Have you started noticing a large number of lizards congregating on your porch? It’s not too unusual for people to have problems such as this when they live in areas where lizard populations are prevalent.
For the most part, lizards are going to be harmless but they can still be a bit of a nuisance for several reasons. Your pets might try to attack or eat the lizards and you also just might not want them around while you’re trying to enjoy spending time on your porch.
Thankfully, you don’t have to simply tap out and accept having a small army of lizards appear on your porch multiple times per day. There are many different ways that you can get rid of these lizards and deter them from coming on your porch again.
Keep reading to go over several methods that can keep your porch safe from lizards. All of these methods are very practical and you’re going to be able to find some that you’ll want to use right away no matter what your situation is.
Important Notes About Lizards
Before moving forward, it’s going to be important to note that you don’t generally want to kill the lizards that are hanging out on your property. You probably weren’t looking to outright exterminate them anyway but it’s still important to mention this for those who do not know.
Basically, lizards aren’t harmful to you and they are actually quite beneficial in important ways. The most relevant reason why you would want to keep lizards around is that they eat insects such as spiders, cockroaches, and other such bugs.
If you were to completely eliminate the lizard population in your small area, then you’d wind up having a big problem with bugs. Having a spider infestation would likely be much worse than having to worry about lizards.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you can’t get rid of the lizards on your porch. It just means that you’re going to be using non-lethal methods to deter them from hanging out on your porch all the time.
All of the methods that are listed below can get rid of lizards without hurting them. The lizards will simply not want to go on your porch any longer because you will be making it an unattractive spot for them.
These methods are easy to utilize and you won’t have to kill any lizards. Your conscience can be clear and you can still enjoy a lizard-free porch when you take the right steps.
1 – No Water Sources on Your Porch
It likely isn’t going to be a good idea to leave water sources on your porch since that could be attracting the lizards. Some people leave pet dishes out on the porch because their dogs might want to take a drink of water when they’re hanging out on the porch.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this idea but lizards do seek out water sources if they see that they are available. Even though lizards can go a long time without drinking water, they’re going to take opportunities to drink water for the sake of survival when they notice water sources.
Just remembering to not leave water bowls or other sources of water on your porch will be helpful. If rain pools up near your porch regularly, then you can try to do a better job diverting it away from your porch.
You might need to clean your gutters and ensure that your drainage system is carrying water far enough away from the porch. None of this should be tough to do but it’s just a minor thing that can keep lizards from flocking to your porch area.
2 – Flypaper
Another interesting idea that you might want to consider is to use flypaper to catch the lizards. This isn’t a good solution to your long-term lizard problem but you can remove lizards from the porch using flypaper.
They will get stuck to the flypaper and will be unable to move. This gives you a good chance to grab the lizard and relocate it to a different area of the yard that is away from your porch.
3 – A Bowl and a Piece of Cardboard
You can catch lizards on your porch using a bowl as well if you’re so inclined. Many people remove a few lizards at a time using this method and they just keep relocating them to a different part of the property.
The idea is to place a bowl over the top of the lizard so that it cannot escape from you. You then slide a piece of cardboard under the bowl so that the lizard can’t get away and it becomes pretty easy to move it without even having to touch the lizard.
4 – Cold Spray
Interestingly, a cold spray can stop a lizard in its tracks and will make it very easy to catch it. Lizards are cold-blooded creatures and very cold spray is going to render them immobile.
If you want to catch the lizards and just put them somewhere else, then this is an easy way to go about doing it. It might be tedious to do this if you have lots of lizards appearing on your porch but it is an option that can keep lizards away for a short period of time.
5 – Onions
Now that you’ve explored some of the short-term fixes for just removing lizards from the porch, it’s time to start really deterring them from coming near your porch. You might not know this but lizards are actually very sensitive to smells such as the ones that come from onions.
You can cut up some onions and place them around your porch so that the lizards won’t want to come near it. Of course, this might not be the most convenient option due to you not wanting your porch to smell of onions but it is an idea that many people utilize successfully.
6 – Garlic
Garlic is another thing that can act as an effective deterrent to keep lizards away from your porch. You can do the same thing that you were told to do with the onions above.
Simply cut some garlic and use it to ward off the various lizards that you have been noticing on your porch. The only downside to this idea is that it makes it kind of stink of garlic near your porch and that might not be good if you like to spend time relaxing on the porch.
