Use your hosepipe to squirt them. You can reach them on your roof, in the trees and at a distance when they are on the ground.  They hate being hosed and will run away.  Squirt – don’t spray!

A water pistol or squirt bottle aimed and squirted at the monkeys inside or close to your house is very effective.

Vervets are easily shooed away simply by walking towards them and waving a small towel, dishcloth or other similar item.   Don’t be intimidated if they stand their ground and threaten you.  They will turn tail and flee as you get closer!

Monkeys are naturally wary of snakes, so realistic rubber snakes placed around your home or garden can discourage them.   Don’t leave a rubber snake in the same spot too long otherwise the Vervets will get used to its immobility and ignore it.  Attach a length of thin nylon or string to the snake and tug it into “motion” when the Vervets are close to it.

Dogs can be a deterrent to Vervets.  However, if a dog does actually catch a Vervet this could result in very serious injury to the dog and Vervet.  Dogs should be trained not to physically attack other animals.

One or two strands of electric fencing are effective in keeping Vervets out of gardens, homes and crops.  This is very easy to install.

Insect-proof screens on windows and doors serve an additional function of keeping Vervets out of homes.  Plastic mesh on windows and security doors/gates is also easily fitted and very effective.

Vervets have very keen senses of taste and smell.  They can be discouraged from eating fruit, flowers and vegetables by spraying or brushing these with a liquid containing quinine, chili, insect or pet repellant or any other distasteful but non-lethal substance that can be washed off.  Dry curry, chili or tobacco powder also works well in flower/vegetable beds.

Prevent foraging in refuse bins by securing the lids with a convenient but Vervet-proof clip or strap.  Sprinkle diluted Jeyes Fluid (diluted with water, equal parts), inside on the outside or around refuse bins and bags.   Refuse skips covered with shade cloth and treated with Jeyes Fluid will deter Vervets.

Vervets are easily chased out of fruit or access trees by installing a burglar alarm siren in the tree and activating it when the Vervets are there.  This can prevent Vervets using the tree to gain access to a roof, upper window or another tree, and can protect fruit and flowers.

Use nylon bird or hail netting over and around vegetable, strawberry and other produce gardens to keep Vervets out.  Planting vegetables in a specially constructed pole and netting cage is very effective in protecting your vegetables against foraging monkeys and birds.

Tin cans containing a few stones and tied at intervals along a length of string which is laid through a garden and attached to a fixed point, then yanked hard when the monkeys are close, will chase monkeys out of a vegetable garden or flower bed as the cans leap noisily into the air.

A piece of hose with holes in it, swung around whilst advancing towards Vervets will frighten them away due to the whistling sound it makes.

Clear lubricating grease smeared onto overhead wires, along the tops of boundary walls and fences, on down-pipes, well-used branches and poles will discourage Vervets from using these to gain access to areas such as your roof, balcony, etc.

Where Vervets easily use overhead telephone or other wires to gain access to roofs, fit a length of hard plastic piping around the wire at the point where the Vervets access it.  As they put weight on the plastic pipe it rolls around the wire so making it impossible for them to climb across it.