Most Effective Snake Repellent For Yards: 2023 Reviews And Guide

Last Updated on March 27, 2024 by Georgie Smith

Snakes are not only a beautiful part of nature but also form an integral part of the environment. However, unless you are a snake exterminator, the last thing you would want to see is a snake slither in your house or even backyard, and therefore you need the most effective snake repellent.

See, a snake bite is not only painful but can be lethal. Besides, snakes are quite destructive, and may even feed on your farmyard animals such as chicks.

However, this does not mean that snakes should be irrationally feared, harmed, or killed: they form an essential part of nature. Snake repellents help in keeping the snakes away from your homestead while causing no harm to them. Hiring a Qualified Snake Catcher on the Gold Coast can also provide a safe and humane solution for dealing with snake encounters.

In this comprehensive snake repellant guide, we review the best snake repellants that are effective in keeping snakes away from your homestead.

Basic Comparison:

Most Poisonous Snakes in the US

Several venomous snake species exist in the United States. Though the venomous types are not in abundance, they make up for approximately 15 percent of the overall snake bites in the United States.

Let’s look at some of the most venomous snakes in the United States.

Cottonmouths:

This snake known as the cottonmouth because of its tendency to flash the interior of its white cotton like mouth as a warning signal.

Mostly semi-aquatic, the Cottonmouths like to live in swamps, rivers, and ditches.

They are about three feet long and are aggressive. A cottonmouth bite produces a hemotoxic blood toxin which causes gangrene.

Rattlesnakes:

This species is the most widespread in the US. They are known for the distinct rattle at the tail end. They are typically hiding in all kinds of habitats be it on dry or wet land. There are more than 32 species of rattlesnakes and more than 80 subspecies.

Rattlesnake venom destroys internal tissues and is hemotoxic, thus preventing blood from clotting.

Rattlesnakes are incredibly aggressive and can bite with no provocation. These snakes can grow up to 16 feet long.

Coral Snake:

The coral snake is a blood cousin to the Cobra and is extremely venomous. Mostly found in the southern United States from Arizona to Florida, the Coral snake has distinctive, colorful black, red and yellow bands.

Unlike the Cobra or rattlesnake, the coral snake has small fangs and is not able to penetrate the skin effectively. However, if the venom does, it leads to the paralysis of the breathing system, and respiratory failure.

The coral snakes are second to rattles snake with regards to the population in the US.

Copperheads:

Mostly found in the eastern part of the US, they have less severe venom, but their bite is painful.  They cause about 40 percent of the venom bites in the US.

Copperheads do not attack without provocation. However, when provoked, these snakes often freeze other than slither away.

The snakes have a reddish-brown copper color and can perfectly camouflage on dry leaves or dry clay soil. The camouflage has resulted in too many bites after stepping on the snake. The snake has a defensive character of vibrating its tail when attacked closely. [4]

What Snakes Should I Worry About with My Animals?

Snakes are purely carnivorous and will feast on anything depending on their size, and environment. While small rodents such as mice and rats are often a favorite food choice, snakes will eat what is available to them including your chicks and eggs.

In the US, some of the snakes to worry about with your small animals and pets such as chicks, lizards, and other snakes include rattlesnakes, cottonmouth, and coral snakes. These species use their venomous bite to paralyze and eat the carcass after the animal dies.

Besides animals, other snakes that you should be worried about are the garter snakes. These snakes feed on animal products, mostly eggs.

What Attracts Snakes to a Homestead?

Venomous snakes are not a threat to human but may still give you a big scare if you find them. It is essential to know what attracts them to the homestead to keep them away and avoid any trouble.

Dark, and Hidden Spots

Snakes love well-protected and hidden locations, preferably those that are cool and free of noise

Forest wooded areas and rocky streams may likely attract snakes. You should try to avoid huge wood piles or rocks on your homestead. These areas can attract snakes. Especially the porches and crawl spaces in them.

Irrigated and Watered Areas

Irrigated and watered areas around your homestead draw animals including rodents, frogs, lizards, and birds.

These may, in turn, attract snakes as they hunt them for food. In the summer, snakes find a perfect cool habitat in the watered areas.

Other junks on your homestead that collect water such as tires and old satellites will attract snakes as they look for water, especially during the summer.

Presence of Rodents

Rodents are a significant snake attractor. Small creatures including rats, lizards, and birds are snake’s favorites. If your homestead has a substantial number of rodents, then it is more likely that snakes will find their way to come to your home.

Bird feeders and nesting boxes should be kept appropriately to avoid drawing snakes. Moreover, during hot summers, snakes may look for cool places to rest, and shady and quiet areas in your homestead may hence be an attraction to the vipers.

Unkept Environment

Uncut and untrimmed grasses and bushes give the slithering vipers a conducive habitat. A homestead compound that is unattended for a long time attracts snakes.

Presence of Foodstuffs

Foodstuff and things that may be good food for snakes in your homestead will surely attract them. These include smelly dog carcasses and so on. Stuff-like backyard chicken places where wire mesh surrounds them will see the snakes move in to get some food.

