I’m not afraid of much but I don’t like being surprised by a snake when I’m barefoot in the garden.
If you live in the country, near woods, or honestly anywhere with grass, odds are you’ve dealt with these slithery sneaks too. I’m not into harsh chemicals or overpriced gimmicks that smell like a meth lab, so I went digging for real, natural solutions that actually work.
And surprise - some of them are total bullshit.
These? These are the ones I’ve tested, seen work, or heard enough from trusted folks to say: give ’em a shot. And I’ll tell you which ones I’d skip.
Living seasonally means embracing nature, just not when it’s crawling under your deck. This free seasonal guide helps you do it without losing your mind.
Snake Repellents That Don’t Work (Don’t Waste Your Time)
Mothballs
Nope. Not only are mothballs ineffective at repelling snakes, but it's also illegal to use them outside. The EPA regulates mothballs, and using them for anything other than their intended use is dangerous and not worth the risk.
Sulfur
People swear by powdered sulfur, but it doesn’t hold up. Snakes don’t avoid it reliably, and it can irritate your skin and your pets’ paws. Skip it.
Lime or Lime + Hot Pepper Mixes
Another folk remedy that mostly just burns your eyes if the wind shifts. It’s not effective long-term and can do more harm than good to your soil health.
Ultrasonic Snake Repellent Devices
I’ve yet to meet someone who used these and saw real results. They might scare a snake if you throw one at it, but otherwise? Nah.
The Best Natural Snake Repellents
These are the options I’ve had the most luck with—or heard enough testimonials to know they’re worth trying. Most of them repel by scent or creating an environment snakes want to avoid.
West Indian Lemongrass
Lemongrass repels mosquitoes, ticks, and snakes.
You can grab live lemongrass plants or seeds here and plant them around the perimeter of your deck or garden. It looks beautiful and smells even better.
Garlic Spray
Make a garlic-infused oil and apply it around doors, foundations, crawlspaces, and outbuildings. It smells intense but works. Reapply every 2–3 weeks or after rain.
To make it easier, I recommend using a basic garlic press, these oil jars, and a good spray bottle that won’t clog every time you breathe wrong.
Ingredients
- 10 Cloves of Garlic
- Garlic Infused Oil
- Water
- Small glass jar
Directions
- Place a bit of water ( a couple of tablespoons) in the bottom of a blender. Add the cloves of garlic, and blend until you have a paste.
- Add the oil and blend up a bit more. Then, pour the liquid into a jar and keep the lid on for at least an hour before using.
- Put a couple of drops wherever you want to repel snakes. Doorways, windowsills, crawlspace entrances, around the perimeter of your home, wherever.
- You'll need to reapply the solution if it rains or every 2-3 weeks for it to remain effective.
Snake Plant (Mother-in-Law’s Tongue)
Its sharp leaves mess with a snake’s senses. This easy succulent thrives in pots, something decorative like this works great, and it’s perfect for placing near foundations or tucked into landscaping beds.
Clove + Cinnamon Oil
Mix equal parts in a spray bottle and spray porous surfaces (wood decks, perimeter areas). Reapply as needed. I keep clove oil and cinnamon oil on hand year-round. They’re useful for way more than just repelling snakes.
Reduce Their Food Source
Rodents = snakes. Keep your yard mowed, garden beds weeded, and compost + feed secured.
If rabbits are wreaking havoc too, these natural rabbit repellent tips will help without wrecking your soil or sanity.
Eliminate Hiding Spots
Keep woodpiles, trash, scrap metal, and debris away from your home. Seal foundation cracks and coop gaps.
Locks like these work great for keeping rodents out of your refuse bins, and this kind of outdoor caulk is your best friend for sealing gaps.
Lock Down Feed Storage
Store animal feed in tight-lidded containers. These galvanized metal trash cans with locking lids are basically critter-proof and last forever.
Livestock Patrol
Chickens, pigs, and especially guinea fowl are natural snake deterrents. Chickens will even fight a mole (true story). Guinea fowl are annoying as hell, but effective.
