Asked on Mar 20, 2017

Has anyone used Snake Fencing to keep snakes out? Does it work?

Where I live on the outskirts of Los Angeles County we have had a rash of rattlesnake bites in the last few days. Mainly in pets. In years past, we have not had much rain so they were in less populated areas and did not turn up too often. Well this is going to be a banner year for them. With all the rain, they have decided to expand their horizons again. In addition I checked out an article by "redrockbiologics.com" (as well as others), for info. I Googled and found "snake fencing" and Home Depot, Lowes, and of course, Amazon (among others, those are the big 3 everyone knows), that sell the hardware cloth for this purpose. Apparently the depth which one must dig to install properly is key to the effectiveness of this product. Has anyone used this product? Does it really work? I also found a spray consisting of clover oil and cinnamon extract that needs to be reapplied periodically. Anyone ever try that? Just want to snake proof my yard for all the pets. While I love snakes in general as they provide many benefits to the ecosystem, I would rather keep the pets (and any guests), safe. Your thoughts?
  9 answers
  • Carol Carlile Bacon Carol Carlile Bacon on Mar 22, 2017

    I would like to know more about the fence as we have snakes if all kinds.

  • Lynn Lynn on Mar 22, 2017

    I found this site:


    http://snakefence.net/how-it-works/


    However, it appears it doesn't stop them from trying to enter...


    "When snakes enter the openings, The Snake Fence catches them past their necks. The elastic netting slowly expands until the snake is caught. The snakes don’t avoid entering The Snake Fence and once captured can be safely relocated by a wildlife professional."


    if the Snake Fence is the way you're going to prevent them, I'd suggest a second fence that would stop pets/guests from getting too close to the 'snake catcher'

    • See 1 previous
    • Thanks so much for this info! I have scheduled several "snake fencing" companies, all give free estimates, YAY!, and will be meeting with all of them within the next few days. Out of an abundance of caution I used a clover oil and cinnamon spray around the perimeters of my home and property, as well as several of the neighbors properties until we can come up with a game plan. This is a "family" neighborhood and just about every home has pets and small children. Even though I am single, I felt it would be a safer neighborhood for me. And turns out my gut instinct was correct. ☺ Also going to install "coyote rollers" (I had no idea such a thing existed until a few days ago. ) Since we are all next to each other and back to back, we can somehow "compound" the homes to make it as safe as possible. The home next to me on the right in the pictures above, is a single mom with 4 kids, the youngest, a set of twin boys that are 4 years old. That house is a rental but I know the owner and will get him to pony up the money to keep her and the kids and their pets safe.

  • Elezabeth Cameron Elezabeth Cameron on Mar 23, 2017

    Plug all holes... i see them at the bottom of your gate, snakes can't dig... they can however scale any wall or fence I've seen them here in AZ on top a 6 foot to wall , they simply stretch straight up!


    Cut back tree limbs, they climb trees and can easily drop into your yard...


    Looking at your wall... glue fairly large shards of pots... snakes hate crawling over large pointy things , they like soft round things... all I got... hope it helps...

    Love from AZ...

    • See 4 previous
    • Maria Teter Maria Teter on Dec 14, 2019

      Hi Naomie! Greetings from Southern AZ. We live on 40 acres with another million surrounding us. When we first moved here we had 2 horses and I’d find at least 5 snakes every snake season, Mojave’s mostly. They started diminishing every year as we got more horses. This year we have 12 horses and I have not seen 1 snake. The horses run freely on our property. What I’m getting from the cattle ranchers surrounding us is that the snakes move away from the constant sound (pounding on the ground) thumping, and sound waves. I don’t know why but this would explain the advertisements I saw in the internet for (snake thumpers), I did some checking around and seems they sell solar powered ones. Only thing is you have to keep replacing them every month or so. They also keep the rats, mice, ground squirrels and pack rats away, there’s another benefit. I found it too expensive to have to keep replacing them, so I talked to a reptile specialist who turned me onto “DTE” (Diatomacious Earth)