What to Do About My Animals and Snake Bites?

It is essential to know what to do if a snake bites your animal. Among all the home pets, dogs and cats are the ones experience a snake bite. Most dogs and cats usually encounter snakes at local parks and water bodies on beaches and lakes.

Before we look at what you ought to do, in case your animal encounters an attack, we need to understand the signs of a snake bite to animals.

Your animal may react differently after a snake bite depending on the type of snake, the site of the snake bite, and the amount of venom injected. The kind of snake depends on how venomous the species is as snakes have different venom levels while the amount of venom injected depends on the maturity and size of the snake.

The closer the snake bite to the heart the more the venom will quickly affect the animal as it distributes and absorbs in the pet’s body.

Some of the signs animals show after a snake bite include:

• Vomiting
• Sudden weakness and collapsing
• Blood in urine
• Muscle twitching
• Paralysis in the later stages.

If you notice that your animal has any of the above signs, and suspect it`s a snake bite, you should first administer first aid. Here, keep the animal calm and immobile as much as you can to avoid quick blood circulation in the body.

Other than experienced snake handlers, it is hard for anyone to figure out what type of snake it is or whether the snake is venomous. Therefore, the second and safest action to do is to take your animal or pet to a veterinarian immediately.

The veterinary will first examine your pet and determine the best action to take. In most cases, treatment happens by injecting your pet with an anti-venom and intravenous fluid. These medications neutralize the venom in the animal’s body.

If the pet has respiration problems, breathing supportive care may take place until all the venom leaves the body.  Majority of the veterinarians administer anti-venene for snakebite.

About seventy percent of pets survive snake bites if they get treatment quickly. If left untreated, the likeliness of the pets dying is much higher. Some animals, however, will need prolonged intensive care to fully recover if the internal tissues and organs were severely damaged.

What to Do About My Family and Snake Bites?

Snakes do not limit themselves to animals but also to humans. Human snake bites are mostly a defensive reflex. While snake bites are lethal and can even lead to death within minutes if not attended to, most people are not aware or rather do not know what to do after a snake bite.

Teach your children and let them understand the dangers of snakes to avoid snake bites in the first place.

Snakes love slithering in hidden unkept homesteads. Cleaning up your area will help in keeping the vipers away. A neat residence is typically safe from snake bites. Unless you are a snake specialist, you should never try to kill or remove a snake once it slithers into your home. Hepatologists recommend that you call a professional to remove the snake.

To underpin the above statement, research shows that snakes are more likely to bite when they sense danger. When you try to kill a snake, the snake literates and is likely to cause harm.

What to do if Bitten?

Your reaction towards a snake bite to one of your family members will influence their survival rate. If you live in a snake-prone area, it is critical that you do a professional course on snake bites to make it easier to handle a snake bite in the family.

However, here are the basics of dealing with a snake bite:

• Lie the recipient down and keep them calm to avoid the rapid flow of the blood, which may spread to the rest of the body. That helps to lower the blood circulation rate to the heart.
• Using a clean piece of clothing or a compression bandage, tightly wound the fabric over the snake bite region. That helps in lowering the rapid circulation of blood to and from the site.
• Arrange for transport as quickly as possible to access the nearest medical care in the nearby clinic.

What you need to avoid:

• You should never wash or try sucking the snake bite site as this measure is unproductive.
• You should not try to capture the snake as this will endanger you more.
• If your homestead is in an area likely to have snakes, you should teach your children to come to you at once if a snake bites them.

Now that you have the basics of handling snake bites let us look at the best snake repellents on the market. We have done a thorough review and chosen only the best repellents, which are sure to provide you with results.

Most Effective Snake Repellent On The Market:

Most repellents come from naphthalene which is an active chemical that comes from walnut trees. This chemical causes retinal and nervous damage making it unpleasant for the snakes. Other repellents use essential oils.

Ortho Snake B Gon Snake Repellent Granules

The Ortho Snake B Gon is among the most effective and budget-friendly snake repellant choices in the market today. This repellant is not only easy to use, but it is also ready to use. The Ortho Snake B Gon is ecologically friendly, meaning it does not have any effect on the environment when exposed or used.

This repellant uses essential oils which affect the snake`s taste and smell senses. This distress causes the snakes to keep away from your homestead. The best part of this product is that humans do not sense the smell making the repellant the best green and inexpensive way to prevent vipers from invading your home.

It delivers rain-resistant and durable performance preventing the snakes from entering foraging and nesting.

Solar Mole Repellent Snake Repellent Gopher Repellent

The repellent comes packed with plenty of function-driven features including a distinctive mini LED garden lamp and pest control repellent ultrasonic.

Moreover, unlike the Ortho Snake B Gon which affects the taste and smell sensors, the Solar Mole repellent uses frequency sonic pulses which spread to repel the snakes and burrow rodents away.

