What is a Good Snake Repellent? What Qualities Define it?

What is a Good Snake Repellent“There’s a snake in the house!” Stumbling upon a snake unexpectedly often scares the living bejesus out of people. Fortunately, we have got different forms of snake repellents to offer a sense of protection against these frightening critters.

Unfortunately, many of these snake repellents are hostile either towards the snakes or humans and the environment. That leaves people with the question: what is a good snake repellent? One that does the repelling job without harming humans and pets alongside those reptiles. Yeah, well…that still doesn’t narrow down the search.

Below is a list of features to help you find the right snake repellent for your house. We have also mentioned a few snake repellents that have been famous because of the desired results.

What is a Snake Repellent

As you can guess, a snake repellent is a product that chases the snakes away. A snake repellent could be a natural or a non-natural product. Moreover, there are also gadgets that use sonic waves to repel snakes from an area.

What is a Good Snake Repellent

Any product that helps keep the snakes at bay is a good snake repellent, right? Well, it isn’t as simple as that. Many snake repellents are harsh and have severe consequences. Their ingredients aren’t environment and eco-friendly.

So, how would one know which snake repellent is both safe and effective? Lucky for you, we’ve formulated a guide sort of that highlights the qualities that a good snake repellent should have.

Strength

Snake repellents are usually scent-based, except for sonic snake repellents. They use certain active ingredients to emit a pungent smell that overwhelms the snake, forcing them to flee the scene. The strength of a snake repellent can be determined by its ability to fight against certain elements. For instance, wind or rainfall. A snake repellent is strong if its effect lingers even after a wind or heavy rainfall. Look for a repellent whose formula can last longer.

Effectiveness

Some formulas of snake repellents work on a particular species of snakes, while others work on many without discrimination. Thus, the effectiveness of a repellent is directly proportional to the range of snake species it repels indiscriminately.

The effectiveness also depends on how long the effect of an application lasts.

Duration

Even those suffering from the worst kind of ophidiophobia would get tired of reapplying a snake repellent every other day. Not to mention it gets burdensome on the budget as well. The best snake repellent would last for up to a month at least; a few last even longer.

Long-lastingness is related to the concentration of active ingredients and rain-resistance quality.

In many instances, liquid repellents are found more effective and user-friendly than granular formulas. That’s because the effect of the latter could dissipate prematurely with rainfall. Therefore, it is advisable to go for a repellent having a high-concentration formula and strong scent.

Method of Application

Odour-based snake repellents are more popular than others because they could be applied almost anywhere. They use essential oils or chemical compounds that produce a strong scent to irritate snakes. The serpents feel uncomfortable enough to flee the premises. These repellents are best both for indoor and outdoor use.

Another option is ultrasonic snake repellents. These are electric devices that generate a noise frequency beyond the human hearing range that snakes find intolerable. You can plug these devices into electrical sockets of your household. Although easy-to-use, these are less popular than scent-based repellents because of their limited range. In short, they’re suitable mostly for indoors.

Cost

Like any other product, snake repellents also have varying prices. Some can be as cheap as below $10, while others may cost you more than $50 bucks. Sonic snake repellents are more expensive than others because of their effectiveness and long-lastingness.

Best Snake Repellents

We recommend a list of the best snake repellents below for your convenience. Take a look at them and decide which one you want to use to keep the invaders away.

Natural Snake Repellents

There are dozens of natural snake repellents that help you keep the snakes away without harming them. Violence shouldn’t be your first option because these snakes help you keep the rodent and pest population under control.

  • Snake Repellent Plants

Certain plants repel the snakes, such as lemongrass and wormwood plants. Bunches of these around your patio, yard or garage will prevent the snakes from coming near your residence.

  • Essential Oils

Cedarwood, clove, cinnamon and peppermint oils are ideal natural repellents to keep snakes away. These essential oils have strong scents that snakes find unbearable. A generous sprinkle of these oils, or any one of these, around the premises will work for weeks.

A Tip: Snakes hate garlic. I don’t blame the poor creatures because that thing stinks like hell. Chop a couple of garlic cloves and add them to any oil. Spray that oil around the potential snake hideouts in your building. Snakes will stay the hell away from those areas.

  • Sulfur

Sulfur is another natural substance that snakes find very offensive. It is a double bullet for snakes because not only it has a sharp odour, it irritates the skin of snakes when they try to slither over it.

“Snake-A-Way”, a popular snake repellent, uses sulfur as one of its active ingredients.

Chemical Snake Repellent – Ortho Snake-B-Gon

Ortho Snake-B-Gon is a popular chemical snake repellent because of the triad of environment-friendliness, user-friendliness and budget-friendliness. This granular formula can last up to a month and can roughly cover an area of 1440 square feet. Its no-stink formula bars the snakes from invading your property.

Sonic Snake Repellent – Brison Pestrunner Pest Repeller

This snake repellent by Brison is one of the best sonic snake repellents out there. This device uses the triad of ultrasonic, electromagnetic and optical waves to ward off snakes. Basically, the product is designed to fight against all kinds of pests, including spiders, cockroaches and bugs.

The powerful waves cover a wide area of 1100 square feet, even travel through walls. Other reasons for its popularity are its environment- and user-friendliness. A simple plug-and-play allows you to expel all these pesky creatures out of your house.

Conclusion

People don’t appreciate snakes loitering around their houses because of the possible painful fang bite, even if it is non-venomous. The use of snake repellents is a popular way to protect your property from the invasion of snakes. Since not all snake repellents are reliable, we went over a couple of factors to show you what a good snake repellent should entail. We are sure that after reading the above information, you will know which repellent to choose and which to avoid.

 

About the author

Clinton Newman

Clinton Newman is a herpetologist and part-time blogger who loves to study snakes and their behavior. He is always called by neighbors to help them catch or get rid of snakes in their houses. . He's a passionate traveler and does a lot of Hiking and Hunting Adventures. His favorite places are Forests, Deserts, and Mountains. Now, he's guiding other Hikers to hike safely through this blog by reviewing the top best picks gears for safety and also guiding on Snakes and ways to deal with them.