Have you encountered snakes in your home? How do they get there? Since snakes have thin and flat bodies, they can pass through small gaps or openings. They may slide under doors to enter your home. You may wonder now; can snakes crawl under doors?
Yes, snakes can crawl under doors. Any holes or gaps in doors can serve as snake access points because some snakes are small enough to wriggle through. However, most conventional doors have little space, which makes it difficult for snakes to pass through.
Are you interested in knowing more about the snake slithering activity? If yes, read the below guidelines.
Do Snakes Flatten Their Body to Fit Through Doors?
Yes, snakes flatten their body to fit through doors to enter your room or home. Regardless of size, snakes such as eastern brown snakes can flatten themselves and slowly slide through narrow openings.
Additionally, snakes rarely flatten their body and remain still while doing so. If they find no threat, they will revert to their original size while moving again. Moreover, some snakes can flatten themselves to a length of about an inch, but not all the way.
Hence, they can attempt to enter space, but they will be unable to do so since they can’t flatten their entire length to fit through the desired gap.
Why Do Snakes Flatten Their Bodies?
Although there are several reasons for snakes flattening their bodies, the main purpose is to increase their surface area so they can absorb more heat when they are in the sun. Additionally, some snakes flatten their bodies to make themselves seem larger to predators when they are in danger.
According to the journal Zoology, the flattening activity of the trunk in most snakes depends on the costovertebral joints. In addition to that, they used to flatten their bodies, similar to how they do it while swimming.
What’s more, snakes can’t squeeze under doors unless they previously flattened their bodies. Furthermore, while flattening under doors, they remain stationary.
Do Snakes Climb Doors?
Snakes are unlikely to be able to climb doors. It is because of their overly elastic and thick skin, which makes it challenging to keep a firm hold on any surface. Although they have scales on their body for climbing, they are for climbing walls, not doors or grounds.
For a snake to climb a door, it would require the appropriate claws instead of its usual type of scales. Moreover, some snakes have been seen “hissing,” which forces them to lift their bodies to walk out more precisely. Under this situation, they might be able to maintain themselves in this position for a short period.
Can Snakes Damage Themselves When They Enter a Doorway?
Yes, snakes get injured while passing through a doorway. They may suffer major harm if they enter a space with bars or sharp things that could pierce them as they move. Additionally, if you have an automated garage door, snakes may get an electric shock while passing through it.
Moreover, since snakes’ tails are tiny and fragile, they may break easily while stagnating under the door. Although the broken tail of a snake may mend, it won’t grow again.
How Do Snakes Enter Your House Other Than Through Doors?
Snakes can enter your house through various means. Below are some most common routes of a snake’s entrance into your house except doors.
Cracks or Gaps in Doors
As snakes can pass through a pencil size gap, if there are cracks or gaps in your doors and window, they can easily get through them. Therefore, you should seal any crevices, openings, and holes around snakes’ crawling spaces like doors, walls, and windows. Moreover, they may also enter your house through cracks in your drainage pipes.
Check your home for openings and seal them with caulk or a door sweep to prevent snakes from getting inside. Additionally, leaving your doors open invites snakes to enter your home. Therefore, to prevent more than a crosswind from entering your home, you should keep the garage and screen doors tightly closed.
Gaps between Bricks
Since snakes are excellent climbers, they love to climb brick walls. If your walls have gaps in bricks, snakes can use them to enter your house. They have scales on their body that assist them in climbing from one step to another on a brick wall. Therefore, whenever you see gaps in your walls, close them immediately.
Additionally, to avoid moisture damage and keep snakes out, you should fill gaps between siding and brick, stone veneers, or other comparable materials. You can use a caulk gun to fill out these gaps between bricks.
Through Attics
Snakes entering attics is such a frequent issue that pest control companies frequently deal with it. Climbing snakes, such as western rat snakes, draw towards the attic due to the presence of rodents like mice or rats there. As snakes feed on rats, if there is a gap in your attics’ wall, there may be chances of rats’ presence there and eventually the snakes.
Therefore, you should remove potential entry points from your attics so that rodents can’t gain access to them. And once there is no rat or gaps in attic walls, snakes will not dare to enter.
Through Plants
Snakes love greenery, so they used to live inside your plants or vase. If you have a large green pot in your living room or at the entrance of your house, snakes may reside there to get warmth and shelter. Therefore, you should avoid keeping a vase in your home to prevent snake attacks.
Furthermore, if you have large potted plants, consider digging them around the earth before bringing them indoors from your yard or porch to prevent the entry of snakes.
Through Drainage Pipes
As snakes love water and moisture, they used to live in your drainage pipes. If there is a crack or hole in the drainage pipe, they may gain entrance into your home through them. Therefore, inspect your drainage pipes regularly to keep away snakes.
Moreover, snakes may also enter your home through gaps in your gas pipes. Thus, if your house contains gas lines or drainage pipes, they must enter via your foundation or outside wall from the outside to prevent the entry of snakes.
How Do I Prevent Snakes from Coming Under My Door?
There are several ways to keep snakes away from your house. As snakes can pass through gaps or cracks, you can follow the below steps to keep them from coming under your doors.
Seal Cracks & Gaps
The first thing you need to do is to close all the gaps and cracks in your doors and windows. Snakes frequently enter homes through gaps between garages and garage doors. They provide all the space snakes need to enter through them.
Find any openings in your door and seal them with caulk to prevent the entrance of snakes. Moreover, you can also use door sweeps to prevent the entry of snakes through open doors. To buy door sweeps, contact a nearby store.
Use Weather Stripping
This is the best way to seal gaps under doors. Buy door sweeps or weather stripping from your nearby market, then slide them under your doors to ward off snakes. If you have a typical door that swings from a hinge, you have a variety of weather-stripping alternatives to choose from.
One of the easiest strippings that you can install yourself is pressure-sensitive adhesive-backed foam weather stripping. All you have to do is adhere to and press down the foam around the doors’ edges to install such weather stripping.
Regular Cleaning
As snakes are always searching for food, water, and shelter, you should remove all the debris from your house so that they may not draw towards your home. Cut your grass short and mow it frequently.
Moreover, maintain a safe distance between your house’s sides, the roof, and the ground by trimming trees, shrubs, and branches. To decrease the possibility of snakes using trees and bushes as cover and to make them easier to notice, try to maintain a 24 to 36-inch clearance beneath them.
Wipe Out Standing Water
If there is standing water near your doors and they are moist, there may be an increased likelihood of a snake’s attack. Therefore, you should remove all the standing water around your gate and other places in your home.
Check your lawn and house for any pools of water, especially those that are concealed, like those near your hose, underneath a shelf, or in the garden. Consequently, many types of snakes will find another place to nest if these water-filled areas are eliminated.
Bottom Line
According to a recent survey, snakes are one of the most deadly animals in the world. They used to enter your house through doors to find food, water, and shelter. If your doors have cracks or you have gaps in your walls, there may be chances of snakes’ entrance into your house.
Therefore, you should prevent their entrance by sealing the gaps under your doors, removing debris, and cleaning the standing water. Hopefully, the above information has cleared your every doubt regarding snakes’ entrance into your house through doors.
FAQs
References
Abigail Pattishall, David Cundall, Dynamic changes in body form during swimming in the water snake Nerodia sipedon, Zoology, Volume 111, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 48-61, ISSN 0944-2006.
