Does Garlic Repel Snakes? 3 Things You Should Know

In this guide, we will discuss the use of garlic to keep snakes away.

Snakes have been known to encroach spaces or boundaries they shouldn’t. Such encounters (humans Vs snakes) have sometimes resulted in fatalities arising from venomous snake bites.

As such, it’s common to find homeowners seeking effective measures to get rid of snakes.

Certain preventive measures, including the use of repellents such as diesel and sulfur, are common. However, whether these are effective or not remains to be seen.

Here, we’ll be discussing one of such; the use of garlic as a repellent.

SEE: Snakes And Peppermint Oil

So, does garlic repel snakes? You’ll have to read on to find out if it does.

Does Garlic Keep Snakes Away?

As mesopredators, snakes readily prey on smaller animals like rodents, amphibians, and insects among others.

Quite a lot of these smaller animals such as rodents are considered pests. The mere presence of snakes around your surroundings serves to control such rodent population, thus putting it in check.

SEE: Using Lime For Snakes

For a lot of homeowners, snake absence from their immediate surroundings is a problem they’ll gladly accept.

This is due to the perceived danger posed by these reptiles. Under such circumstances, repellents come in handy.

Why Are Snakes Around My House?

Snakes are likely to get into your space when there’s reason to.

Here, we’re referring to the availability of food. Although snakes are mostly shy animals that will keep their distance from human dwellings, they sometimes come around when there’s reason to.

Snakes prey on mice, grubs, slugs, insects, as well as other pests. These pests are found around homes, hence the reason why you’re likely to cross paths with these reptiles.

In most cases, snakes will only bite when they feel threatened. This means they’ll keep their distance as long as you don’t disturb them.

But you must take back control of your surroundings, right? Absolutely! This is the reason why lots of snake repellent products are available. So, is garlic one of such items to consider using?

Let’s discuss this in greater detail.

Garlic As A Snake Repellent

The use of garlic as a home remedy for snake problems is quite popular with homeowners for good reason. This plant product contains sulfonic acid which serves to keep these reptiles at bay.

If you have no idea what sulfonic acid is about, this is the chemical compound released when chopping onions.

When released, it makes you shed tears or “cry.” Such reactive chemical compound serves to ward off snakes when properly applied.

Garlic is either applied directly or mixed with other compounds such as rock salt or essential oils for effectiveness.

Of course, targeted areas are those infested by such snakes.

How Garlic Repels Snakes

Whenever garlic is applied around snake-infested areas, it serves to disorient them. When garlic is cut, it releases alliinase enzymes which are automatically converted to allicin (a sulfonic acid).

Now, when snakes come around garlic-treated areas, they’re repelled due to the toxic effect of this acid compound.

Such disorienting aroma is disliked by snakes. They’ll keep their distance as long as the smell persists. With this knowledge, you can create an invincible and impenetrable barrier around your home by simply applying garlic.

Such a barrier serves to ward off snakes, thus keeping your surroundings free.

In a nutshell, snakes do not like strong or foreign smells. This is a characteristic common to garlic. Snakes encroaching into your territory are easily repelled using the garlic strategy.

There are various ways by which garlic can be applied.

Types of Garlic Repellents for Snakes

Whether used in plant form or prepared in various forms, garlic still gives the needed punch necessary to keep your surroundings free of snakes.

Simply having garlic plants growing around your home’s perimeter will do a lot of good in keeping snakes at bay.

This method is best used in areas with thriving snake populations.

Here, you want to create an anti-snake environment. An anti-snake environment has snake repellent plants growing around the vicinity. Of course, this includes garlic plants.

Garlic plants alone won’t be enough to keep all snakes out. As such, you may want to include other snake-repelling plants like onion, the West Indian lemongrass, marigolds, and mother-in-law’s tongue.

These plant combinations serve to make your surroundings unfavorable to snake presence.

Asides from growing garlic plants around your home, other methods of application include home remedies such as garlic spray, as well as a mixture of salt and garlic.

• Garlic Spray

One of the ways snakes can be kept off your property is by having your surroundings sprayed with garlic spray.

Garlic spray is an easy-to-make home remedy that requires about 4 cups of water, 4 cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of salt, and half onion rings separated.

First, you’ll need to boil the water in a dish or saucepan before adding your garlic and onion. This is allowed to boil further for another 5 minutes before turning off the heat. Allow the water to sit overnight or for a few hours.

Get a spray bottle and empty the water into it. At this point, apply your salt and shake the bottle until it forms a homogenous mixture. Now, spray the contents around the affected areas.

Multiple applications (spread across several days) may be necessary to get the job done.

• A Mixture of Salt and Garlic

Another way to repel snakes using garlic is by adding salt to crushed garlic.

Here, equal parts of both are added and mixed before sprinkling around affected areas. Due to the strong sense of smell possessed by snakes, the pungent garlic smell causes upsets.

Snakes are also likely to experience skin irritations. These snakes will rather keep their distance than endure such unpleasant conditions.

The Benefit of Garlic Snake Repellent

At this point, it’s clear that garlic is a useful product for repelling snakes.

However, the benefits derived go beyond keeping snakes at bay. Garlic is also a natural and readily available product used for food and harmless to the environment.

With garlic use, there are fewer chances of experiencing side effects. It’s non-toxic and gives the needed protection.

We’ve proven that garlic indeed repels snakes.

Using this readily available product, you can take back control of your surroundings. In difficult situations (those with heavy snake presence), calling an expert will be the best option to take.