There’s no handbook on snakes that will tell you the exact date and time of a snake encounter in your yard or inside the house.
And once they find the property suitable for their living, they’re likely to make themselves at home.
Poisonous or not, you don’t want these slithering creatures anywhere near your house, especially with children and pets around.
Today, we’ll share with you some simple home remedies that guarantee to keep snakes away from your home.
These remedial tactics will significantly reduce unannounced snake visits without endangering the environment and ecosystem.
Every Tom, Dick, and Harry can apply these techniques. Head below to find out what those home remedies are.
Home Remedies to Keep Snakes Away:
Here are some of the most effective home remedies that will surely keep snakes away from your humble abode.
Take Away Their Food Supply
Snakes love to prey on rodents, amphibians, birds, voles, moles, insects, and fish. They will keep finding a safe haven in your home as long as the residence will supply food.
Take away their food source, and you’ve forced them to migrate to places where they can wine and dine. Use pest control to extirpate rodents so that these slithering creatures aren’t attracted to your house.
Avoid Standing Water
Stagnant water around a house attracts rodents, mice, insects, birds, frogs etc. – all the things that snakes find mouth-watering.
Therefore, make sure there’s no standing water anywhere near your house. Avoid overwatering your garden to prevent the issue.
Destroy Their Shelters
Snakes love to play hide and seek in houses where there are holes, cracks and crevices in the foundation, porch, walkway, ceiling, ventilation ducts, gutters or any other such places.
Look out for such gaps all around the property and seal them. Properly install doors, windows and screens to eliminate entry points.
Snakes also like to seek refuge in wood and rock piles, heaps of debris and mulch.
Avoid keeping such stacks on your property. They also hide in sheds and garages because these places have several hiding spots for them. Keep them in order and clutterless to prevent snakes from entering.
Also, make sure your garbage cans are covered to avoid attracting creatures that snakes love to eat.
Design an Anti-Snake Landscape
Tallgrass, debris and overgrowth in a garden/lawn or yard attract snakes like moths to flames.
Mow your lawn regularly, keep plants and trees trimmed and dispose of mounds of compost, leaves and other debris to make it unattractive for snakes. There are plants that are known to repel snakes.
Consider planting those in your garden to deter snakes. Some famous plants that repulse snakes include marigolds, mother-in-law’s tongue, lemongrass, wormwood, garlic and onion.
Install Fencing
Consider installing snakeproof fencing made of mesh around your landscape. It should be buried 2 – 4 feet in the ground and be at least 3 feet high.
Clear Birdhouses & Hen Pens
Snakes are attracted to birdhouses and hen coops because not only do they contain hiding spots, they also have a food supply. If you’re residing in a snake-infested area, avoid birdhouses and hen pens or else keep them clean to demotivate snakes.
Use Snake Predators
There’s no love lost between predators like foxes and raccoons and snakes. They are common snake predators. Moreover, cats, pigs, turkeys and guinea hens can also help you chase away these unwanted guests.
Use Natural Repellant Products
There are several natural products that repulse snakes, such as naphthalene, sulfur powder, ammonia, vinegar and lime. Their strong smells are foreign and overwhelming for snakes.
Solution of one of these can be easily made at home and is cheaper than snake repellents available in the market. Pour one of these products around the perimeter to ban snakes.
You can also use onions and garlic for deterring snakes. They contain sulfonic acid that acts as a repellent for these slithering creatures. Essential oils – cedarwood, clove and cinnamon oils – also possess smells that snakes dislike.
Make a mixture of these oils and sprinkle around your property or directly on snakes to drive them away. Their solution can also be used as a fumigant to repulse the reptile.
It might sound odd to some, but human hair is also an effective means to ban snakes’ visits as they tend to stay away from humans.
Benefits of Home Remedies
Home remedies are preferable because they have several advantages over other snake repelling tactics.
- These home remedies are easily attainable. If you look around your house or storage, you might find a thing or two that can be used to keep snakes away.
- These tactics cost far less than professional services and industrially manufactured repellent products.
- Most of these methods are easy to implement.
- Most of the above-listed methods are non-lethal. They do not endanger the lives of humans and pets, not even of snakes.
Conclusion
Snake visits aren’t something that you should take for granted, especially with kids around. While you can always take measures that involve costlier methods to bar the entry of snakes, home remedies can also give the same results, i.e. make your abode undesirable for snakes. Their affordability and availability are bonuses.
