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This one is for the reptile experts:
I was wondering if any of you know of something that can be used to deter snakes from entering, or even coming close to a house.
Do they use something in Kruger for this purpose? Or is it the activity in the camps that deter the snakes from entering?
I got some advice to mix Jays Fluid with water and spray that around the house. Will this work? If it does work, why does it deter the snakes? Are snakes sensitive to certain smells?
Another question: Do snakes have lairs that are their permanent homes or do they travel around and merely find shelter in the most appropriate spot for the time?
Are there certain conditions that will make a place more “snake friendly" - humidity, cold or heat etc.?

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Hi Jumbo,

I know snakes hate cold. Prefered condition is heat following rain. Just make sure that you have all access entries to your homes block by mesh or screening or whatever else to keep rats and mice out. Snakes usualy follow these into a house. also make sure that no possible rat food are present in the house.

A snake will have a nest when pregnant and babies due soon. I also don't think that they roam too much around. I have found a rock where a rinkhals have made the immediate environment its home. the rock was shiny and smooth of all the years' snake buffing. the snake must have been there for quite some years. Saw it very often.

Thus I think they are teritorial. snakes don't like too much commotion. That is why you won't find them often in human habitation like camps etc. They are driven from their environent by destruction thereof and thus seem to be more and more common in PTA and west rand suburbs in gauteng.

Thanks WTM
This is very interesting! I wonder if it was more than one generation that used the same spot?
I also wonder if that rinkhals will return to this nest if you catch him and move him to say a area about 2 km away? Do they have a sense of direction?

Jumbo I am sure that it must have been a "family rock" inherited along the line.
About catching it and relocating. Not me. I once looked another rinkhals straight in the eye in my dad's pigeon loft as a 4 year old. It raised higher than what I was and spat our garden boy, behind me in the face. Luckily he got it all washed out and no permanent damage was done.

Scary snake that I tell you.

I have caught several brown house snakes at our previous home in PTa. A total of 7 in 4.5 years. Had 3 in 2 weeks time last year. Also almost shared my coffee one hot summer evening with one, when we met eye to eye. don't know which one of us got the biggest fright.

Whether it was the same snake I caught and released, I do not know. Should have marked the little buggers. I think if you traslocate them to a suitable habitat, that they won't return.

I love snakes. How's your puffy doing?

Hopefully old “Puffy" is still 2km away where he was relocated to and have no cooking clue of where he came from! If he does return, I hope my new appearance will scare him out of 2 season's skin....

I also used to like snakes and have had a few encounters with different types - even black mamba in our garden in Maputo. But with “Puffy" it was a close call and suddenly I have a phobia and the accompanied paranoia.
Have now decided that I will get an in-depth knowledge of how their small reptile brains operate to get a better understanding of them and thus be more prepared for the future. Will post any interesting titbits I get on “snake psychology"



Also read somewhere that they like lizards and geckos.

Last week a guy told me another horror story: They found a 2m blank mamba between teacups in a small kitchen cupboard that was fixed high up against the wall. After removing the snake they could not find any place where the snake could have gained access to the cupboard... brrrrrrrr!!

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Hope you blindfolded it while transporting and that you turned it horisontally 10 times around when releasing? No way then he'll be able to find his way back.

Snakes are territorial, so if you remove one you will create two problems... The poor snake will have to fight for a new place, and you will get a new one....
Keeping them away, well you could get a tasmanian devil and it would eat them...
Maybe not really practical. More practical would be to open up all of the walkways, trim vegetation off the ground or away from it, just so that you can see about a metre around where you walk. Keep the lawns mowed. Go around the house and block up any hole that looks like a large pencil could fit through, they can fit through smaller holes than you think.

Where humans are concerned, snakes are actually shy animals preferring to move away and hide or lie still in the hope of being overlooked.

O great! Thanks for this one!!!

Found a very informative website:
Snake info.

Extracts from this website that I found very interesting:

Won't work. (Nothing does) I do however tell people it does. Then the snakes are safe and the person has "peace of mind"



In general SA snakes are NOT territorial. Some species do however stay in an area for many years if not disturbed. If you move them they will not come back. (Reptile intelligence is too primitive) SA snakes do not have lairs like the diamond back rattler for eg.


Only certain species. Most will lay eggs/ give birth never to return to the site
The most common to "nest" is the Afrock and skaapsteker.



Not really, cold conditions are vital for their reproductive cycle



They are too thin on the ground for this to be a real problem.
The problem is that that a snake should not be move too far out of an area (genetics)

PS. If you catch a snake without a catch and release permit you can get a fine of up to R5000-00
If you kill it- no problem....

This is very sad! So this gives people “reason" to kill the creatures ... doesn't make sense.



My problem is that my house is in the bush, away from a road and there is very little activity in and around it. I'm sure there are still a number of snakes that might give me a visit.... :
I encountered the puffadder while he was in a warm dark cage outside the house (and then there is a leaking water tap that add moisture to the whole story). Unfortunately for me, I have to open this cage quite often - and have to put my hand into it!
Inside the cage, with the snake, I also found a skin shedding. After the incident I took a closer look at the surroundings and from the marks in the ground it does appear that he visited this cage frequently. This is why I wondered if this cage was a type of lair.

Concerning the deterrent: I received advice yesterday that I believe might work. Chlorine! I think this might do the job. I doubt (and hope) that the snake will go and lay in the cage if I put chlorine into it.

Despite the fact that I now have a sort of phobia about them, I still believe they are beautiful and interesting creatures – even though the Puffy almost bit me, I still took the time to admire him .... ok, that was after he was caught
I have to say that puffadders are probable one of the most beautiful snakes in SA. We have had several sightings in Kruger - SO once even picked one up with his braai tongs in Satara, to throw him back over the fence. Somewhere we have photos of a Puffy we took near Sirheni - beautiful those patterns on his skin when he is in the sun.

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Jumbo your best deterent is a cat, they are fearless where snakes are concerned and snakes are not keen on cats either, even a kitten will chase a snake! it's actually awesome to watch!
And the next best is to clear an area around your house just like they do in kraals, not pretty I know, all that bare ground, but it is for the best, becuase let me tell you snakes suss the place out and then move in! We had endless hassles on the farm with all the wildlife wanting their own bedrooms

Never throw a puffy. The are heavy snakes and injure very easy when dropped/ thrown

A irritant like chlorine might dicourage the snake not to use the cage, but it will not chase it away from the area

O no Pilane! We people do stupid things out of plain ignorance. SO thought he is doing the Puffy a favour be getting him out of the camp where he might clash with people. He did land in a bush. Hopefully his landing was not too hard.

My intentions are not to chase off every snake. This cage is my problem {and my nightmare } ...I am going to try the chlorine.

Jay, thanks for the advice. Unfortunately I am not allowed to keep pets at my “bush house"... however, I do have 4 cats at home in Maputo. Interesting the fact that cats are resistant to the poison of cobras. I wonder why only cobras? Would other felines like leopards also be resistant to this poison?

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I (well mostly my SO) have just discouraged a Boomslang from coming inside. It was in the doorway. It was quite a young one. Its body was hardly fatter than a pencil. It was probably about 50cm long.

I hope he finds somewhere else to live. There are really beautiful snakes, but I don't want to share my house with one

I wonder if it was his dad that was in our house a few years ago

Snakes just love moving in don't they? I think they like human company I remember a very skinny, fast snake which I didn't have time to ID scooted into my house on the farm, I threw that place upside down, couldn't find it