Is It Good to Have Lizards in Your Yard?
Whether you’re new to gardening or have been putting your green thumb to use for years, you have likely noticed that gardens tend to attract all kinds of visitors. Some are friendly, like honeybees, birds, and ladybugs. And then there are the snakes, aphids, and slugs that probably warrant a pest control call.
But there is another critter extremely common to Santa Clarita backyards that may walk the line between cute (the correct take) and creepy. Have you ever wondered: “Are lizards good for my garden?”
A lizard may not seem like the best creature to have crawling about your yard. And yes, a certain No Bugs team member may or may not have famously screamed like an opera diva after a lizard burst from the bushes and crawled on him to avoid getting sprayed.
Occasionally we get calls from customers asking if our Mint X+ treatment also works on lizards. It does not, and by design. Instead of detrimental lizard shooing, we prefer to educate customers about how beneficial lizards can be to the safety of their home as natural pest control.
Hesitant to trust the word of lizard apologists? Let’s see if Team Lizard can change your mind. Our Santa Clarita pest control experts have compiled a list of 3 reasons you should create a lizard-friendly garden, plus a few quick tips on attracting more of these scaley heroes to your yard!
Feel welcome to contact the No Bugs office at (661) 294-0260 if you have any questions or would like to schedule a treatment that protects your property from ants, cockroaches, springtails, and other common summer bugs.
3 Ways You Can Benefit From a Lizard-Friendly Garden
1. Lizards Eat Small Insects and Larvae.
Whether you’re cultivating a vegetable garden or a flower patch, you want to make sure your plant babies grow up healthy and strong. But even the smallest of insects can pose a major threat. Aphids, moths, mites, beetles, and more can chew through leaves and flowers, cause abnormal growth, and even ruin the veggies you’ve worked so hard to grow.
Many lizards eat small insects and their larvae, so welcoming lizards into your garden can serve as a pesticide-free, 100% natural way of keeping bugs away from your plants. In Santa Clarita, Western Fence Lizards are the most common, and they eat beetles, ants, flies, caterpillars, and spiders – not a bad gardening assistant!
2. Lizards Eat Slugs and Snails.
Small insects aren’t the only ones that threaten your garden. Slugs and snails can damage seedlings, eat holes through your plants, and leave behind slimy mucus. And the worst part is that they often feed on young, tender, vulnerable plants that are just starting to grow.
Toads, snakes, ducks, chickens, and raccoons are other common predators of slugs, but they can carry their own problems. Lizards can help get rid of slugs without causing any complications to your garden.
In Santa Clarita, we can thank Southern Alligator Lizards for keeping our yards free of slugs and snails. They also eat ground beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, scorpions, and sow bugs.
3. Lizards Measure Environmental Health.
You may not know this, but lizards can also serve as a barometer of environmental health. Common garden lizards are especially vulnerable to pollutants. Having lizards in your garden can prove that your garden (and any food grown in it) will have low levels of pesticides, heavy metals, and potentially harmful chemicals. And the more lizards near your garden, the fewer pesticides you’ll be tempted to reach for anyway!
How to Create a Lizard-Friendly Garden
Now that you’re all jazzed about lizards in your garden, you might be asking, “How can I attract lizards to my yard?” Well, it’s easier than you might think. The trick is making sure they have an adequate habitat in your garden.
Here are a few tips for attracting backyard lizards in Santa Clarita:
- Avoid DIY chemical pesticides
- Avoid using weed killer
- Use mulch
- Create hiding places with plants, trees, and rocks
- Add sun rocks
- Provide water options
- Avoid mowing at night, when reptiles are most active
- Keep pets inside at night
Of course, lizards aren’t the only way to keep insects and other pests out of your garden.
Got Bugs? Call the Pros Today!
If you’re looking to keep bugs out of your yard, a lizard-friendly garden combined with professional pest control will do the trick and help keep your plants healthy. And if you’re seeing too many lizards, professional pest control can encourage the lizards to slink into other yards for dinner.
At No Bugs Termite and Pest Control Inc., we offer local, affordable, and more organic pest control to the residents of Santa Clarita. Our proprietary treatment methods utilize natural essential oils and fewer synthetic pesticides to protect your property from aphids, snails, slugs, mites, beetles, and other common garden pests. Call today for safer, pet-friendly pest control that smells great and kills bugs!
Dial (661) 294-0206 to schedule a free consultation with the Santa Clarita pest control team at No Bugs. Our team can inspect and treat your property for common garden pests that may be harmful to your yard and family.
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