5 easy tricks to help keep your campsite snake-free

Don’t like snakes? Then don’t camp where they could get into your campsite. But if you must, here are five surefire tricks to help keep your campsite a snake-free zone.

Snakes. Some people love them. Others, fear them. Whatever your opinion, the next time you go camping, here are five easy tricks you can try to help keep your campsite free of snakes should you encounter any.

If possible, set up your campsite in an area of low grass or gravel rather than near logs.

• Although snakes can be found in grass, they much prefer a felled tree.
• Snakes like to hide under things, so try to keep as much as your camping gear off the ground as possible.
• If you’ve been away from camp for a while, lift and shake the tent while politely asking any visiting snakes to move along.

Snakes aren’t interested in your food, but they are interested in the critters that ARE interested in your food.

• Keep food in airtight containers and ensure crumbs and food scraps are cleaned out of your campsite. Why? If you attract mice, the snakes may follow.

Outdoor camping stores sell chemical snake repellents, and you can try spraying a perimeter around your campsite.

• These products won’t kill the snakes, only create a smelly deterrent that will hopefully deflect them into your neighbour’s camp.
• Check the ingredients on these repellents. Avoid buying brands that contains naphthalene, as it can harm other animals. You don’t want to wake up in the morning happy the snakes stayed away but traumatized because there’s a ring of dead squirrels around your campsite.

In the unlikely event that the snakes break through the outer ring of your campsite defenses, you definitely want to make sure they don’t infiltrate your tent.

• Before you leave your safe, snake-free home, check your tent for any holes where a snake might sneak in.
• Ensure the zippers work and don’t leave any gaps.
• Needless to say, keep your tent doors zipped up at all times when camping.

If all else fails, camp with a mongoose! (Rumour has it they don't like snakes and will chase them off!)