What's the best way to keep snakes away from your property?

I have a somewhat neglected property, and what really works is keeping the grass cut, removing debris and woodpiles where they like to hide. You can also use sulfur-based or naphthalene repellents scattered around the area, but honestly cleaning up is the most effective.

Sulfur and cleaning are really the foundation, but what actually made a difference for me is creating a physical barrier - laying down a net or mesh buried about 30cm deep around the areas you want to protect, like near the house or garden. Snakes can get around repellents if they're desperate enough, but a well-built barrier is much harder for them to get past.

Don't fall for the temptation to set lethal traps or use poison - it's illegal in many areas and risky if you have kids or pets around! I agree that cleaning up is essential, but there's a point the others left hanging: sulfur works best if you spread it consistently and reapply it after rain, otherwise it dissipates and loses effectiveness. The really important thing is eliminating food sources - rodents mainly - because a snake without prey will look somewhere else, no matter how much sulfur you put down. If you can control the rat population and keep everything organized, you've already won half the battle!

What really works is eliminating water sources on your property - snakes hang around way more in places where they have easy access to water, whether it's a puddle, a dripping pipe, or even a little water bowl for pets left outside. People are right about cleaning up and sulfur, but a lot of folks focus only on that and leave these "supply stations" sitting out. If you dry up everything with standing water and fix leaks, you'll already cut down their presence a lot.

The thing nobody mentioned is planting certain species that snakes really don't like - mint, rue, and rosemary are good options, and you can actually use them in your house afterward. It's not like an impenetrable barrier, but combined with a clean property free of clutter and water, it creates an environment that's way less attractive to them. If you want to go further, lavender works too and it even makes the place smell nice. Applying sulfur powder in the critical areas (like under structures) works well, but the truth is that without accessible water, snakes are gonna look elsewhere much faster.