Buy an owl for your balcony and move it every week or so. I live in FL and the owls help a lot around the ponds on the golf courses - just like the farmers use. My son in southern FL had snakes in the landscape pilings and they came out every time he mowed his lawn. I bought two owls - one plastic one for the back yard and a fancy metal sculpture one to hang in the tree in the front yard. They never saw a snake again. Honest!