I've come across a few that I've nearly ran over with the mower so I decided to relocate them to an empty lot across the street.

I'm thinking I should have kept them around?

I only posted this here as I know alot of you seem to have experience with the good and the bad pests.

its not that i am afraid of them .. its just the movement out of the corner of my eye.. when i am focused on something else .. startles me.. and the reaction its not pretty ... lol ... luckily the neighbors already know.. and dont find this reaction all that odd for me ...

ken

ps: like when you are reaching under a giant hosta for a stick.. and it starts slithering in your hand ... man .. go change the underwear after that ... but i digress ... rather completely.. dont you think ...

She had my 6' 3" neighbor cornered one day when I walked across the lawn to help him identify plants he'd lost the tags for. He was sitting in a lawn chair close to his house and refused to move while she was in his driveway so I got a stick and tapped her tail end to get her moving. She rose up like a cobra and hissed at me--all 2 ft. of her. Cracked me up. She's no bigger around than my thumb so I was pretty sure she wasn't about to swallow me whole.

It's not as if you bought a house built on top of a garter snake den.

For years, I have had a resident garter snake in my tomato patch. For years, I would make a bunch of noise upon nearing the tomatoes and it would leave for a bit.

Last year, I found garter snakes in most areas of my yard. At first, I was alarmed but took it to be a sign of a healthy yard/garden. I let them be, and stopped wearing flip flops while gardening and started wearing gloves while weeding.

This year, I found mating bull snakes in my yard. I am guessing they are also a sign of a healthy yard/garden but one was aggressive enough to think the yard was hers.

I have two young kids and she took up residence near my front door; stretched out she was 6'.

She came out one day and I sipped whiskey until I had the guts to catch it; before it climbed back into it's hole. From inside the house, the kids and I watched it slither to and fro across my front yard - with a MAD MAD MAD momma robin pecking at it.

Thankfully, I have a fearless friend who came and eventually captured both snakes. We relocated them FAR from my house and I wish them a great life.

After seeing that bull snake, the garter is less scarey, but I still want them to keep their distance. I must have a yard amorous to snakes, because I nearly stepped on mating garter snakes recently; was wearing flip flops....

I am guessing that new bull snakes will come and replace the ones that I relocated, so moving the garter snakes is also pointless; in my yard.

Larger snakes are dangerous to birds and pets, but it would have to be pretty large. Most garter snake are pretty tiny and would likely be eating stuff like slugs (good) and frogs (bad).

Paul

My wife though is not a fan of any snakes, and will shriek when one appears on TV (including the opening credits of "Cops").

Years ago, my dear departed grandma was visiting my aunt and her family down in Atlanta. My grandma's eyesight had been terrible for years. She reached for a broom to do some sweping and well, you can guess the rest! I don't know who was more startled.

I had a similar story once where I try to take down the bird feeder in the middle of the night and reached for what appears to be a bag. It turns out to be a large skunk. Fortunately, it ran away instead of spraying me. Never picked up a snake by accident. Frankly, snakes are uncommon in my area.

Paul

I have never understood how some people can be so afraid of them. Spiders too. I just don't get it.

Black snakes live here too, which is probably why there isn't much of a vole problem. The cat never catches those. Black snakes, that is, he does catch an occasional vole for me. Unfortunately, a black snake wiped out a flying squirrel nest that was in a big oak by the back door, and I hated that.

I've never seen a copperhead here, thank goodness. The resident snakes and I live pretty amicably, for the most part.

But, I have the same reaction Ken does when it comes to spiders in my world. The thought of touching one gives me the heebie jeebies and I go running, screaming and crying, get it off of me! get it off of me!!! is it off??? is it off???? jumping up and down making sure it's not hanging by a web. What a spectacle.

I have never seen any garter snakes here in my neighborhood, however. To answer your question, if I were running them over with a lawnmower, then yes, I'd want to relocate them.

So I spent a lot of time re-washing almost everything and STILL couldn't get rid of the smell, which was getting worse. We finally realized it was coming from the dryer itself. When we took off the duct to the wall, we discovered that the smell was coming into the house from the duct.

Called a duct cleaning company and with much work the guy got out a very dead black snake that had gotten past the wire around the duct outside, come into the vent and made a nest! Fortunately there was no sign that it had given birth, but we had to replace all the duct work because the smell was so bad.

Every time I washed the clothes, I was re-stinking them! I have had to throw away some things that just won't lose the smell.

BTW< I am TERRIFIED of snakes, always have been especially when my best friend's brother used to chase me with them when we were in elementary school.

Next time I'll tell you about the pair my husband found two weeks ago, one on the driveway and one on the roof (!) of the garage. I would have had a heart attack!

chris

Although, I wonder if the agent will end up losing their license over this and/or if the agent will be found liable, at least in part.

I have a garter snake up in one of my g'houses now. It has decided that laying on the benches daily is a good thing to do and I work around wherever it happens to sun itself. Last year it was a big rat snake who lived there. I also have a resident black snake in the cellar and we just watch what we pick up.

Obviously I am not afraid of them and appreciate their role in prey/predation. No, I don't relocate them. We did remove any delapidated outbuildings on our property so they wouldn't be drawn to occupy structures near the house. It's rare now to have one 'get in' the house and if one does, my husband leaves it to me to pick it up and remove it. LOL.

In the future, if you can't get rid of the stench in clothing, go to a pet store and purchase natures miracle. Douse the clothing, and let it dry on its own. Enzymes in the product remove common pet odors. Or in your case, dead snake. LOL.

That snake house story should be made into a move-lol. Not funny for the people living there though. They should tear down the house, plant the entire lot and leave it be.