Pakistan Gardening Forum

Usually at the onset of Monsoon crawly creatures likes snakes tend to come out in the open.



A snake was spotted recently in my lawn and thankfully was killed. Having a snake in the lawn is a cause of concern and by following the guidelines snakes can be kept away from our houses.

1. Clutter in any form has to be cleared. Snakes often tend to squeeze or wedge through tight corners, under rubble or places where broken pots or trash cans are stored.
2. Growth of creepers have to be kept under control as they can provide a passage for snakes to creep into the house. Hence no more creepers for me.
3. They can seek refuge in hedges which should be pruned regularly.
4. Any openings in walls should be sealed.
5. Advisable to spray Termicide or any pesticide having a strong smell at the base of walls to prevent them from entering the lawn area.
6. Mow the lawn to clear the visibility of snakes in lawn area. Grass tends to grow quickly after monsoon season.
7. Keeping a check on rodents which attract snakes. Rats/Mice are often attracted to areas having trash cans.
8. Clear puddles as snakes are drawn to any area having water or ponds.
9. Avoid plants that tend to attract snakes like Cestrum Nocturnum (Raat Ki Rani) and consider growing plants that deter snakes e.g. The Mother-in-Law’s Tongue (Sansevieria Trifasciata Laurentii) commonly available or the Variegated Snake Plant, Tulbaghia Violacea, Wormwood (Artemisia) and the tobacco Plant.

Some other excellent guidelines from the following url.
http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-Snakes-Away
http://www.examiner.com/article/deter-s ... ing-them-1

Thanks for the info. We had similar problems too. We may add that snakes also love to eat birds' eggs. If the birds are making lots of unusual noise in the garden, do not ignore the noise. This applies to caged birds as well.

One day I was watering motia and one of the branches was drooping with something heavy. It turned out that a foot long baby-snake, or perhaps a viper, had wrapped itself around the branch. Close encounters with snakes, esp. those which like to live in the "aasteen", are not very pleasant either :-)

Isn't the point # 9 rather an urban legend?

My earlier viewpoint was that point #9 seemed rather like a myth but changed my view after seeing the photo shown in the url below which adds credibility to the view that Cestrum Nocturnum attracts snakes?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BkRacer02_Asit.jpg

My mother would stipulate absolutely no banana and saroot (pampas grass-cortadelia selloannateriakk to have near the house as they attract snakes.

What about keeping a pair of Peacock in the lawn....yet another myth?

A lot of domesticated poultry will kill and eat snakes given a chance. I believe guinea fowl are the best because they attack snakes as a group and make a lot of noise. Aseel cockerels and hens are very protective of their eggs and young against predators including snakes.

Peafowl are the same, being fast and strong enough they will take on most cobra size snakes easily.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS5FqtjdypU

Ifzal sb, good idea. Guinea fowls (or cheeni murghee in Urdu) are lovely birds. They make loud sounds whenever they see a cat, a dog, or any unwanted guest in the house. When one of the partners is lost or not visible to the other partner both of them start wailing until they find each other. What a unity! The male bird does not have a pleasant sound though but it is good enough for alerting the presence of an unpleasant and uninvited intruder.

I keep Aseel breed of chickens and they are very adept at killing and keeping away mice, they also make a loud noise (not as noisy as guinea fowl) when they encounter cats and dogs or any other intruders, we don't have any snakes in this part of the UK.