Around here, the only good thing about wild critters is what ends up on the grill. This venison steak recipe is a damn good place to start.
Fox Urine
It smells wild but works. Foxes are natural predators of snakes, and their scent keeps them away. This granulated fox urine is easy to use and lasts through rain.
Cedar Oil or Shavings
Snakes hate cedar phenols. I’ve had great luck with this cedar essential oil, and these cedar shavings are perfect for outbuildings or shaded garden beds.
BONUS: Vinegar (For Water)
Add vinegar to ponds or pools to keep snakes from slithering in. Doesn’t smell great, but it’s simple and non-toxic.
Snakes have their place in the ecosystem, and I’m not looking to kill them—but I am looking to keep them out of my crawlspace and off my property. These methods help you do just that without nuking your land with chemicals.
If you try one, tag me on Instagram @therusticelk and let me know how it works for you.
Want more real, seasonal, practical advice without the fear-mongering bullshit? [Grab The Wild Table – It’s free.]
Betsy cox says
If snakes can't smell how does oils or lemon grass keep them away
Danielle McCoy says
Snakes actually have an amazing sense of smell. They smell with an organ at the roof of their mouth called Jacobson's Organ so essentially, they smell with their tongue. They use their keen sense of smell and feel vibrations on the ground to acclimate themselves to their surroundings since they cannot see or hear very well :).
Ellie says
They ''taste'' by flicking their tongues in and out.
Amy says
My in-laws swear by guinea hens. They always have a few around. I don't know if they really kill snakes or not, but I never see any around their place. And they are pretty deep in the woods.
Danielle McCoy says
I can't wait to get a couple guineas. They are so neat in so many ways. I've never witnessed them killing a snake, only heard that they will.... I'll take it because people swear they work!
Jana Shaw says
Guineas are VERY noisy, though, so just warning you. They are great security also as they will squeal when someone comes on your property.
Danielle McCoy says
They are incredibly noisy, but worth it unless you have nearby neighbors.
susan says
@Amy, had them for years on farm, they are the best alarm system you can get. they will chase away and kill snakes. i miss having them but divorced and city no place for them. i give them a 10 out of 10
Dave says
Yeah, I like the lemongrass idea... I love ideas like this that can be both passive and multi-functional. Once you plant the grass once you get the benefits ongoing with only a little maintenance... and like you say, it repels snake and other pests. AND provides medicinal benefits. I'll have to give that a look.
good article, and neat site.
Thanks
Dave
Kim says
I used lemongrass for cooking with curry or bbq. Also, the leaf thin and sharp, snakes won't liked it, because they get cut very easily.
Tracey Brogan says
They hunt by smell, Betsy.
We have tried snake away, doesn't really help.
My parents had a ton of crows, never any snakes. Crows eat snakes, so we often try putting down cracked corn to attract the crows. Worked well at our last place.
I had wormwood in our garden, snake made a nest about a foot away from it, so..... that one didn't seem to pan out. I keep it mowed and super trimmed. Every plant in my garden is picked so it's hard to hard under. I still get them every year from this one area. Must be a nest in there.
I love snakes in general, but for some reason garter ones freak me out. I think it's the ribbon. Maybe I should just catch them all and paint the strip fun colors! Hahahahaha. Just kidding of course.
Danielle McCoy says
Hi Tracey,
We have a ton of crows where we're at among other things.... We (knock on wood) haven't had a horrible time with snakes on our property, but maybe we're just lucky! I had a neighbor many, many years ago that had one in her bathtub!! O.o
Garter snakes are one of the only ones that don't freak me out lol. As long as they stay in their territory and don't come barging into mine, I can handle them. I hope you keep them at bay this year!
ken says
Snakes do no not like pine sap on their skin.
Danielle McCoy says
Thanks for sharing Ken!
