Even though lizards are harmless, they can be a nuisance if they start assembling on your porch. It’s okay to have lizards showing up on your porch, but if they start appearing multiple times, that’s a red flag.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways that you can get rid of lizards and stop them from coming to your porch. Keep on reading to learn the different methods that can protect your porch against these annoying reptiles.
All of these mechanisms are practical, and you’re going to find some that you’ll want to implement right away, regardless of your situation. But before then, let’s see what attracts them to the porch.
Read: 11 Incredible Ways to Stop Birds From Pooping on the Patio, Porch, and Balcony
What Attracts Lizards to the Porch?
Lizards are fond of light; that’s why they are often attracted to the porch. Similarly, they will find their way into a house because of light. You can prevent lizards from showing up on your porch by turning off the porch light at night before you get to bed.
They also love dark and damp places, such as the basements, storerooms, bathrooms, and kitchen sinks. For that reason, it’s essential to keep these places clean and dry to alleviate the chances of lizards perching there. Furthermore, observing hygiene around your home will also reduce the number of insects—which is the primary source of food for lizards.
13 Effective Ways to Get Rid of Lizards on the Porch
1. Ensure There are No Water Sources
We often leave water bowls outside the porch so our dogs can drink water whenever they feel like it. There’s nothing wrong with this concept but lizards could be attracted to water sources even though they can go a long time without having water. Of course, they wouldn’t let the opportunity snap out of their fingers if they came across water sources.
Refrain from leaving pet dishes on your porch to stop lizards from showing up. If rain constantly pours near your porch, try and redirect it away from your porch. You’ll also need to clean your gutters and ensure that the drainage system directs water away from the porch.
2. Use Garlic
Garlic is another excellent deterrent to keep lizards at bay. This is an all-natural remedy and will stop lizards from appearing on your porch. If you’ve started noticing lizards in your lobby, simply cut some garlic and use it to obstruct them.
However, you’ll have to deal with the pungent smell that comes with a clove of cut garlic. It might be unpleasant to relax on the porch with that kind of stink, but the smell will dissipate with time. This is an excellent idea if you’re looking to eliminate lizards naturally without much effort.
3. Use Tobacco
Since tobacco contains a highly addictive stimulant, most people avoid using it as a lizard repellent. It’s toxic to lizards, and you wouldn’t want your pets getting involved with tobacco, either. While using tobacco isn’t always a good idea, it’s still worth mentioning because it will kill the lizard population.
However, if you don’t wish to do so, you can try the other methods before resorting to tobacco. If you aren’t a regular tobacco product user, you’ll want to try one of the other remedies before you can invest in this idea. But, if you’re a tobacco smoker, you might find this cost-effective, although it’s not recommended.
4. Try Onions
Now that you’ve analyzed some of the simple fixes for just eliminating lizards from the porch, it’s time you discourage them from appearing near your porch. By now, you should know that lizards are prone to pungent smells such as those coming from onions and garlic.
All you need to do is cut some onions and put them around your porch to drive the lizards away from it. While this isn’t a convenient option, you can utilize this idea to keep them at bay. Oh, and don’t worry about the smell because it will dissipate with time, leaving your porch smelling fresh.
5. Place Eggshells Around Your Porch
By putting eggshells around your porch, you’ll be deterring lizards from coming near it. But how the heck is this even possible? Why would eggshells stop lizards from crawling to your porch? It seems that lizards are frightened by the sight of broken eggshells, and they relate this imagery with predators.
This method is straightforward because all you need to do is crack the eggs into halves and put the broken shells around your porch. If lizards come across these broken shells, they will want to keep away from the porch. You can also introduce evolutionary traits to your advantage. This is perhaps the most convenient way to discourage lizards from your porch.
6. Keep Your House Clean
Insects are always attracted to dirty environments, and so are lizards. Eliminate these hiding spots by keeping your house clean and the area around it. Dispose of piles of newspapers and magazines as they love to hide in such places.
If possible, get rid of all the papers in your home office to make it paperless. This might seem tiresome, but it’s worth all the effort as you’d have destroyed their hiding places.
Besides attracting lizards, the trash in your house will also attract bugs, spiders, and cockroaches. Make it a habit to clean your home regularly so that there is no dirt accumulating.
You’ll also want to eliminate and dispose of the places for these annoying insects to hide. Not only will this solve your lizard problem, but it also keeps other insects away from your house, including your porch. This is the most critical step to keep lizards at bay.
