Do mothballs or ultrasonic devices keep snakes away?

We would love to tell you there is something you can put down and forget, but there is no product you can scatter or plug in that reliably keeps snakes away. Mothballs do not do it and add a real poisoning risk. Ultrasonic boxes and vibrating stakes do not do it either. What does work is slower and less exciting: make the garden less useful to snakes, and have a plan for the day one appears.

Why mothballs are a bad idea

Mothballs are a pesticide made for one job: killing clothes moths inside a sealed box or bag. They were never meant to be scattered in a garden, and using them outdoors goes against the label. The label wins, every time.

Outside, they look like sweets to a small child, dogs may chew them, and hens will peck at anything new on the ground. The chemicals also leach into soil and water, which is the last thing you want near eggs or vegetables. And snakes do not read the smell as a reason to leave, so you take the risk and get nothing back.

If a child or pet has eaten a mothball: call your local poison information line, emergency number or vet straight away, and have the packet to hand. If you already put mothballs out, pick them up with gloves, bag them, and dispose of them as the label or your council says.

Ultrasonic and vibration devices

Snakes do feel ground vibration, which is why the idea sounds plausible. But a steady, repeating buzz quickly becomes background, and we know of no good evidence that these devices keep snakes out of a garden. Shoo does not sell or recommend ultrasonic repellers for any animal. Our page on ultrasonic pest repellers covers the wider picture.

The same goes for the home remedies people swap online: sulphur, cinnamon, garlic, essential oils, rope laid round the bed. Some smell strong. None is a reliable barrier, and a few, like sulphur, can irritate skin and eyes. If you do use a shop-bought snake product, follow its label exactly and do not let it replace the steps below.

What actually lowers the odds

Snakes come into a garden for food, shelter and somewhere warm to lie. Take those away and they have less reason to stop.

1. Cut the cover. Keep grass short near the house and coop. Clear piles of wood, rubble, old boards and sheets of metal, or raise them off the ground.
2. Cut the food. Rodents draw snakes. Store chicken feed and pet food in sealed metal bins, sweep up spilled seed, and collect eggs every day.
3. Close the coop. Fit fine, strong mesh over gaps and vents, check the base where snakes and rats push in, and shut hens in at night.
4. Block the gaps. Under sheds, decks and steps is prime shelter. Close them with mesh once you are sure nothing is living there. See how to make your garden less inviting to snakes for the full plan.

None of this makes a garden snake-free. It makes yours a worse place to stay than next door’s woodpile, and that is the honest goal.

When one turns up anyway

Keep your distance, bring children and pets inside, and call local animal control or a licensed snake catcher. Do not try to kill or move it: that is when bites happen, and many snakes are protected by law. Our answer on what to do when there is a snake in the garden has the step by step, and the snakes guide has more background. For how we treat any product near children and pets, see safety and labels.