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Snakes love yards where they can access pet food, insects, and rodents. They also like places with plenty of hiding spots, such as tall grasses, thick or overgrown shrubbery, pools of water, broken gutters, and boxes. Reducing clutter and debris on your property may help keep them from visiting.

The best way to deal with a rodent problem is to avoid it in the first place. One way to do that is to make your home smell uninviting to them. Here are some household products that can repel rodents. When using oils, try soaking a cotton ball in the stuff and leaving it in places rodents frequent:

• Peppermint oil

• Eucalyptus oil

• Cinnamon

• Vinegar

• Cedarwood 

• Cloves

• Garlic

• Chili oil/powder

• Cayenne pepper

High-frequency bird repellent devices are effective at driving away birds, which is their intended purpose. However, these devices also tend to have unintended negative consequences. For example, if you or your neighbors own pets, the high-pitched noise emitted by these electronic devices will cause them distress and may even make them aggressive.

Skunks spray as a defense mechanism to ward off predators. The active ingredient in their sulfurous, oily musk is n-butyl mercaptan, which evaporates into a powerful and smelly gas. Once the spray hits the skunk’s target, the stench can linger for days, and water and common cleaning kits aren’t enough to wash it away.

If you happen upon a skunk in your yard, try to back away slowly to reduce the chance of them aiming at you. Encouragingly, they don’t use their weapon casually, as it can take up to 10 days for their life-saving weaponry to refill. Paw stamping, hissing, lifting their tail, and arching their back are early signs they feel trapped or under threat and that it’s time to make a careful retreat.