Something from my garden

[Donnyboy]

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Bet you thought it would be tomatoes or something. Sorry!

[Nan6b]

You've got a wonderful partner there, on duty in your garden, eating bugs!

[Gardadore]

Agreed, Nan! I have a resident garter snake in two garden areas. They hang out on the stone wall when the weather gets warm or behind the straw bales. Sometimes we surprise each other (makes me jump when it suddenly moves and I didn’t see it at first!) but I like having them around for bug control!

[stone]

How sad...
Did you kill it?

[Labradors]

Even more creepy is having black plastic as a mulch, and seeing something move underneath it!!! Fortunately, we only have grass snakes here, and we love them but that made me jump {LOL}.

Linda

[Labradors]

Why would it be sad to see a snake and why would someone kill it just because it's a snake?

It would be nice if gardeners could learn to get along with the other inhabitants of the garden (as long as they aren't eating our tomatoes of course!).

Linda

[Growing Coastal]

Why would it be sad to see a snake and why would someone kill it just because it's a snake?

It would be nice if gardeners could learn to get along with the other inhabitants of the garden (as long as they aren't eating our tomatoes of course!).

Linda

An aunt once told me that as she was raking leaves, up at the cottage at Wasaga, she stepped on a garter snake that wrapped itself around her leg and totally terrified her.

I like having snakes in the garden for the bugs and slugs.We have no poisonous snakes here on the coast.

[bower]

We have no snakes on the island here, period! But I have met a few snakes in my travels. It wasn't like having a known garden friend, unfortunately! But it is very cool to see people who have em, post about their snakely allies.
In recent years we're seeing more toads around the garden and farm, poaching a share of the bugs. They are adorable.

potatopatch-toad-2019.JPG

[Growing Coastal]

Nice fat toad! I would hate losing garden toads to poisonous snakes. I too would have to kill or somehow get rid of a toxic snake in my garden where children sometimes go, nevermind the little dog or me!

One camping trip in the interior of BC my 7 yr old son and I saw a huge snake by a riverside where wild mint and asparagus grew. Locals told us that it was likely a Bull snake which is one that will go after rattlers and that if we saw one we could be pretty sure of safety from rattlers. I had watched the whole snake as it passed us and noted no rattles on the tail. Still, neither my son nor I wanted to sleep on the ground that night and stayed in the car!

[Nan6b]

I have a small water feature and every year American Toads (like in Bower's picture) give us tadpoles, and later adorable dime-sized toads that grow up over the season. Very cute, keep down the bugs (including stink bugs), and in the springtime the lovely chirping songs of boy-toads in love...

[Donnyboy]

The snake is dead. I normally don't shoot snakes but this snake bore all the attributes of a cotton mouth with a huge toad in its mouth. I couldn't confirm it's head shape and eye shape (cat eyes) until he was already dead. I also hate to kill snakes, but I draw the line at deadly, venomous snakes in my garden. While I have never seen a cotton mouth that long, it did have a pit viper head. I coexist with most snakes and actually enjoy seeing them.

I also have a very large toad population in my garden. I enjoy them as well and I know they are beneficial. Most springs, I have tiny toads hopping everywhere. When the snakes come out of hibernation, the tiny toads are usually gone in a couple of days. The rule of thumb seems to be gardens and water attract insects, insects attract toads; and toads attract snakes.

[TomHillbilly]

How sad...
Did you kill it?

Naw-- I think he just scared it more than anything. LOL

[bower]

[mention]Donnyboy[/mention] I didn't know there was a connection between toads and snakes, when I posted that picture. IDK if we have other predators for toads here, but I'm going to be watching out for the little ones now that you mention em!

[Nan6b]

I once watched a robin eat tadpoles out of a puddle.

[Donnyboy]

I've had dogs who thought large toads look like an easy meal, kinda like a food truck visiting the neighborhood with free bar-b-que. They quickly learn how wrong they are. The large toads exude or secrete a noxious substance which causes the dogs to spit them out, start shaking their heads, and finally start foaming from the mouth. Some of my dogs have been dumb enough to try it again. I understand because I've eaten stuff that I thought was horrible, but then; I eat it again to make sure it tastes as bad as I thought it did. It usually does.

[Donnyboy]

@Donnyboy I didn't know there was a connection between toads and snakes, when I posted that picture. IDK if we have other predators for toads here, but I'm going to be watching out for the little ones now that you mention em!

I don't have standing water in my garden, but my soil is usually moist. I don't understand how the toads go through their tadpole phase. They just appear in the warm spring as tiny, hopping toads. I have toads which bury themselves in my garden beds and flower pots in the winter where they hibernate. They do the same thing during really hot, dry summer days coming out at night to eat.

[stone]

Why would it be sad to see a snake and why would someone kill it just because it's a snake?

Sad because it was obviously dead.

[stone]

I have these guys....,




And...
I think they're as cool as hell....

If you can't handle the idea of walking up on a snake... better stay home....

I also have black widow spiders.

[Nan6b]

Yikes, I didn't notice it was dead...

[bower]

[mention]stone[/mention] if you can handle walking up on a rattler or a black widow, you should change your handle to St. Francis of Assisi.