Tasch says
Hi, Where did you get your information from regarding snake repellant plants? I can't find any real evidence across the web of anyone who has actually tested these plants in repelling snakes. I'd love to know if you have the source. Thank you 🙂
Danielle McCoy says
Hi, I got the information from personal experience and several gardeners and homesteaders that have used these plants effectively in repelling snakes from their properties.
Tasch says
Thank you Danielle! I will definitely try them if yourself and others have had success with them.
Autumn says
I have lemongrass planted right outside my back patio (to repel mosquitoes). My husband and I were sitting out there with our daughter one day last summer when he smelled something musky. He told us to go inside and to bring him a shovel. He stuck the shovel in the lemongrass and out came a water moccasin. I love the smell of lemongrass, but it doesn’t repel snakes (or mosquitoes for that matter). At least, not here in the Florida panhandle.
Danielle McCoy says
Hi, Autumn. I'm sorry lemongrass hasn't worked for you. We have personally used lemongrass successfully to repel both snakes and mosquitoes. I did a little reading and it appears that swampy areas and areas with high populations of snakes (lots of Florida would fall in this category) would need a pretty significant amount of plants to be effective and they may still need lemongrass oils added to them to be effective. I hope you can find a solution that works for you.
Haku Nguyen says
I've used lemongrass essential oil to repel snakes, it actually works!
Mark says
My cats have a good job of keeping snakes away. Not only do they "play" with the blue racers and garters until they brake in half they point out the much larger bull snakes. Others in our little town have seen rattlers we have not had one in our yard, we have lived here 8 years.
Willowa says
Nothing to do with snakes, but thought I would share. If you have trouble with earwigs (that's what we call the dark, rust red critters with pincers on one end.) I live in eastern Oregon, high desert country, but had them on the west side too) fill containers (low, flat), I often cut a one liter, plastic soda bottle in two lengthwise, pour the cheapest cooking oil in you can find, pour a little soy sauce on top. They will drown themselves in the oil by the thousands! It's really helped around my place. I usually put out 3-4 of these.
Danielle McCoy says
Bugs don't really bother me for the most part, but earwigs creep me out! LOL Thanks for the tip!
Kim says
Lemongrass has thin and sharp leaf, it can minor cut your skin if you're not be careful. That's why snake doesn't go near them.
I also use lemongrass for cooking, and it is a good source of health benefits.
Jo Hummer says
In the garden snakes can be of great benefit. They eat insects or rodents primarily, which are likely to benefit the garden. Small snakes can do severe damage to a grasshopper population in a confined area in just one summer.
I HATE Grasshoppers, and I get them every year! Not this year.
Debbie says
I hate Snakes I am traumatized by the site and I do live in FL. Thanks for all the repellent advise. I will be getting all of it.
Wayne Macz says
Come to Australian see the lovely snakes we've got here. Tiger snakes. Red belly black snakes. Brown snakes. Taipans. All HIGHLY VENOMOUS that can kill you. And there NOT frightened of chickens they love just love to eat the eggs..
Danielle McCoy says
Snakes here aren't frightened of chickens, either. Hence my desire to keep them away from my property. There are numerous snakes here that are venomous and can kill as well. These tips are just to repel them from your property/house/barns so they can do what they do... somewhere else.
Laji Mathews says
@Danielle McCoy,
The subtropical area in India where I live has lot of venomous snakes like cobra,
krait and viper. Fortunately we also have many mongoose and wild peacocks
which like the guinea fowl, kill snakes.
Karen says
@Wayne Macz, sounds horrific! How do you deal with them? We're planning to move to Tennessee soon and there are copperheads and rattlesnakes there. Don't know how to keep them away!!!
Ammber says
I have heard and read that guinea fowl might bully your chickens so I would say get one or the other. There is a flock that lives at my neighbors house directly across from me and they free range all over our street in the country. They are slightly more aggressive than chickens as the whole flock will group together and protect each other. They are also very loud. They like to antagonize my dogs and run up to the fence squawking. I feel like they do a pretty good job keeping the snakes away from peoples property on our street since they roam all over. I have only seen one snake so far in my yard and two separate snake skins, but it’s about that time for mating season so I’m keeping my eye out. I don’t have the resources or money yet to buy any repellent or plants. for now any snake I see is going to be a dead snake. I have 3 very stubborn dogs and I can’t take the risk. Since the the vet can be so expensive ?
