Turning off your lights at night and using scents that lizards hate can help keep these reptiles out of your backyard.
While lizards are important to our ecosystem, they can become a problem on your property. Luckily, there are humane ways to prevent them from returning!
Lizards can leave a mess behind on your porch.
If you’re sick of lizard droppings, you’ll want to know the best methods to make your property less attractive to them.
Table of Contents
Why Are Lizards Coming On My Porch?
Your porch can be very attractive to lizards.
They can even take over, scurrying around when they see you coming.
But, do you know what’s drawing them to your property in the first place?
There are three main reasons you’re finding lizards on your porch or in your backyard.
These include:
- reliable food
- reliable water
- plenty of hiding places
They Found Reliable Food Sources
Most of the time, your porch has a food source for the reptiles.
Lizards love to eat all kinds of insects. If you have a lot of lizards, there are probably a lot of bugs on your property.
Dealing with the insects will cause the lizards to leave as well.
Many lizards eat leftovers that people drop. If you have a compost pile in your backyard, they might pick at the composting fruits and veggies.
There are multiple ways to deal with removing food sources.
Works Best – You can cover compost piles or turn the lights on your porch off at night. Lights attract various insects, so leaving them off as much as you can is a great way to start driving the lizards away.
They Found Water Sources
If you have any water sources on your property, they can also attract lizards.
These creatures need plenty of clean water to survive, much like every other animal!
If you remove their access to water, the lizards will leave and find something to drink in another place.
Some possible water sources that might attract lizards include dog bowls, birdbaths, or even leaking water fixtures! Pools can also be a problem, so you’ll want to cover them.
In Short – Making your property dryer will help greatly in driving away the lizards. When there’s no water, there will also be fewer bugs- also meaning fewer lizards for you to deal with.
There are Places To Hide
Next, lizards love hiding places.
They don’t regulate their body temperature, so they like having shady places to rest when it’s hot outside.
Lizards love dark shelters and will naturally gather if they find plenty of them.
You’ll want to inspect your property and see where the lizards seem to come from.
Are they hiding under furniture or on the porch? You’ll want to block any entry points that seem like shelters for the lizards.
If there are no hiding places, the lizards will leave and seek shelter somewhere else.
Overall, you’ll need to make your property as unattractive to the lizards as possible if you want them to leave!
How Do I Keep Lizards Away?
There are plenty of easy ways to keep lizards away from your home.
You can use homemade scent deterrents or even plant certain vegetables to scare them off!
All these methods are humane, so you won’t need to worry about harming any animals.
Create a Homemade Deterrent
First, you can try spraying your porch with a homemade deterrent.
Lizards have a stronger sense of smell than we do, making certain scents annoying. One of these is pepper! Mix some hot sauce or cayenne pepper with water, then spray the deterrent mixture all over your porch.
If lizards are scurrying around, make sure not to spray them directly! The scent will drive them away- there’s no need to spray them with the mixture.
This method is very simple, yet it’s very effective.
You’ll need to respray your porch a few times a week to replace the scent as it runs out.
Eventually, the lizards will stop returning. You’ll need to use this method while removing their food and water sources for the fastest results.
Works Well – Garlic and onions are also strong enough to drive off reptiles. You’ll want to chop up some garlic and sprinkle it around your porch. It may smell very strong to you, but it’ll have a powerful effect on the lizards.
You can do the same with onions!
While you might worry about the smell, it will go away with time. Plus, you benefit from not having to worry about lizards invading anymore!
Add Repellent Plants to Your Garden
Next, you can also add certain plants to your garden.
Lizards hate the smell of pepper, so you can plant various peppers in your garden and see good results.
Some other plants that lizards will avoid include:
- Peppermint
- Eucalyptus
- Japanese mint
- Hellebore
- Lemongrass
- Mentha piperita
Many people prefer to use lemongrass because it doesn’t have a strong scent, but lizards still don’t like it much.
You can add a mixture of these plants or choose a few that you want to have in your garden.
You can also try growing onions and garlic in your yard for a similar effect. Some people don’t like how these plants smell, however.
Clean Up Your Yard
Finally, it’s a good idea that you take some time to clean up your yard.
Start by removing all debris and mowing your lawn. Then, sweep your porch, trim any hedges, and tend to your garden.
Keeping your area neat prevents insects from invading, thereby eliminating lizards.
There will be fewer places for a lizard to hide if you keep your yard clean.
Once you have everything neat, you’ll want to do your best to keep it that way.
It doesn’t take lizards very long to return to an area, especially if they expect food, water, and shelter there.
Heads Up! You’ll need to be very active in taking care of your porch and backyard. If you can do that, you’re sure to see a reduction in the number of lizards on your property!
Conclusion
There are three main reasons you’re finding lizards on your porch or in your backyard.
These include reliable food, reliable water, and plenty of hiding places.
How to repel lizards from your backyard?
Lizards hate the smell of pepper, so you can plant various peppers in your garden and see good results. There are other smells that can help repel lizards.
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