These include Jeyes Fluid, Condies Crystals, old oil, moth balls, plants like geraniums, wild garlic and the commercially available snake repellents sold at some hardware stores.

“However, none of them really work. Scientific tests have been conducted on a variety of snake repellents throughout the world and to date, no effective substance has been found,” Johan Marais

(chief executive officer of African Snakebite Institute) advised.

He added that there are also ultrasonic and vibrating devices available on the market, but they too have been proved ineffective when it comes to snakes.

“Snakes go where they wish to go and are largely attracted by prey items and to a lesser degree water,” Marais explained and said that recent extensive field experiments conducted by local scientists, have found that none of the substances mentioned above had any effect on snakes, nor did it repel them in any way.

Their findings were presented at a Herpetological Association of Africa Symposium late last year and further experiments that were done at Wits University in Johannesburg, revealed the exact same results.

“It would therefore be wise if retailers removed snake repellents from their stores, because selling a product that does not work at all is unethical and creates a false sense of security among the society,” Marais advised.

A necessity exists for viable methods of reducing encounters with venomous snakes in high-risk areas and according to Marais, the objective of the study was to investigate the efficacy of geraniums that are commonly used as snake repellents in South Africa.

A total of 24 drift fence funnel trap arrays were deployed on a game farm in Northern Limpopo for 55 days. The treatment (repellents and a water control) were replicated four times and traps were inspected twice daily.

Marais said that all snakes trapped were duly marked, recorded and released. Repellents were analysed at four-time intervals using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and the peak areas of their respective, major, volatile components were recorded.

A total of 88 snakes consisting of 17 species were trapped over the course of the sampling period of which the majority were trapped under the naphthalene treatment.

According to Marais, the difference in the number of snakes trapped under the various treatments however, was not significant. A comparison of the peak areas of the major volatile components at the four-time intervals showed that 12 hours following deployment, naphthalene and Snake Repel were reduced to 5% of their original ‘strength’, whereas Jeyes Fluid persisted longer, with at least 30% of its original strength still present 72 hours following deployment.

This was the first long term experiment performed outdoors using a passive trapping system that provided strong evidence, that even with repeated reapplication at high dosages, these treatments were not viable snake repellents. Alternative measures to the use of ineffectual repellents, should be investigated as prevention of envenomation remains the most prudent course of action in areas at high risk of snakebite.

“Both rural communities and staff deployed to high-risk areas would benefit more from appropriate safety training and alternative, precautionary measures directed towards the prevention of snakebite,” Marais concluded.

Remember, if you encounter a snake outside or inside your house, it is recommended that you phone a local snake expert to have it safely removed.

If you live in the greater Nigel area, phone Braumar Willard on 071 235 6339 or Pine Pienaar 083 755 8901 for snake removals.

In case you encounter a snake in Heidelberg, phone George Booker (snr) 082 465 6754 or George Booker (jnr) 066 114 5505.