Experts dispel 'crushed stones' Facebook tip to ward off snakes

"Did you know that snakes hate crushed stones? They won't dare come close if you put crushed stones around your property," a Thai Facebook page posted to its 867,000 followers on January 13.

"While moving through this type of stone, their belly is super sensitive and they will move much more slowly as the stones could harm them."

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Screenshot of the false post, taken on February 3, 2025

The post racked up more than 7,900 shares and a flurry of comments from Facebook users thanking the poster for the tip.

"Amazing. Thank you for useful information," one wrote.

"I did put them around my house," another said.

Thailand is teeming with reptiles and baseless advice about co-existing with the creatures regularly pops up online.

AFP has fact-checked Facebook posts touting arrowroot plant as a treatment for snake bites, despite a lack of scientific evidence, or urging consumers to avoid tomatoes with holes in them which is purportedly the trace from a snake's fangs.

'Unhindered by rough terrain'

Snake experts also dismissed advice about placing stones around the home to deter them.

Saranont Charoensuk, senior manager and head of operations at Bangkok's snake museum Siam Serpentarium said the claim "has no basis in research, experimentation or logic" (archived link).

"Snakes can slither much more freely on rough terrain" such as crushed stones, he told AFP. "Meanwhile, they won't be able to move on flat or slippery terrain."

Nirut Chom-ngam, consultant of a serpentology group, confirmed crushed stones could not repel any kind of snake.

Contrary to the Facebook post's claim that snakes' bellies are sensitive, he told AFP snakes actually have strong ventral scales to protect themselves from surfaces.

He pointed AFP to a video demonstrating a snake's reaction to common repellant myths, including crushed stones, sulphur and engine oil (archived link).

The serpent can be seen slithering apparently effortlessly over crushed stones at the 1:25-minute mark.

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Screenshot of the experiment video

"If we use crushed stones under the assumption that they can effectively repel snakes, we would only end up wasting money on something that doesn't serve its intended purpose," Nirut concluded.

While there is no foolproof method to ward off snakes from a property, both experts agreed that keeping terrain clear and visible was the best protection against dangerous snakes, such as cobras.