Deb, from my lifetime experience with snakes, I can tell you emphatically that there is absolutely NO SUCH THING as a "snake repellent", just "snake OIL". None of the products sold or claimed to repell snakes will do so, not without either risking the lives of other animals and small children, and doing harm to the environment which will possibly earn you a big fine. Sulfur does not work, mothballs do not repell snakes but WILL poison children or pets that could ingest them. Covering your entire property with several inches of fresh pig manure might do the trick, since snakes normally avoid hogs, a natural predator, but how are your neighbors and the Health Dept. going to like that? Some cats will eat snakes, but a cat will also kill far more native songbirds and other small animals, not to mention that the cat itself will be at-risk of being attacked by a dog, coyote, owl or other larger predator(I am adamantly against free-roaming cats, by the way, and keep my four strictly indoors). That one snake you saw might have been the only one, but you can never totally eliminate the possibilities of there being a snake on your property, especially if you live in a rural or suburban area.

I hate to sound awfully mean, as I'm sure most phobics believe me to be, seeing as how I myself love snakes, but if you're willing to go to such extremes as to rip out your own vegetable garden in order to get rid of a snake that you yourself admitted was probabably harmless, there's something very, very wrong with that picture. If you live in a part of the world where there are snakes, which is most of the US this time of year, there will always be the chance of encountering one; there are wild snakes living in NYC, even. It's disturbing that you'd destroy something that apparently means a lot to you, and have to live under such stress, but it is the snakes, or your phobia, that is the real cause of that stress? The snakes will be there; sure, you can make the place as uninviting to them by destroying all cover, all vegetation, etc., around your house, but do you really want to do that? I'm sorry if I come off as rude, but it does concern me when people are so controlled by a fear that it destroys their happiness. I've seen people burn down their own house because they thought there was a snake underneath it, and even shoot and seriously injure a family member, a child, while in a panic-attack over what they thought was a snake(it was an electrical cord, turned out later). That person wound up having to do time in jail, because of an uncontrolled fear, and worse, will have to live with the guilt of harming an innocent child over it. I don't want to see anyone get to the point where fear is running their day-to-day life. Again, I apologize for what you probably think is an awful, mean and reprehensible response, but I'm really not certain that simply eliminating snakes or the chances of seeing another snake is going to solve the problem.

I agree with mckenzies. There is no effective snake repellent other than what you've already done. Moth balls, cayenne pepper, sulfer...nothing works.

Snakes are carnivores and the only way you can deter snakes from your yard is to alter the habitat to make it less favorable for them to breed, but more importantly make it a less suitable habitat for their food source. Keep in mind that I too, like you, am not a big fan of snakes, but I can appreciate their benefits. The snakes that you've been running into are completely harmless and want nothing more than to stay out of your way. They do benefit you, however, because they prey on insects, salamanders, slugs, other snakes, and rodents..etc. Things I would think that you'd like to control. And you've got a natural controller right in your yard.

Having removed the wood pile and keeping your lawn short is the best thing you can do. As far as running into a snake here and there...that's just part of your natural ecosystem. They're more terrified of you than you are of them during your chance encounters.

The glue traps that "repellentzone" mentioned are horribly cruel things and are not selective. ANY small animal or bird can become stuck to these, and will die a very slow, agonizing death. There is something deeply disturbing about any person whose conscience would have no trouble inflicting that level of extended suffering on anything and honestly, if you don't have a problem with that, you DO need professional help! Ditto goes for "snake-proof" fencing, which is just bird netting, and designed to entrap and entangle small animals and birds. To construct a barrier that would genuinely be able to keep snakes out would be extremely cost-prohibitive. I've used clove and cinnamon oil on my own snakes as an effective miticide, and the snakes had no adverse reaction to it whatsoever, nor did they act as though they "hated" it.

Well, I'm not going to write much. I have already done it in this incredibly helpful article - snake repellent reviews

ikviz14, snakes are NOT "disgusting" as you claim in your " incredibly helpful article(lol)", nor did you really "review" any of the products. All you did was to compare the manufacturer claims as stated on the container. There have actually been real experiments, carried out with live snakes, that prove that NONE of these products are even remotely effective at repelling snakes and they do nothing more than bilk people out of their money by pandering to a needless fear, which is why I used the term "snake oil", as in a fake product designed to rip people off, in my first response. Here are several YouTube videos in which the products are tested using real snakes, and none of the snakes were the least bit perturbed by the product that was supposed to repel them:

As many others have stated, snake repellents are nothing more than a scam, the oils, the napthalene based ones, etc. NONE of them work. And even if you believed one might work because the person selling it talked you into it, you would still in the back of your mind have doubt.....and still be afraid. So what's the point of the repellent then?

