Snake Repellent: This Everyday Item Really Works. Same Ingredient as the Expensive Stuff
My Organic Lifestyle? Tag Me a Hypocrite on This Issue
Mothballs and moth crystals are naphthalene, which is not exactly a healthy thing to have around the house. Naphthalene is a solid which sublimates into a gas. It is insoluble in water. It is used in synthesizing many industrial chemicals, and is also an ingredient in toilet bowl deodorants. Studies have been done regarding the effects of inhaling the fumes. It caused nasal tumors in rats, and female mice developed benign lung tumors.
Naphthalene is a by-product from petroleum refining, and it is also made by distilling coal-tar. In the US, naphthalene is supposed to be derived from 60% coal-tar and 40% petroleum.
Naphthalene is used in dyes, insecticides, solvents, resins and plasticizers (PVCs). It is also used in fungicides, lubricants, oil field chemicals, tanning agents, explosives, fuel additives and wood preservative treatments. It is the main raw material used in making the pesticide, Carbaryl. It is also used in the solvent that makes carbonless carbon paper.
I don't want this stuff in my house, or around my clothes. But there is one product naphthalene is used in, found in your garden center, that I have a (hypocritical) use for. Snake repellent! I don't spend the $14.95 for the box of snake repellent, though. I get the $3.97 moth balls at Walmart. We have swampy woods nearby, where the snakes can stay as far as I'm concerned. But every time it rains and the creek floods, the snakes move up to higher ground...our woods, garden and yard. I don't mind snakes if they stay in the lowlands where they should be. But I hate being surprised by them when I reach into a flower bed or pick beans. And I do occasionally use mothballs or moth crystals to keep snakes away from my outdoor living areas.
Sew up some little cloth bags if you want to take the time, or just use squares of cloth cut from rags. Place about 5 or 6 mothballs (or about 2 tablespoons of crystals) in the center of the square and tie it into a bundle with string or twine. Hang the little bags on garden fence posts, near lush flowerbeds, near trellis vines, overhanging trees, by a ground-level deck...anywhere a snake would like to hide. They hate the odor, and will absolutely stay away for as long as the naphthalene lasts. Remember, it is constantly changing from a solid to a gas, and it "disappears" after a while. Depending on the wind and weather, the scent usually lasts about a week or so, just enough time for the flooded fields to dry out so the snakes can go home. The little bags are easy to remove when you want to enjoy your outdoors without fumes...or reptiles.
Personal experience
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20050131/grilled-meat-added-to-list-of-cancer-causes
http://chemicalland21.com/petrochemical/NAPHTHALENE.htm
Published by Fern Fischer
I keep busy with organic gardening and living green, including healthy cooking with garden goodies. I enjoy writing about all of these, but my special interest is quilting, vintage quilts and textiles and re... View profile
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15 Comments
Post a Commentwow. wished I read this years ago when we had a snake find a hole in our cellar and sneak into our stove. I threw the stove out the back door and bought another stove
I don't even want to go there. YIKES!
Reading, I've had to do other things and then my Internet goes out at night :( Finally catching up!
What? You don't like sniffing sweaters that smell like toilet bowls? Haha. They also used to use paradichlorobenzene. They discontinued that, methinks, so it must have been worse than naphthalene. There is a derivative of naphthalene called beta-naphthylamine, and it was once reputed to produce cancer in 100% of cases. In Pennsylvania I seem to remember it was declared illegal?
moth balls are underrated. great article!
Oh I have to try this...
I need to put some into my crawlspace. Thanks for the idea.
We used to have dogs that deterred or "dispatched" snakes close to our house. We don't have dogs now (they all passed on), so we have more snakes. Mothballs are a cheaper deterrent. Thanks for the info.
Very useful information! If mothballs deter snakes, surely they will also work for rats?
You have snakes??!! eGads, my eco friendly lifestyle would go out the window for sure ~ since I'd be hurling mothballs, lighter fluid, and anything else I could think of to get them out of my yard. I...really....hate.....snakes.