Keep Critters Away from your pool

It’s summertime once again and no one can resist the draw of taking a refreshing dip in a crystal clear pool, and this includes critters! Critters look at your pool with the same longing that you and your family will have. So before critters start to call the pool their own, here are some tips on how to prevent them from approaching in the first place!

Nothing strikes a primal chord of fear down anyone’s spine than a view of these slithery little buggers moving towards your pool (or in your pool!). As we know, snakes are cold blooded and once the heat starts to go up, they start to emerge from their hidey holes and they start to bask in the heat to help in their digestion.

Short of calling a pest control specialist, here are some known remedies on how to keep snakes away from your yard and from your pool this summer.

• Sweep away any leaves and debris from around your yard and anywhere that may seem conducive for a snake to make his or her home.
• Plant mint and lemongrass around your yard. Snakes hate mint and lemongrass! And as an added bonus, you can use mint on your drinks as well! As for lemongrass, you can use it to stuff roasted chicken to impart a wonderful flavor to it! (Take it out and throw it away afterwards though because the fibrous part isn’t edible)

• Sprinkle some garlic around the edges of your property. This serves two purposes, first is to keep snakes away from your property and the other other reason, the more important one, is to keep vampires away! But if you don’t believe in vampires, then keeping snakes away is more than enough incentive to sprinkle garlic around your property.

Frogs are naturally attracted to bodies of water and your pool is no exception. We’ve all opened our skimmers and found a frog in our skimmer baskets. Here are some practical tips and tricks on how to keep our slimy hopping friends away from our pools:

• Keep your pool water sparkling clean at all times. Frogs love algae filled water, so the cleaner your pool water is, the less likely it is for frogs to jump into your pool.
• Keep your pool water warm. Frogs don’t like warm water, the reason they jump into pools is to cool off, especially during the summer, so if you have a good heat pump or a heater, then there’s a large chance that your pool will be free of frogs.

• Use a pool cover. Pretty simple logic here, if you have a pool cover, frogs can’t get into the water and will most likely hop away after jumping into the pool.
• Sprinkle coffee grounds around your plants. This serves a couple of purposes. First, the acidity from the coffee grounds will be irritating to them so they won’t hang around your pool area and will move along to other locations. Another plus for this is that plants love coffee grounds and will allow them to use the grounds as a type of fertilizer, giving you stronger and more vibrant flora in your yard.

Ducks look so cute when they waddle around, but you won’t think the same after they swim around in your pool and you globs of duck surprising, screwing up your perfectly clean and balanced pool!

• Apply some Zodiac No Duck. This is the easiest way to prevent ducks from swimming around in your pool. What this does is it breaks the surface tension of your pool, making it almost impossible for ducks to be able to float and swim around your pool.
• Use a pool cover. If your pool is covered, then ducks can’t very well swim in it can they?
• Get a dog. One of the best duck prevention tools around, and they’re fun as well! Ducks don’t want to become dog food so they’ll stay away from your pool area has a dog frolicking around.
• Use a motion detector with your sprinkler system. This isn’t only good for ducks, but for all sorts of critters. Once they approach, a sprinkler system turning on will definitely scare them away!

There isn’t one way to prevent bugs from entering your pool but there are some ways in order to minimize their impact on your pool water’s quality.

• Turn off your pool lights at night when not using the pool. If you have LED pool lights, we know it’s tempting to keep the lights open the whole night long, but turn them off when you’re not looking at or not using the pool. Bugs are naturally attracted to light and will cause them to dive bomb your pool due to the lights.
• Use a pool cover, again, pool covers keep everything away from your pool!
• Run your pump every day. Bug eggs, specifically mosquitos, need stagnant water to thrive and survive. If your pool water is stagnant then there's a huge chance that your pool will become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
• We don’t recommend the use of electric bug zappers because they zap beneficial insects as well like bees and other pollinators.

• Use skimmer socks on your skimmer baskets. This will prevent bugs from breaking apart and slipping through your skimmer baskets and going directly to your pool pumps.

Here are some tips on keeping all types of critters away from your pool. These tips are not specific for one sort of critter, but they’re good practice for keeping your pool area clean and critter free!

• Always cleanup any food waste after a party or eating poolside. This is a simple rule, critters are always looking for food. Bugs go for food, which attracts other critters like frogs that are hunting for bugs, and in turn, frogs and other rodents are tempting for snakes, and so on and so forth. So keep your pool area clean and free of any food residue.
• Always keep a clean and manicured lawn. The shorter your grass is and the more orderly it is, the less places for creepy crawlies to hide in. This is one of the reasons why you rarely see critters in well maintained lawns and yards.
• Use a pool cover. Self-explanatory. If you have a pool cover, nothing can get into your pool.

Whether you're a new pool owner or still planning to have a pool built, here at Mr Pool Man, we'll always make sure that you will be ready for the summer heat. Check out these other summer-related blogs below:

• How to get your swimming pool ready for summer
• Family Pool Games for Summer + Bonus: Cool Drinks for Kids
• The Final Touches – Getting Everything Else Ready for Summer