The number one, most effective thing you could do is to learn to identify your local snakes and get rid of your fear. If you can do that, you can live your life comfortably on your property without worrying about snakes.

I'm sure you are thinking, "no wait, you don't know how much I fear snakes!", and the truth is I probably do because I have talked to dozens of people who had fears of snakes (some of whom couldn't even stand to look at a photo of a snake!). A little experience, education and understanding about snakes will free you from this unnecessary fear.

Sharon - there's a problem with those repellent "tests". The snake is highly motivated to get the heck out of the open area.

A better test would be to have the repellent barrier between two areas of adequate habitat and see if the snake crosses it.

Richard,

These snake repellents simply do not work. There is a great photo in the reviews for this particular product on Amazon which shows a photo someone took of a snake "sleeping" on an area they had treated with the repellent. If you read the reviews, you will see that several other people reported exactly the same thing. And these are people that really wanted it to work.

You do see "testimonials" of people who say "I've been using this stuff for 3 months and haven't seen a single snake in my yard".

But consider this, I have never used it (or any other sort of repellent) and I haven't seen a snake in my yard in three months either. ;-)

I have a big problem with snakes around the house at the farm. The ground snakes (puffadders) are not too much of a problem apart from being poisonous. They are easily kept away using ammonia sprayed at the doors, or a sprinkling of granular swimming pool chlorine. The problem are the semi arboreal and arboreal snakes (rinkhals - a type of cobra, cape cobra and black mamba) The rinkhals are often found around houses and barns, and can be a very big problem, especially for pets. The mamba are very aggressive and territorial, and easily dispatch dogs, cats wild game and of course humans. They are attracted to the house because of bats, squirrels and wood hoopoes. The easies way of dealing with this group in all honesty is with a 12 Gauge. The shotgun plays havoc with the paint finishes, thatch roof and furniture, but any damage is preferable to having a resident mamba in your kitchen! I have noticed that all the snakes are repelled by chlorine (the best for durability are the chlorine tablets from swimming pools). I have heard that the 'harpic' chlorine toilet deodorisers work as well, but I have not tried them myself. These might be the best bet for you, as you can hang them on your benches. I have also heard that most aromatic sprays such as citronella mosquito repellent work as well, but I doubt they will have any form of lasting effect.
A few years ago we got a few solar powered snake repellers https://thehomedweller.com/best-snake-repellents/ which were manufactured in Australia. They are meant to work by making a vibration every minute or so. They might work on Australian snakes, but seemed to have no effect on our African snakes at all.

Jessica Palmer - If you have read the previous posts it is clear that all of these snake repellents are either toxic or useless, and generally both. The powdered/tablet chlorine is toxic to both snakes as well as humans and pets. Prolonged exposure (or high dose exposure) can lead to a plethora of long term health issues including some that are potentially fatal (e.g pulmonary edema). These fatal consequences are unlikely to affect the snakes, BTW, since their exposure would be limited as they would avoid the areas. But pets, farm animals or children exposed to this over long periods will suffer the consequences. (https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/chlorine/basics/facts.asp)

Potassium Cyanide crystals sprinkled around the edge of your house will also kill or repel snakes, as well as any pets and people who come into contact with the gas emitted. That's the problem with most of these chemicals - they are either toxic to humans and pets, or harmless to them as well as snakes. That's why these expensive placebo repellents don't work.

The only effective way to keep snakes is to remove what snakes need - food and shelter. If you deny them food and shelter they will move on to other areas.

If you are snake fan, fine. But for us people that have actual issues with poisonous snakes, we can't just let them be and then we live in fear. We let the dogs out this morning and one of them ended up chasing a snake that slithered at high speed out of the dog area in sheer fright. It was 4'-5' long. We're in north Texas and in the country. As soon as the dogs came back inside, I ran to the bedroom window and there it was, slowly making its way back in the fenced area, lifting its head up and then moving a foot and lifting up to look around again to make sure the coast was clear. Even though rabbits are cute, they are what the snakes go after. Grass was given a military buzz cut a couple of days ago but we do have a shrub pile that is supposed to go out with the garbage this week. Wouldn't you know, my husband saw a rabbit go right into it right after the snake re-entered the area. Even though products say pet friendly, we still treat it like it isn't. After some research, we ended up ordering Snake Mace and it arrives on Tuesday. Not soon enough so I'm heading out to get some black pepper, citronella, eucalyptus and clove oils to put around about 3' out from the fence line. Personally, I have to agree with Jessica Palmer about shooting them. Sometimes its difficult to see colors and markings to know if they are poisonous or not. So why chance it especially when they enter your yard and put your family "pack" at risk? No thank you!

The people saying to just live with snakes around are crazy. We aren’t in B.C.you cave people. Some of us have actually evolved past being at the mercy of random predators. Should we just invite bears into our house since they will be hibernating anyways?