      “FOOD GRADE” PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REMEMBER THAT!! All it is.... is pulverized oyster shells. It’s safe for all critters, they even sprinkle it on dog food for added calcium. Some ranchers here use it on their cattle too so it must be safe. I get a 50 pound bag of it from the feed store for about 30 bucks. It goes a long way. Get a strainer with large holes. It’s a flour consistency so it’s harder and takes longer to spread it around with a sifter, then sift away Throughout your yard and the areas where you see them hang out. Here’s another big benefit, it kills ants roaches and any HARD SHELLED INSECTS. It’s like glass to them, when they step onto the DTE it dehydrates them and kills them. I Powder the horses with it during fly season To keep the flys off them. It works cause I hardly see them swishing their tails around keeping the flys off and I hardley see flys hovering around their eyes and faces. It’s windy a lot here which is great cause it just spreads it around more. Try sprinkling it around on not so much a windy day though. Rain is no problem either because it packs it into the ground. Mostly dirt and Miles of prairie here. My yard looks like Xmas but I don’t see any crawly things or insects hardly ever and the flys are down to a minimum. The horses are happy, my pets are happy and I’m happy. In fact I haven’t seen 1 snake this year. Hope that helps, oh! As far as what it does to the snakes and why they don’t like it is that when they slither on it, it dehydrates them right away and they don’t like it so they move away from it to find somewhere moister. Hope you don’t have a pond or pool around. Not within miles from us. WORKS FOR ME! I only use it during snake and fly season. Not that costly either. Everybody benefits but the snakes, flys and insects. Gudaye!

      Maria

  • Thanks so much! Yes the gates are a problem, and since they are used daily, going to need to come up with a viable solution. I also have the house of 3 fences, which is another challenge in itself. Certainly will need to beef up the tops of the walls. Again, thank you! ☺

    • See 2 previous
    • Christina Christina on Mar 31, 2022

      Hello. Did you come up with a solution for the gates?

  • Mar21088548 Mar21088548 on Mar 24, 2017

    We have 5 poisonous varieties of snakes in our area here in australia....they do dig...they hibernate over winter in the soil...a lot of the old bush people use geraniums around the house as apparently they do not like them....the bio-dynamic people burn their skins with some wood and pepper their borders of their places and the snakes or whatever you have used will not come.

    • Joe Jones Joe Jones on Aug 25, 2018

      Snakes regardless of venom or not regardless of continent you live on they do not dig. They burrow in old holes but they can’t dig a hole what do you suppose they would use? Worms can becuse they digest the dirt and fill the hole right back. If snakes dig where do they put the extra dirt?


      Although some snakes burrow, most do not and are just traveling through existing holes that were created by chipmunks, mice and other small mammals. Snakes hibernate in these burrows as well as in rock crevices and hollows. Like many animals, snakes mate in the early spring when they come out

      While it is true that snakes often hide in holes, they do not construct their holes themselves -- these are primarily the former holes of rodents, turtles and frogs. Additionally, snakes hide inside tree hollows, or under the leaf litter, rocks or bark.

  • Yikes! Makes me glad all I have to deal with are rattlesnakes. I know how to catch them, but that does no good if I am not home. I have 3 dogs, 16 1/2, 10 and 3. 6 cats that were dumped in my neighborhood a little over a year ago and all are young, but semi feral and used to roaming, a canary (in a cage that goodness!), recently acquired from a friend that passed away and a dragon lizard. I do take the dragon out in the yard but only when I am out with him. The coyotes are becoming more brazen so I am going to install snake fencing, which looks to be burried about 2 feet deep, along with the coyote rollers on the existing fencing. Going to be a busy spring for me! I took 3 of the cats for the rattlesnake vaccine at $45 for each cat. Still need to do the other 3 cats and the 3 dogs.


    Very interesting about the geraniums and the burning, will have to do more research and see what the variety of rattlesnakes we have and find out what they do not like. I have found, so far, that they do not like cinnamon and clove oil. Will use that too if necessary.


    Thanks for sharing info about Australia! Love learning new things. ☺

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    • Thanks! I have solved all the snake issues. There are 6 cats and 6+ dogs in my yard, plus a toddler next door that visits often. Moth balls are a great remedy but with pets and kids I skipped it. Killing snakes unnecessarily really gets my goat. Everything has a right to live, just not in my house or yard. My personal preference is to relocate safely. Thanks for responding!

  • Eric Moore Eric Moore on Jan 14, 2018

    You can make the cayote roll bar yourself. 1 3inch pvc pipe. 1 1inch to 1.5 inch pvc pipe. Angle iron. Plastic coated twisted steel wire. You can look up youtube videos on it

  • Diametryk Diametryk on Jun 17, 2018

    Hey, how did it go - did you get the snake fence in?


  • QueenG QueenG on Sep 06, 2018

    what was your solution??? Did you buy a fence, use spray it coyote roll?