Can you see me?
No?
How about now?
This Eastern Garter snake is non venomous and a pest predator. I enjoyed seeing it hanging out behind my new herb bed. I have (had?) a resident vole that moved in and stayed for the past three months. Although, I haven’t seen the Garter snake or the vole for a couple of weeks… 🙂
Learn more about Eastern Garter snakes: CLICK HERE
Life on the Farmlet 
What a fun visitor. I found a nice little snake at a nature center a few weeks ago. It still was cool enough in the evenings that I suspect it was sunning itself on the concrete where I found it. I’m not so sympathetic to our rattlers, cottonmouths, and so on, but I do hate that people freak out over non-venomous snakes like this. Nice “capture.”
I only freak out when they *surprise me, Linda. I give poisonous snakes a wide berth of course! I am always sad when the only seeming option other people take is to kill the snake. Like them or not they have a job to do.
*My brother’s pet snake disappeared one fall and in the middle of winter I found it in the bottom of my craft drawer! I think it was as surprised as I was!
Well spotted.
Tom, we have many poisonous snakes here so I try to be aware whenever I am gardening. I saw it right away!
I wish we could get a python (Coastal Carpet Python) to move in and take care of the possum that has decided to make its home in our store room roof… They’re big but harmless to people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morelia_spilota
Kate, what a beautiful snake! I think I would be a bit intimidated due to its size. I had a friend in California who taught in HS. She kept a lot of reptiles in her science class. One was a very large python. One night a student broke in and stole the snake! By the time she got it back it had been so overfed that it had grown another foot and a half. Because of this she had to declare and apply for a license to keep the zoo sized specimen. She had to hang a sign on her classroom door declaring it to be a zoo!
That size definitely had a double-meaning… I don’t mind pythons, and they do a great job of reptile control, but you have to keep them out of the hen-house or they’ll eat the eggs.
I love that they are insect and rodent control!! I hope this one sticks around!
Lori, me too, but I think it dispatched the vole and is now making the circuit in the pasture. I am relieved at that because our yards are filled with fledglings: Robin red breast; Bluebirds; and soon the Blue Jays!
I don’t mind these guys around or the king snakes but a rattler on my front steps had to go!
Deb, that would be a very uncomfortable encounter for me too!