They work where I live. I put them out each year and have never had a snake. Last year I was not able to get around and put them out. My husband found a snake in our yard.
No! I thought I would "cheap out" and try it. I walked outside only to find a huge black snake slithering right over the mothballs. Snake-a-way is expensive but it works. Yes, it smells just like mothballs, but it must have other stuff combined with the napthalene (mothballs) that makes it work. I've never tried sulphur so I can't speak for that. When I was growing up my Mom put lime around the gardens because we had a lot of garter snakes where we lived. Just so you know, I live in FL, so this is snake territory and I am terrified of them. If I never see another one as long as I live I would be very happy.
Some people have had good results and others have not. I guess it's just trial and error. "Snake Away" that you can get at feed stores or Lowe's type stores is just another form of moth balls. Read the ingredients. I know you didn't ask about skunks, but I do know for a fact that moth balls do keep skunks away. We found this out AFTER both my dog and my husband got "skunked". LOL! Margaret from Denton, Texas
I've never tried mothballs, butI have spread sulphur around the perimeter of my yard and haven't seen any snakes since - I had seen 2 within one week just prior to spreading the sulphur! You can get sulphur at places likes Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. It comes in a bag like fertilizer. Hope it works for you and God bless you and yours.
I put moth balls in my barn because I had a bad snake problem. It kept the non poisonous out, but for the cottonmouths, it did not work. I had one curled up in the moth balls.
My mother-in-law swears by it, so I won't say no! She has lots of flower pots around her house, then birds nest in them, and the eggs and babies of course attract snakes. She puts both the moth balls and loose crystals around the perimeter of her house.
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Request: Do Mothballs Work as a Snake Repellent?
Archived on 07/14/2009
Do mothballs get rid of snakes in the attic?
DBEavers from Beaumont, TX
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RE: Do Mothballs Work as a Snake Repellent
Some people say they do, but others have complained about trying to get the smell out of their attics.
What might be best if you want to try it is to put them in cheesecloth or something so they will be easy to locate when you want to remove them. If you just throw some up there, they will be difficult to locate each mothball.
People don't like the smell of mothballs any better than snakes or moths.
Susan from ThriftyFun (09/07/2006)
For 2 -3 years there have been snakes, garden, I think in my neighborhood. At the first sight of one I put mothballs around my house and my fenced in yard. I saw one small snake this year, but it was dead. (09/08/2006)
Moth balls to repel animals is a myth. If you put them in a burrow the animal just tosses them out. On the ground animals just move around them. Some people use them thinking they are effective. But there is no harm in letting folks believe these stories. Use them if you want, but they are not animal deterrents. (09/08/2006)
By Dean
RE: Do Mothballs Work as a Snake Repellent
No, moth balls I know for a fact do not work. When my children were younger we rented and lived in a 100 year old farm house in the western NC area. The house became infested with snakes which (I found out) were after the mice in the walls, yuck. Needless to say after killing a few snakes within the house itself we moved from there and into another state.
I have seen "Snake Away" which is a repellent that you use to keep the snakes a bay in the area that you want taken care of. Google "Snake Away" and see what you come up with, good luck. (09/09/2006)
We live on a creek in SW Georgia and mothballs have proven to me they work. During years 2003 to 2006 we killed 12 to 17 poisonous snakes each year (Cottonmouth, Rattle, and Copperhead) day and night around the house and bushes. Last year (2007) we put out mothballs every other month or when they dissolved and only killed one Rattlesnake and it was nowhere around the mothballs. Don't just put out one or two put them out heavily. (02/18/2008)
By Tommy Y.
RE: Do Mothballs Work as a Snake Repellent
Yes, they do work. We started using them in our barn here in Northern Nevada. Our neighbors have all had snakes this year except us. This is our first year using them, but after all the snakes we had last year and the lack of snakes this year; I believe they work. (05/17/2008)
By Loren
RE: Do Mothballs Work as a Snake Repellent
Not so sure moth balls work, but it has been proven that lime will get rid snakes. It keeps them away and if they go through the lime it will burn their skin. (06/15/2008)
