An Ounce of Prevention

Benjamin Franklin said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".  I am applying this to the heating/air unit in our new house.  I live in the country, and I have chickens in my yard.  Both of those add up to the occasional creepy, crawly visitors - snakes.  I have learned to live with snakes.  If they leave me alone, I will leave them alone.

I never thought about snakes coming in through the pipes for heating/air lines until one of W's co-workers took a few days off work to get the snakes out of his house.  The 4 foot plus rat snakes had crawled in through the pipes.

The opening is more than big enough for a snake or rat to crawl through.  Rather than leave them an open invitation we opted to seal up the holes on both ends with spray foam.

I will be checking periodically to make sure the seals are intact.  I found out that sealing up the areas is not common.  I would have thought everyone did it.  Are the pipes in your home sealed?