CB says
guinea hens are EXTREMELY LOUD
if you want all your neighbors mad at you then they do the job!
They scream at everything all day long, I had to find a new home for my 2!
I could hear them inside my house over the top of the TV, never again will I have those!!
By the way it's not like I have close neighbors, I am on property & neighbors still complained..
Danielle McCoy says
We have two guineas and they aren't terribly loud. They can get noisy, but they haven't annoyed the neighbors, yet. They've fought off foxes, eaten snakes, and kept the tick population down. We like ours....
Karen says
@Danielle McCoy, I guarantee you that we will be getting guinea. I don't want snakes in my garden, house, barn, or around my dogs. We will invest in anything that will help.
Norm says
Geese work well with snakes, they will chase them off also goose eggs are great for cooking, use less chicken eggs
Danielle McCoy says
Yes! They are a great with snakes. We plan to get a pair in the future, but for now we have had good luck with our guineas!
Karen says
@Norm, and getting geese too!!!
MEW says
Geese work well with snakes, they will chase them off also goose eggs are great for cooking, use less chicken eggs
Brian Good says
Last time I was at Disney World I asked One of the grounds keepers at the campgrounds about never seeing a snake on the property. He told me to take a rag soak it with ammonia , put it in a large zip lock bag half seal it and put them and various places. Works great!
Robin says
@Brian Good, yes ammonia does wonders. I had a wildlife man tell me to or ammonia where the snakes were seen and they will never return to that spot .5 months later and no sign of any snakes.,,,,
Karen says
@Brian Good, thanks for the great idea!
Bob says
@Brian Good, how often does the ammonia have to be replenished? Doesn’t it evaporate?
Richard says
I put cedar chips in the chicken yard and under an adjacent building to discourage snakes. It interrupts their sense of smell (that tongue thing) and they go to a more hospitable place.
Danielle McCoy says
Cedar can cause respiratory problems in chickens, so I don't recommend using chips near them.
TJ says
@Danielle McCoy, Why is it whenever we come with a really good solution it has a "fatal" flaw? Or someone is severely allergic.
Thanks for the info on the cedar chips.
Thelma says
Someone said spiders and snakes don’t like mint . I planted some in my flower beds and have so far not seen either on my porch or patio, however I have to cut it back the mint, it tends to vine , I use the mint in salads and tea so I don’t mind. Since I hate spiders and snakes the mint can go anywhere it wants to. Even when you pull it up, which I do in spring and fall,, you never get rid of it. It always comes back, much to my delight.😂
Karen says
@Thelma, will be putting plenty of mint in the garden!
MkH says
I’ve been using Epsom salts and that has helped as well as filling any cracks in our shed with steel wool
Danielle McCoy says
Good ideas!
Marie says
Great site and information. Thanks on the moth balls tip.
S. Minor says
My friend's write down every snake suggestion's given. We will
See if it works....... I'll let you know 😄
Australia says
oh boy ..our snakes kill you if you get bitten… both types around here are rated worst in the world .. and if not right behind our entertainment area I could almost live with it..? but have recurring sightings.?.. help would benefit greatly ..xx
Danielle McCoy says
Those are the only kind of snakes I'll never, ever like! I hope something listed here can help you. Making sure you have all the brush and debris picked up, especially around your entertainment area, will help a lot. Fox urine spread around the perimeter can also help.
Reid Arnold says
I live in Việt Nam and here folks store their cooking firewood vertically in order to stop snakes from nesting and generally hanging out. It seems that pulling out a piece of firewood and come face to face with an annoyed cobra tends to raise one's adrenaline.....a lot.
Danielle McCoy says
interesting!
