means. If you find an unannounced guest in your house and don’t know how it got in, good places to check for are holes at the bottom edge of your siding, your roof eaves, and around windows and doors. When you find an opening that looks suspiciously welcoming, make sure you have it sealed up. Let’s keep those critters where they belong, with nature.

by Josh Kindred