Normally, I never think about snakes-- I have no unnatural fear of
them nor do I especially want one for a pet. But, something really
strange happened last night (well, late afternoon, after the sun had
moved away from our back area), that surprised me.
I water by watering can (no hose, no faucet in an apt.), and I walked
out our back gate to get started. In the grass in front of the gate,
I saw the quick slither of a small (about 10 in.) green garter (I'm
assuming) snake moving through the grass to be under the rose bushes.
Well, that kind of intrigued me-- after all, new friends!
When I came back out about 5 min. later with more water, a dark green
snake with yellow stripes fell out of our climbing rose bush (Cecile
Brunner). This, too, was a rather small snake and it slithered away
into the bushes. Was that a garter snake, too? Different color? Why
would it be in a rose bush (which I have to brush past to get out of
our gate!)? Wouldn't that hurt it?
Also, our gate has a gap between it and the cement pad of our patio--
is there any reason one of these adventurous snakes would want to
come in our enclosed patio? It's got lots of plants all over and
fairly cool; and a fish pond (garter snakes don't eat *large*
goldfish, do they?)
I guess I think this is all so strange because we're pretty desert-y
(except where I've made this garden) and I've never seen snakes
around at all. Although I know that there are rattlesnakes on the
hill directly behind us ;-)
I know these are silly questions, but I've never dealt with snakes
before.
Thanks,
Debra
widera@unr.edu
Sweet girl! ;-) I'm the same way, and used to do that with spiders too.
Luckily I sorta grew out of that phobia or I'd never do any gardening at
all. Some of the big hairy spiders still scare me, tho.
Barb in Idaho
In my garden, the little garden snakes will come to the ponds and pools for
a drink. Their camouflage is pretty good so they can be hard to see. They
are harmless, but you need to know your local snakes.
The sight of a snake is *almost* enough to send me away screaming. THis
amuses my daughter no end -- who has been known to say "Look mommy, a
snake!" when there is no such thing, just to watch me hop straight into the
air, land on the nearest tall thing and shudder.
Barbara Martin
Now at The Cottage Garden: "Blue and Pink Daylilies for Your Garden"
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/cottage_gardening
Active Co-Owner, Gardens List mailto:gardens-request@lsv.uky.edu
Regional Horticulturist, National Gardening Association
NEW! My Own Mid Atlantic Garden Reports! http://www.nationalgardening.com
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That's what's so funny -- normally, she really is. I guess it tickled her
sense of the absurd. Especially since I had taken such pains to try to teach
HER not to be afraid of them. She was about five when she first did it.
Barbara Martin
Now at The Cottage Garden: "Blue and Pink Daylilies for Your Garden"
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/cottage_gardening
Active Co-Owner, Gardens List mailto:gardens-request@lsv.uky.edu
Regional Horticulturist, National Gardening Association
NEW! My Own Mid Atlantic Garden Reports! http://www.nationalgardening.com
Snakes do not like hot sun as a rule. They will generally seek shade or
shelter from the sun during the afternoon.
We had this happen when we were running some beneficial bug trials in
some of our fields. The snakes (rattlers) loved to crawl into the tents
in the heat of the day. The crew had to evict so many snakes, that they
had to work on the design of the tents to make them snake proof. Can you
imagine entering the tents to do bug counts and end up counting snakes
instead!?
Brenda in Lethbridge
"Debra I. Widera" wrote:
