Question
Dear Jack:

Don't if you have any expertise on garder snakes but I am trying to find ways to eliminate or discourage garder snakes from coming into our yard.  My wife is very afraid of snakes and we can't figure out how they are getting into the yard since it is very high on 2 sides and a sold fence on the third side.  The backyard has a 6 foot retainer wall so the yard is very high and I don't think that the snakes can crawl up 6 ft of wall but I could be wrong.  I have been told that moth balls and sulfur discourage them but I would rather get advice from an expert.  I would appreciate your advice or please direct me to someone who might be able to help.  Thanks, Ron

Answer
Ron,

I'm probably not the right person for this question. My only impulse is to try and convince you to leave the snakes alone because they are so beneficial in terms of pest control of things like slugs and even crickets and grasshoppers (and I don't know of any good ways to exclude snakes from a yard). If you do proceed I'd caution against using mothballs since this material is very toxic (see http://www.livingwithbugs.com/mothball.html for info) plus I doubt it would work very well.

Sorry I can't help.

Jack DeAngelis
http://www.livingwithbugs.com