couldnt resist

Question
QUESTION: Last time I'll write. You didn't know of any repellents for snake Just wanted you to know there is a snake repellent; liquid fence & snake away.  thanks

ANSWER: Yes, I'm aware of several products which CLAIM to keep snakes away, there are also several different types of diet pills, yet somehow 60% of Americans are still overweight... LOL  

Don't waste your $$$.  




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QUESTION: couldn't resist answering again, but I do have a question, First, I agree don't waste $$$, but I think comparing this to diet pills is not exactly the same thing.  People take pills and diet all the time, only to lose the battle, simply because they don't stick to it, and they keep eating the wrong food.  Can't eat constantly and lose weight, diet pills won't work if you do.  And as a neighbor said same thing with repellent, use it enough stick to it, and it may work. My question is in the case of poisonous snakes I thought they  have something to repel them, just like there is shark repellent.  Sorry didn't mean to become pen pals,thanks again.

ANSWER: The repellents I know of are basically moth balls (or the chemical they are made of) which stink really bad.  Perhaps if you coated your entire yard with them they might actually keep snakes away for a while (until it rains and washes away all the chemicals).  Of course, either way your problem will be solved as your yard will smell so badly no one will want to be outside anyway!  LOL

Here's a question for you:  Since you know they are only garter snakes, and you're wanting to spend money on a solution anyway, why not have some nice yard plaques made up which tell your guests exactly what the snakes are, what they do for the environment, and why they should left alone!  No chemicals, no dead snakes, no stinky yard, and people learn a little bit about nature!  

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Oh I see a comedian. Ok we're fine with that we have a sense of humor. I mean moth balls, plaques???? funny!!! no one wants to harm them, we are not animal haters.  We were looking at a home remedy of sorts, and not intending to spend money on this unless we have to.... just asking you for suggestions.  I think you're misunderstanding what I'm getting at. I just wanted to know and also some neighbors, if there is a humane way to keep the snakes away.  I know you are an expert re; this, and don't see the bother they are to other people.  I understand this, I also understand that snakes are not predators, they help in nature no one is arguing with you re; this.  but when you're sitting reading or trying to garden and they are all around it's a bit nerve wracking to many.  Apparently you don't feel this way, and that's fine  And I also would like to mention that when people are lousy with these snakes, they have a terrible odor and one neighbor was trying to block an area where they were coming from and got one horrible rash, and had to pay to have some sort of salve for it.
People are sensitive to these things as there are people who have allergies.  Perhaps I sounded different in the written word then what I was trying to get at. so maybe you read this as some sort we hate snakes kill them.  We don't want cats or dogs to get at them. The snakes we have very few times can be shooed away they are very agressive, and have almost gotten chewed up in a lawn mower because it practically crawled right into it, the person assumed it would frightened away; do you suggest we don't cut lawns.  they are a bother and you should understand this.  again, sorry for the lecture, but just wanted to explain.  thanks again.
sorry to have bothered you with this.

Answer
I wasn't kidding but ok.  The snake repellents have naphthalene (sic) in them which is the same thing moth balls are made of.  I, in my "expert" opinion, don't think they will work.  If you are going to buy/install/spray/sprinkle/erect/whatever a barrier I believe you will be wasting your time and money, (again just my opinion), because I don't think any product on the market works.

I would say go on about your day and do what ever you need to do, if the snake is stupid enough to crawl under the mower he won't be around next week to do it again!  

Here on our campus he have a colony of black racers.  Fast, semi-aggressive, nonvenomous snakes-much like your garter snakes.  For about the first year after they got established (happened because of new landscaping and construction) I would have students, teachers, janitors, administrators showing up at my door screaming "SNAKE!!!!"  I would go out catch the snake, let them see it wasn't a cobra and it wasn't going to eat me and them I would let it go.  Now after about 2-3 years of doing this the kids catch them and bring them to me just to show them off. The secretaries tell me where they see them.  Most everyone knows that the babies look different from the adults and that they are here because he have a bunch of lizards for them to eat.  We even have one with a nickname (Stumpy-because he is missing the tip of his tail), no one freaks out, no one gets hurt, no one spends money or time worrying about something that is basically just the same as the blue bird sitting in the tree or the bee flying through the air.  If they don't like snakes they walk the other way.  So here, after a little education and time, we have 900 people getting alone just fine with a colony of harmless snakes.  

That's why I suggested the plaques that way everyone would know what they were, that they were harmless, and then they could relax.