7 – Homemade Pepper Spray
Did you know that a homemade pepper spray can help to keep lizards from wanting to go near your porch? What you want to do is find some Tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper.
This can be mixed with a bit of water and you will then have a spray that will keep lizards from wanting to be on your porch. You could go ahead and spray this on the porch directly if you would like or you could spray it around the perimeter of the porch.
Many people have reported that this method works very nicely. It isn’t quite as annoying as using onions or garlic and you might be more likely to be able to avoid the smell if you just spray it around the perimeter of the porch.
It’s a practical idea that has been proven to work to deter lizards from coming near porches. If you want a simple spray that is easy to use and does the trick, then this is potentially one of your best options.
8 – Eggshells on and Around Your Porch
Placing eggshells on and around your porch will actually be another way to keep lizards from coming near it. Why would a trick such as this work to keep lizards away?
Well, it appears that lizards get very afraid when they see broken eggshells and they seem to associate this imagery with predators. All you really need to do is take the time to crack an egg in half and then place the broken shells around the porch.
Lizards will see that there are eggshells on the porch and they will start avoiding that area due to being afraid. You can use evolutionary traits and defense mechanisms to your advantage here.
It’s a simple way to keep lizards away from the porch, but how practical it will be to keep eggshells near your porch or on the porch is up to you to decide. Just know that this option works very well to keep lizards off of your porch.
9 – Peacock Feathers
Another intriguing solution to your lizard problem is to make use of peacock feathers. This is another thing that scares lizards a lot and they will flee from the sight of peacock feathers.
Peacocks like to eat lizards and lizards know that they need to do their best to avoid being near peacocks. If you place peacock feathers near the porch or even hang some up as decorations, it could act as an effective lizard deterrent.
This might be one of the better ideas when it comes to scaring the lizards away from your porch. It’s not going to cause your porch to stink or anything like that and it’s actually good that these feathers are aesthetically pleasing.
You should be able to purchase some peacock feathers online without it being a huge deal. You should keep this method in mind if you’re looking for unobtrusive options for keeping lizards away from your property.
10 – Lemongrass Essential Oil
There are other scents that can be used to keep lizards away that won’t be so unpleasant as garlic and onions. Lemongrass has a very strong scent that lizards seem to detest for whatever reason.
You can use this to your advantage and start using lemongrass essential oils on the porch. This should keep the lizards from wanting to come near the area and your problem will be solved.
It’s also worth noting that some people just make use of lemongrass tea bags. If you already have some lemongrass tea bags that you can utilize, then this will be an ideal way of fixing things on your porch.
This is an inexpensive method for dealing with the problem no matter what way you look at it. Overall, this is one of the best methods for deterring lizards and it comes highly recommended.
11 – Coffee Grounds
Coffee grounds can keep lizards at bay as well if you’d like to use them. The smell of coffee grounds is considered to be pleasing by some people but lizards certainly don’t like it at all.
This means that you could use coffee grounds to create a type of lizard repellent. If you drink a lot of coffee anyway, then this could work out fine for you.
12 – Tobacco
Tobacco can act as a lizard repellent too but it might not be something that you will want to use. This is because it is actually poisonous to lizards and it’s not something that you would want your pets getting into either.
Leaving tobacco around doesn’t seem like a very practical idea but it’s still something to mention since lizards don’t like it. Since you don’t wish to kill the lizard population in your yard, it might be best to use some of the other methods mentioned above before turning to tobacco.
There’s also the fact that tobacco isn’t necessarily inexpensive. If you’re someone who still smokes tobacco products, then wasting tobacco might not be a very cost-effective choice.
If you aren’t a smoker or user of tobacco products, then you would likely purchase one of the other remedies before you would waste money chasing this idea. This is listed in the interest of giving you all of your options but it isn’t a recommended solution.
Enjoy Your Lizard-Free Porch
Now you should be able to take the time to just enjoy your lizard-free porch after reading about the methods above. All of these ideas are going to work out in different ways but some of them are a bit more practical than others.
Simply take a little time to go over each idea so that you can determine which route you want to take to solve your lizard issues.
I have a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When I’m not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies…I’m at home with my wife, two daughters and a dog. Outside of family, I love grilling and barbequing on my Big Green Egg and working on projects around the house.