Although snakes can provide a free form of pest control by eating mice and other garden-threatening insects, not everyone enjoys their company. Rather than kill or relocating the snake (which often results in the snake dying), here are a few ways to deter and prevent snakes from calling your property home sweet home.

1. The easiest way to prevent any unwanted slithering serpents from calling your yard home is preventing your lawn from being an ideal habitat. Removing debris, filling spaces and gaps in buildings and wood piles are good starting places. Also keeping rodent and frog populations to minimum will reduce snake numbers. Basically, if there is nowhere to sleep or eat, then there is no reason to stay.

2. If number one doesn't exactly apply to you, like if you live in a wooded area, or you have tidied up as much as you can but they are still occupying your space, ammonia will be your best friend and their worst enemy. It doesn't harm them but they hate the smell. Soak a few rags in ammonia and put them in a bag around the areas where you are wanting to prevent snakes.

3. If that fails, Naphthalene is the chemical found in most store-bought snake repellents. To save money, try and find the base because the store-bought chemicals can be pricey. Do your research before committing to one brand.