You see a snake inside your swiftlet house and your heart jumps. The obvious move is to get it out.
But once that snake is gone, the way it came in is still open. Take this one out today and the next one comes in through the same spot. This post is about that route.
One house first
There was a swiftlet house the owner had not walked into for a few months. He told me fewer birds seemed to be coming home lately.
We went up to the entrance hole and there was a green snake, coiled around the tweeter cable. We checked the ventilation pipes nearby. More snakes were hiding inside.
That kind of snake might not be venomous. But most people are scared when they see one, and the birds are scared too. The owner had not been in for months, so he had no idea what was living in there.
Your birds tell you before you know
When a snake gets in, the birds know before you do.
Even if the snake is only on the lowest floor, the birds coming home will not fly straight in like they normally do. They call outside the entrance hole, and a big group keeps circling out there instead of going in.
So if one day you see a lot more birds than usual circling outside the entrance, do not get excited yet. First ask yourself if something is inside.
You will never catch that signal if you only look at your house once every few months. Try to watch the birds come home every day: from outside the house, look at the area outside the entrance hole, or check your CCTV.
The usual wrong calls
One: “The birds are not scared, so it must be fine.”
A farmer once told me he had seen snakes in his house for years. Sometimes during harvest he even found one hiding behind a tweeter, and the birds still stayed on their nests like nothing was wrong. So he decided swiftlets are not afraid of snakes.
Of course they are afraid. They stay because they cannot leave. They might be sitting on eggs or looking after chicks. Or the bird you think is an adult is actually an about-to-fly bird that cannot fly yet.
Two: thinking a tall house is out of reach.
A lot of standalone swiftlet houses are built by the owners themselves, several floors high. Owners still find snakes and rats have climbed up.
Three: “I caught it, so it is over.”
Snakes use fixed routes. Two of them are often caught at the same spot one after another. If you catch without blocking, the next one still comes.
Four: “Keep some geese to keep snakes away.”
I tried this myself. One of my swiftlet houses is out in the countryside, with lots of snakes around. After I kept geese, there were still snakes, just a bit fewer. Geese need feeding, so someone has to go every day or two, and people steal them. The funny part is that one of my geese got eaten by a snake. So I do not recommend it.
How to check, in order
First, be clear on this: if there is already a snake inside, do not make any big moves yet. Get the order wrong and you will scare off the birds you still have. If you really need to go in, go in the daytime after the birds have flown out, and look after your own safety.
Then look for the places it could climb in, in this order.
1. Where the electrical wiring enters the house.
A lot of people miss this one. You can shut every door and window tight and a snake still comes in along the wires. Rats use the same route, so blocking this one point handles both problems.
2. Wall corners and pipes.
The corner where two walls meet is easier to climb than a flat wall. So is any spot outside where there is a water pipe. If the outer wall surface is very rough, they can climb that too.
3. Trees and climbing plants outside.
If a tree is too close to the building, they come across from the tree. Climbing plants on the wall are a big no. Some farmers grow them on purpose because it looks natural. Clear the overgrown grass around the house as well.
4. The other ways rats get in.
Drains, toilets, ventilation openings, door gaps. A rat does not need a big hole. A gap is enough.
When equipment comes in
Find the route first. Then talk about what to install.
These are the ones I keep talking about in my posts. At the wall corners that are easy to climb, put small traps, or put very smooth aluminium or tiles. On the outer wall, fix aluminium at a higher position. High voltage can go on the building walls, at a door that has gaps, and at the entrance hole, because snakes like to wait at the entrance hole for chicks. For rats, put rat boxes outside the house so they are handled before they get in.
But which one to use, and on which wall or which corner, is different for every house. You need to know where it is coming up first. That is the order of the MDK Swiftlet House Diagnosis Method: diagnosis first, prescription second.
One more thing. Not seeing predators does not mean you can skip this. When the birds increase, every kind of predator gets drawn in, especially to houses out in the countryside. A swiftlet house with no predators has either done its prevention, or has no birds yet. Every time a predator gets in, the birds are affected, and the house may even get blacklisted, with no new birds for months.
If you are already finding feathers on the floor, read Feathers on your swiftlet house floor first to work out who left them. For owls and the ones that fly in through the entrance, read Will a light at the entrance hole keep owls out?.
Your next step
Pick a day and, in daylight, walk around the outside of your swiftlet house and take a few photos: where the wiring goes into the wall, any water pipe running along the wall, the corners where two walls meet, and the tree closest to the building. If you have ever seen a snake or rat inside, photograph that spot too.
Send them to us on WhatsApp. It is free. We will tell you where it is most likely coming up and what to block first. If we need more, we will ask. You do not have to get every photo at once.