Snake Removal in Dallas, TX

How We Get a Snake Out, Step by Step

1. 1

   Call and tell us what you saw

   We ask where the snake is and what it looked like. We also ask whether small children or pets live in the house.

2. 2

   Identify the snake

   The snake exterminator who comes out identifies the snake first. A venomous one, such as a copperhead, is handled differently from a harmless rat snake.

3. 3

   Find where it got in

   The inspection runs along the base of the house: the gaps under the doors, cracks in the foundation, and the openings around pipes, wires and the AC line. On a pier-and-beam house, it takes in the crawl space vents. Inside, it covers the rooms, the garage and the attic.

4. 4

   Hear the price

   You see the gaps a snake can use, then hear the price. The capture and the sealing wait for your yes.

5. 5

   Catch the snake, close the gaps

   The technician catches the snake, or sets a trap where it is hiding. Then each gap the inspection found is closed.

6. 6

   The findings, in writing

   The findings name the snake, each gap and what closed it. They also list what keeps snakes near the house, such as a wood pile against the fence or mice in the garage.

To book the inspection, call (972) 573-9907. If the snake slips out of sight before the visit, the search starts where you saw it last.

Copperheads, Rat Snakes and Other DFW Snakes

Dallas Animal Services splits the common North Texas snakes into two lists. The most common harmless ones in Dallas are the eastern rat snake, the blotched water snake, the western ribbon snake and the diamondback water snake. The most common venomous ones are several rattlesnakes, the western cottonmouth, the coral snake and three kinds of copperhead.

Copperheads turn up in backyards too. In summer 2018, Plano posted warnings at White Rock Trail Park in west Plano after copperhead bites to a woman and a dog, and a copperhead in a backyard pool. Texas Parks and Wildlife says that in spring, copperheads are found along streams and in weed-covered vacant lots.

Snakes are mostly inactive in winter and leave their dens in late February or early March. They move most at night and in the early morning and late evening. The harmless kinds lay eggs in spring that hatch in summer.

Food and cover bring a snake to a house: mice, rats and insects, and a cool, damp, dark place to hide. It gets in at ground level or below, through the openings around water pipes, outlets, doors and windows. Rat snakes also live in DFW attics, where they feed on mice and rats and lay eggs in the insulation.

Removing the Snake, Then Closing the Gaps

DFW Pest Guard uses two methods together. Live capture takes out the snake that is already there, and exclusion, which means sealing the ways in, keeps the next one out. There is no spray or bait in snake pest control, because no poison or fumigant is registered for snakes in Texas.

Snake extermination does not mean killing the snake, either. Many Texas snakes are protected by state law, and Texas Parks and Wildlife asks people not to kill one, even a venomous one. A caught snake is released away from the house.

A snake within reach is caught with snake-handling tools, by a technician in protective gear. One that has gone into hiding calls for snake trapping: a funnel trap of hardware cloth goes along the wall where snakes travel. The snake follows the wall into the funnel and cannot find its way back out.

Exclusion works along the base of the house, since snakes get in at ground level. Every hole or crack wider than a quarter inch is closed:

• Masonry. Holes in the brick or a masonry foundation are filled with mortar.
• Vents and siding. Hardware cloth or sheet metal goes over crawl space vents and gaps in wood siding.
• Pipes, wires and the AC line. The gap around each one is sealed with caulk or packed with copper mesh.
• Doors. The garage door and the outside doors get a seal along the bottom.

The last part is cover. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension advises keeping lumber and wood piles at least 18 inches off the ground and clearing rock piles, brush piles and tall grass. The technician points out the ones around your house.

Signs of Snakes Around the House

These point to a snake living in or near the house:

• A snake by the foundation, the garage door or a back door, most often at dusk or early in the morning.
• A shed skin in the garage, the attic or along the slab.
• Eggs in the attic insulation, where rat snakes lay them in spring.
• Mice or rats that suddenly stop showing up. A snake hunting in the yard can be the reason.

Leave a shed skin or eggs where they are, because they show the technician where the snake has been. Keep clear of the snake itself, and call (972) 573-9907 any time, day or night.

If mice or rats drew the snake in, our rodent control takes away its food.

Snake Exterminator Service Across Dallas⁠–⁠Fort Worth

Our snake exterminators work in Dallas, Collin, Tarrant and Denton counties: Dallas, Fort Worth and the suburbs between them, such as Plano and Arlington. We take homes only, meaning houses, townhomes and apartments people live in, not shops or offices.

Every town we cover is on the service areas page. For snake removal in Dallas or a town around it, call (972) 573-9907.

Questions About Snakes