Leveraging electrical signals only, this repellent is not toxic as no chemical adding takes place making it safe for use around children and pets. With this repellant, there will no longer be dead animals, no poison, and no traps.

The repellent works in long-range transmitting its signals to approximately 50 feet and covers an area of approximately 630 meters square. Additionally, the repellent is weatherproof, durable, and easy to use.

Havahart Dr. T’s 4-Pound Nature Products Snake Repelling Granules

Both non-venomous and venomous snakes will leave fast thanks to the effectiveness of Havahart Dr. T’s snake repellent. 

All you do is merely place the repellent granules around the perimeter of the homestead or the area you want to protect. It works by temporally disrupting the snake’s sensory reception making it unable to access your residence.

The 4lb snake repellent resalable bag can cover about 5 acres of land and is durable lasting two to three months. The EPA granules have a ninety-one percent repellent rate effectiveness against rattlesnakes and garter snakes.

Safer Snake Shield Snake Repellent, 4 Pounds

As its display bag suggests, this repellent effectively keeps the rattlesnakes away. Safer construction is a long-lasting formula that has natural ingredients. That makes the repellent harmless and safe for human beings. The active ingredients in the repellent include sulfur, clove oil, cinnamon oil, and cedar.

Bonide 875 Snake Stopper, 4-Pound

Bonide 875 Snake Stopper is a perfect repellent and a potent blend of all-natural and synthetic products. The combination of both makes it very if not a hundred percent effective. The repellent contains cinnamon oil, sulfur, cedar oil, and clove oil. It repels the snakes causing no harm and is safe for both children and pets.

Ortho Snake Repellent Granules, 4-Pound

This product is a universal repellent that keeps away serpents from sheds, patios, gardens, lawns, and house perimeters. Its powerful mixture is of non-lethal barrier derived from natural plant oils which include clove oil, cedar oil, and cinnamon oil.

That makes it non-toxic and safe for use in places with children and pets. The granules are easy to use.

ELLASSAY Solar Snakes Rattlesnake Moles Voles Repeller

ELLASSAY snake repellent is a solar-powered device that produces white pulsing vibration waves to keep snakes and moles away. The vibrations make the ground on which the snakes slither become irritating and uncomfortable for the serpent making it go away from the surrounding area.

The repellent is a brand new and high-quality device made of aluminum tube and ABS making it very durable. This repellent utilizes a low solar panel power making it save on electricity bills.

Dr. T’s DT363 2 lb. Snake-A-Way Snake Repelling Granules

Most people like this unique brand of snake repellent. It secures the targeted area from both nonpoisonous and poisonous snakes. This repellent is EPA-registered, and it has about seven percent naphthalene and thirty percent sulfur.

Snakes have a high rate of survival as the repellent only keeps them away without causing harm. It has an approximately ninety-one percent repellent rate of rattlesnakes and garter snakes.

FAQs On Snake Repellant

Q: What is a snake Repellant?

A: Snake Repellants are chemical granules or electrical devices designed to keep an area free from snakes. Solar-powered repellants are to keep the ground snakes free by emitting vibrations that they sense as huge animal that may cause danger to the snake’s nervous system. As a result, they take off and stay away from the area.

Q: Do these snake repellants work?

A: The snake repellants described above are top of the class and have a five-star rating from customers and other reviewing companies. The solar repellants have a variable range of up to 1000Hz bandwidths which snakes do not like hence effectively keeping them away. Moreover, the granule’s snake repellants are mostly environmentally friendly and also repel the snakes away from your homestead effectively.

Q: How long do the snake repellants last?

A: Snake repellents get to work immediately once you place them at the location where you need them.   Any snake inhabiting the area will become uncomfortable and look to find another habitat. For the snake-repellent granules, they are effective for about three months which is economical as they are cheap to buy.

On the other hand, solar-powered repellents may last for more than two years thanks to the premium and durable build.

Q: How much do the snake repellants cost and at what guarantee?

A: The cost of snake repellant varies depending on the brand, features, and effectiveness. However, snake repellents are relatively budget-friendly and affordable compared to other snake deterrents.

Q: Will the snake repellents affect my animals and pets?

A: These snake repellants are environmentally friendly. They will not affect any other animals or pets in the homestead apart from the snakes. Many customers have been using these products to protect their animals from snakes and have not had any case of adverse effects.

In Conclusion

Snakes especially venomous snakes are dangerous and are more likely to linger in your yard, shed, and barn rather than in the bush, especially if you have chicks. It is hence essential to use measures that will keep away the snakes. You should train well on the actions to take if you or your children see or get bit by a snake. The right steps can help save your life or a family member’s life when bitten by a snake.

These top best snake repellents will be useful in keeping snakes away from your homestead. They are the market products that rank high with fantastic reviews from experts and consumers. You should buy a snake repellent according to how reliable and effective it is, the cost, and whether the repellent is environmentally friendly.

With this article, you can now buy a snake repellent According to your preference. If done well, you will forget about snakes forever. Keep safe from snakes this summer season.

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