My Friend the Garter Snake

I was moving some old trash bags filled with old plastic seed tray flats from alongside my house today.  Some of the bags had holes and were weathered, having been there for quite awhile.

As I emptied the old bags and re-bagged the trash, I came across some Garter Snakes.  Lots of Garter Snakes.  Like 10 Garter Snakes, & mostly big ones, with some as big as 18-24 inches long.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen Garter Snakes living inside black trash bags, and they seem to love it in there.  I think it’s because the black trash bags tend to hold the heat of the day well into the night, while keeping out the cold evening dampness.  Snakes are cold-blooded and rely on their environment for body heat, which is why they like to bask in the sunlight to warm up in the mornings.

Garter Snakes are fantastic predators of insects and are especially useful to have out in the garden.  My garden has crickets, and small grasshoppers, and an over abundance of slugs roaming at night chewing on the leaves of my plants.  I really hate garden slugs.  Hate ‘em!

And that’s when it hit me, my “Eureka!” moment.  I need to trap me some of them there Garter Snakes and relocate them out to my garden where they can do the most good.  I spread out an empty black trash bag flat on the ground, & propped open the end so they can easily slither inside.  Then later all I need to do is pick up the bag and dump them out inside my garden.  I think it’s pure genius, but we’ll see if I can really outsmart a bunch of dumb snakes with a brain the size of a pencil eraser.  For now, it’s just too close to call.

I was reading how Garter Snakes were originally thought to be non-venomous, but were recently discovered to secrete a very mild neurotoxin.  Their venom is relatively harmless to humans, and at worst will only cause mild swelling and itching.  Apparently they don’t have fangs like a rattlesnake, and can only deliver their venom by chewing on their prey.

“Note to self . . . don’t let the Garter Snake chew on your finger.”  Hope I can remember that.

(Picture from Wikimedia)

Labels: Home and Garden