The most effective way to get rid of lizards around the outside of your house is to remove what attracts them: insects, shelter, and water. Lizards are common reptiles that feed almost entirely on bugs, so reducing their food supply is the single biggest lever you have. Combining that with habitat cleanup, repellents, and exclusion methods will make your yard far less inviting.
Cut Off Their Food Supply
Lizards eat beetles, ants, wasps, aphids, grasshoppers, and spiders. If your exterior lights, landscaping, or standing water attract insects, they’re also attracting lizards. Start by switching outdoor lights to yellow or sodium vapor bulbs, which draw fewer flying insects at night. Move lights away from the house where possible, or use motion-activated fixtures instead of leaving them on continuously.
Standing water in plant saucers, birdbaths, clogged gutters, or low spots in the yard feeds both insects and lizards directly. Draining or refreshing these regularly eliminates two attractants at once. If you have a compost pile or pet food outdoors, keep them covered. Both draw insects that lizards follow.
Remove Hiding Spots and Shelter
Lizards are drawn to clutter, dense vegetation, and anything that provides shade and cover close to the ground. According to the UC Integrated Pest Management Program, storing lumber, crates, boxes, sacks, and gardening equipment off the ground makes an area noticeably less suitable for lizards by eliminating hiding spots. Good sanitation helps reduce their numbers, even though it won’t eliminate them entirely on its own.
Trim bushes and shrubs so they don’t touch the exterior walls of your house. Pull groundcover plants, ivy, and dense ornamental grasses back at least a foot from the foundation. Rock piles, stacked firewood, and leaf litter along the house are prime lizard habitat. Move firewood at least 20 feet from the house and keep it elevated. Rake leaf debris regularly, especially in shaded areas near walls and fences where lizards tend to rest.
Seal Entry Points and Exclude Access
Even though your goal is reducing lizards outdoors, sealing gaps prevents them from moving into covered patios, garages, and screened porches. Most small lizards can squeeze through any gap they can fit their head through, which for common species is roughly a quarter inch.
Focus on these areas:
- Door sweeps and thresholds: Check the base of all exterior doors while lying on the floor. If you see light underneath, lizards (and insects) can get through. Install rubber door sweeps, and caulk along the bottom outside edge and sides of thresholds.
- Garage doors: Fit them with a rubber bottom seal. Vinyl seals crack in cold weather and leave gaps.
- Sliding glass doors: Line the bottom track with half to three-quarter inch foam weatherstripping to close the gap.
- Utility openings: Seal where pipes, wires, outdoor faucets, gas meters, dryer vents, and cable lines enter the foundation or siding. Use silicone caulk, expandable foam, or copper mesh depending on the size of the gap.
- Cracks around windows and fascia boards: Acrylic latex caulk is easy to work with, cleans up with water, and can be painted over. Clear caulk hides mistakes better than pigmented versions.
Natural Repellents That May Help
No natural repellent is a standalone solution, but several can make specific areas less appealing to lizards when combined with habitat changes. The evidence behind these is mostly anecdotal rather than from controlled studies, so set your expectations accordingly.
Garlic and onion sprays are among the most commonly recommended options. Crush garlic cloves or shallots, mix with water, and spray near walls, window frames, and corners where you see lizard activity. The strong sulfur smell is what drives lizards away, so you’ll need to reapply after rain or every few days as the scent fades. Shallots can also be sliced and placed directly in problem areas.
Essential oil sprays offer a similar approach. Mix peppermint, eucalyptus, or lemongrass oil with water in a spray bottle and apply to lizard-prone zones. Commercial herbal sprays made from lemongrass, cedarwood, and neem oil are available if you prefer a ready-made option. These are non-toxic and safe around pets and children.
Eggshells are a low-effort deterrent. Place clean, dry shells near windows, doors, and along the foundation. The idea is that lizards associate the sulfur smell and shape with bird predators. Replace them every few days before they start to smell unpleasant for other reasons.
What Not to Do
Poison and glue traps are a bad idea for outdoor lizard control. Poison intended for lizards can harm pets, birds, and other wildlife. Glue traps catch everything indiscriminately, including beneficial insects and small birds, and are generally considered inhumane.
Killing or relocating lizards can also raise legal issues depending on where you live. Many states classify reptiles as protected wildlife, and intentionally taking a threatened or endangered species without a permit is a misdemeanor in some jurisdictions. Even common species may have protections you’re not aware of. If you’re unsure, check with your state’s wildlife agency before trapping or killing any lizard.
Why You Might Want to Reconsider
Lizards are one of the most effective natural pest control tools in a yard. A single lizard can eat dozens to hundreds of insects per day, including mosquitoes, ticks, roaches, ants, and garden pests like aphids. If your real concern is lizards getting inside the house or congregating on a patio, the exclusion and habitat strategies above let you push them away from living spaces without eliminating them from your property entirely.
A yard with a healthy lizard population typically has fewer pest insects, which means less need for chemical insecticides. If you can tolerate them in the garden but not on your porch, focus your efforts on the specific areas that bother you rather than trying to make your entire property lizard-free. Targeted habitat modification near the house, combined with sealing and repellents on the structure itself, gives most people the result they actually want.