Garden snakes

[ACSAPA]

I've only seen a small ,skinny pathetic little gray snake trying to get away and hide in the bushes, I haven't seen many snakes.
In Miami, iguanas are more common, I've seen a lot of wild iguanas. A huge one the size of a small dog fell asleep on my ex's car roof on a cold day, but when the weather warmed up, it scampered away. The cold makes iguanas fall asleep. That's how those pest control guys capture and kill them.
I like iguanas but in some parts of Florida they are major pests that harm mangrove trees.

 

[claudine]

What type of snakes are in your part of the world?

I'm sorry, I didn't notice your question before. In Poland, we have quite dangerous vipers and completely harmless (but still very scary) grass snakes. The world would be a better place without snakes

 

[happyflowerlady]

We have been very fortunate not to see any snakes at all here. We are in the country,and in Alabama where there are both cottonmouth and copperheads, as well as the non-poisonous ones.
I don't like any snakes, period ! I am glad that so far, we ave not had any near us, but I am careful when I am out in the garden just in case.
We did see one in the landlords pond that we thought might be a cottonmouth- water moccasin , but when we told the landlord, he thought it was probably just a water snake.
Either way, I am staying far away from it !

 

[Jed]

Well I guess it's the middle of snake season up north. Snakes will mostly try and avoid people but I would be on alert for your pets which will either attempt to play with them or just get too close. I'm not big on snakes but have learnt to not fear them so much. I did do a snake handling course a couple of years back and this did helped.
That snake skin in the picture which I found, I put in a large box in my barn with the intention to give to a friend for her collection. It completely disappeared. I looked everywhere and could only wonder if a rat had taken it for it's nest.

 

[claudine]

Jed, now I'll have nightmares! A rat taking a snake skin for it's nest sounds absolutely terrifying, you combined two of my worst fears in this assumption

 

[zigs]

It's ok Claudine, they take tea bags for nests too, think they like them for little ratty pillows

 

[claudine]

little ratty pillows? Don't scare me, I don't want to have nightmares about small, sleeping rats nor rats decorating their nests with skins of even nastier creatures

 

[zigs]

You've not had pet rats then, they are really quite softies when you get to know them.

My Mouse died by the way, she was 2 years older than she would have been expected to live in the wild. So a good innings there.

 

[Jed]

The snakes here search out the rats and live in their holes. So it would be a turn around for a rat to use that skin as a nest.
I've pulled lots of nests apart with baby rats in them both dead and alive. The worst discovery was in an old farm vehicle. It was summer and little chance of rain so I left the windows down. A rat had gotten into the vehicle made its way down the air vents to build a nest.
The weather came in wet and cold so I used the heater. This in turn killed the mother rat and the 12 babies.Eventually they decayed and stank the car out and I had to track the smell down and dispose the nest. Boy did I feel sick.

 

[claudine]

Zigs - I'm very sorry about your Mouse, it's always so painful to lose a pet.
I've never had any pet rats and I don't plan to, since they're terrifying creatures.
Jed - this is a heartbreaking story, even though I don't like rats ,I still feel sorry for them. But it wasn't your fault.

 

[firelily99]

The only snakes I ever see in my gardens are garter snakes and they cause no problems. If anything they act as a deterrent for some of the other critters that come by, mainly voles. Chipmunks are abundant but on the whole don't cause me too many issues.

 

[Trellum]

Yikes!!! I'm so glad in my zone we don't have this kind of issues, at least not with garden snakes. We do have snakes, but they live in zones that are not populated. I'm glad because snakes really scare me! So do the rats and mouses!

 

[firelily99]

The snakes we have in Connecticut are pretty much benign all there are rattlesnakes in some parts of the state. Mainly its garter snakes and hooray for them. They eat critters that I don't want around my garden which is a good thing. On the whole snakes get a bad rap.

 

[mikelouis]

Snakes can be a bit scary especially if you are not used to seeing them. Although I have no encountered them in the gardens, that is something that I would not dream about.

 

[Pat]

I have not encountered snakes lately in the area. I have seen them at another house I lived in. It was not something I want to see again.