Karen says
Would crushed stone around the beds, or garden perimeter, help keep them away?
Danielle McCoy says
no
Scotch says
If you plant the Garlic Plant (purple or white flower) in your garden... it repels snakes and even moles... especially around your veg garden.
Catnip around your house also repels snakes.... might then unfortunately invite stray cats... it is like a drug for them..
Danielle McCoy says
Great tips, thanks!
Charli says
Thank you for the tips. We lost our sweet Boston Terrior this summer from a pigmy rattler (baby). We are moving to the country and want to protect our dogs and kiddos. I will be doing a little of all of these!
Danielle McCoy says
Awww, I'm so sorry to hear about your Boston, we loved ours (she's been gone several years) they're such sweet dogs! I hope all these tips help keep them at bay for you and your family!
JACQUELINE says
How about Irish Spring Soap bars....to detour mice, spiders, snakes and deer? I'm going to try it. We live on a mountain with forest all around us.
Danielle McCoy says
We've tried them and didn't have any success, but it could be worth a shot.
Ruth Fox says
Hi, when you started you said most snakes aren’t venomous. But here in Australia it’s very hard to find one that won’t kill you or your dogs etc.
Haveing said that we moved here at the end of summer from in town to the out skirts and a river runs 3/4 along our border. We only rent so can’t do any major changes. These mixes will all get tried now. The landlord had put those solar snake repellent things every where but I don’t think they work. Just in a one week we had a red belly black go through my small duck cage as I had one with a sore foot and took her away from the drake to give her foot time to recoup. It was quite large and just managed to go through the bars. A few days later we had a tiger snake on the decking around our gas bottle. He managed to go under the decking never to been seen since but hoping he doesn’t return. Hoping they both heading for the river for water. We have used snake wire now on a lot of the fence and still a lot more to go. Our dog actual found the tiger snake and was barking like crazy and wondering what to do with it. We are at least 30 min from vet and no guarantees they have anti venom as we have so many snakes and it costs heaps for the shot . Do you think your above natural things will help? Neighbors had a brown snake go through there place down the road hopefully to the river and beyond. They are very agressive and you just want them to keep going. The rats we have here are way to large for chickens to kill or snakes to eat. We have rat traps out but we also have a native rat which you have to let go, they are much smaller. But found these feral ones are huge here. As big as a possum. The best thing is we have a very eagles about and a couple families of kookaburras. Both great at snake catching.. I guess you can tell I don’t like snakes . Wish me luck
Danielle McCoy says
Good luck!
Katherine says
Watch when cleaning out banana Bushs, rattle snakes and rats build nest in the roots.
Shelby Allan says
Awesome ideas! Could you put regular fresh garlic around to keep the snakes away?
Danielle McCoy says
Thanks so much—glad you enjoyed the ideas! You can absolutely try using fresh garlic, especially crushed as it releases the oils that snakes find irritating. Just know it breaks down quickly outdoors, so you’d need to reapply often or tuck it near entry points in small mesh bags. Personally, I like using garlic oil spray because it lasts longer and is less... stinky to the neighbors 😅
Sherry clark says
I have been horrified by having 2 snakes in my condo in the past week. One was a baby snake the other was a full blown monster, Had to call police to get it out. Why would this happen ?
Danielle McCoy says
Oh my gods, I would’ve screamed. I’m so sorry that happened. Two in one week?! That’s crazy!! 😩 Snakes showing up indoors usually means one of a few things:
There may be small openings or gaps (especially around doors, vents, or pipes) where they’re sneaking in.
The weather could be driving them inside. Snakes sometimes seek warmth, moisture, or shelter, especially if it’s gotten cooler or rainy.
If you’ve got a rodent or insect issue (even minor), that can attract them too. They go where the food is.
I’d definitely recommend sealing any possible entry points and maybe getting a pest control pro to inspect for both rodents and snakes. Any of the suggestions I have here around entry points can help deter return visits. I can't even imagine... that’s straight-up nightmare fuel. I hope you get it remedied quickly.