7. Replace or Fix Window Screens
Lizards will often find their way into the house through open windows. Unsurprisingly, they could still enter your home through gaps in older windows.
Double-check all your windows to ensure that they are entirely covered. If the screens are loose and have holes in them, make a point to repair them as soon as possible to prevent these annoying insects from crawling into your house.
If the metal covering if the screen is bent or doesn’t fit the window properly, replace the whole screen to obstruct them from coming inside. Add screens where there are openings but can’t be covered. Such include the outlets where pipes enter the house or vented coolers.
8. Use Peacock Feathers
You probably have peacock feathers but have never known that you can use them as a remedy to get rid of lizards on the porch. Peacock feathers scare away lizards, and they wouldn’t be near anywhere they find these feathers.
A lizard is usually prey to peacocks, so lizards will try as much as possible not to come into contact with the peacocks. Peacocks have never been any good to lizards and will feed on them whenever they come across them.
This means that placing peacock feathers around your porch will scare lizards away, thinking that there’s a peacock around. In other words, this remedy isn’t meant to kill the lizards but to scare them away so that they don’t get near your porch.
I like this hack because it won’t make your porch stink, or it won’t leave any effect on your porch. Unlike the other methods that leave some scent on your patio, this method will not leave any impact, making it one of the best you can try out.
9. Try Using Bowls and Cardboards
If you want to go the manual way, then using bowls and cardboards will be an excellent idea. This method has been proven to work, and most people remove lizards using bowls and cardboards.
The whole idea is to put the bowl over the lizard to prevent it from moving away. The next thing you need to do is slide the cardboard under your bowl to prevent the lizard from escaping. It’s as easy as that, but this means you’ll only be dealing with one lizard at a time.
10. Turn off Your Lights During the Nights
Did you know that lizards will always be active during the night? Lizards spend most of their time busy at night while warming themselves during the day. That said, lizards are always attracted to lights, and this is why it’s essential to turn off the lights as you go to bed.
The number one reason why lizards get into the house is that the lights attract them. If you want to keep lizards away from your home during the night, the best thing to do is turn off the porch lights. Doing so will discourage them from coming into your house and instead move around to look for food.
11. Leverage Homemade Pepper Spray
You don’t have to visit your store or supermarket to get pepper. Sometimes, it’s better to save that extra dollar and make good use of it elsewhere. The next remedy that can get rid of lizards on the porch is homemade pepper spray.
Mix pepper with some water and then transfer the mixture into a spray bottle that you can then use to spray the lizards on your porch. Whether you want to spray the lizards directly, the porch, or around the porch, there’s no cause for alarm with any of the choices.
Most people who have leveraged this hack have reported success and said that it works great. It’s not as tedious as using onions, and that’s why many people are buying into the idea. Besides, you can avoid the smell completely if you spray the mixture around your porch instead of on the patio.
12. Sweep Everywhere
Sweeping in and around your house is something you should do regularly. Lizards will, in most cases, try to get into your home, and the best way to keep them away is by cleaning around your compound to limit their entry points.
Sure, it’s good for lizards to be around your garden, trees, or any other place around your house. However, letting them come close to your home means you’ll be giving them an entry point to your house, which can lead to a heavy infestation in your house.
Ensure that your deck is clean all the time by sweeping it every day. Also, check the light fixtures and ensure that they are clean with no bugs and other things that could attract lizards. If there are cobwebs, try and remove them before they attract lizards into your house.
Other places that you also need to take note of include the window sills and the door frames of your house. These are the common entry points of lizards, and you should do everything within your means to limit these entry points. Clean them regularly and ensure you fish them out whenever you find them hiding in these areas.
13. Use Lemongrass Essential Oil
If you have tried out onions and garlic and still aren’t satisfied with the results, you can use lemongrass essential oil to keep lizards away from your porch. Lemongrass’s strong scent will always keep away lizards, so it is an excellent substitute for onions and garlic.
Lemongrass tea bags can also work, so if you have some, just use them on your porch, and you’ll make your porch an unfriendly place for the lizards. The reason why using lemongrass essential oil or lemongrass tea bags is great is that it is inexpensive, so you’ll end up saving a few bucks.
Get Rid of Lizards on Your Porch Fast!
Lizards, like any other intruders, can be annoying, especially when they invade your porch. You want to get rid of them as soon as you spot them. Using the methods listed above, you can get rid of lizards without any hassles. You just need to try out all the techniques and see what works best for you.