Garden Snakes

Snakes in your garden commonly slip past you while you are watering or pruning your plants. You notice a tail slip by from the corner of your eye and the mere presence of garden snakes in your yard makes you sweat. Who would like to have a snake as a member of their garden eco-system? Not all snakes are poisonous and some are absolutely harmless, especially the garter snake found commonly in gardens.

Facts About Snakes
Before we begin with the types of garden snakes, let's have a look at some of the facts about snakes. Snakes are cold-blooded reptiles who love the sun to keep themselves warm. Snakes tend to shed their skin as they grow and hibernate in winter. These snakes hunt around the garden using their senses like the sense of smell, sense of touch and their tongues to feel the body heat of their prey. A newborn snake tends to be born live or hatch from eggs depending on their species. A young snake eats insects, small reptiles, worms, etc. A mature garden snake will eat up all the rodents and rats that play havoc in your garden. However, beware of snakes that eat birds and earthworm, even the fish from the ponds. Let's now see some of the common garden snakes.

Types of Common Garden Snakes
There are hundreds of snakes in the world and not all of them are venomous. These legless creatures can climb trees and slither around the garden with great agility. Let us know more about some of the common ones visiting a garden, that will help you in identifying snakes that are beneficial. A common group of snakes that prove to be very useful snakes are the constrictors. The constrictors in US are limited to species like King Snakes, Gopher Snakes, Racers and Rat Snakes. These snakes feed on rodents and gophers that prove to be a pest around the garden. These snakes are absolutely harmless and non aggressive in nature.

Next common visitor to your garden can be a viper. A viper is a dangerous snake that you would not like to have around your home. Another dangerous snake around the garden, especially common in the desert areas is the rattlesnake. They hide in sand or leaves and are easily camouflaged due to their skin patterns. They shake the rattle at the end of their tail when an intruder comes too close. However, the snake prefers not to bite and give some time to the intruder to run away.

The next happy-go-lucky snakes you may have in your garden is the gopher snake. This snake is usually mistaken for a rattlesnake and sadly killed due to misunderstanding. These are extremely beneficial snakes that eat small animals and rodents like the gophers. These burrowing snakes also hunt on the ground as well as trees. If at all one does bite a human, it will only leave a gash and nothing more.

Garter snake is one of the most common garden snakes in US. They are found in most of the states and can survive in different climatic regions. They are found in different areas like gardens, ponds, wetlands, fields, forests, etc. They have a very long, horizontal body and three body length stripes running across. They feed on small animals, earthworms, frogs and fish. They tend to hide when threatened and give birth to live young in summer. They have a non aggressive nature and can give a small bite or two when mishandled by a gardener.

A Southern black racer is a black or gray snake that grows up to only 4 to 5 feet long. They prey upon other snakes, lizards, frogs, insects and rodents in the garden. The Southern ring-necked snake is a gray black skinny snake that is no more than 12 inches. They love to feed on earthworms and slugs. The rough green snake and the banded water snake are also good friends to have around your garden.

What Do Garden Snakes Eat?
The preceding paragraphs have given you a rough idea about garden snakes diet. They eat rodents, rats, mice, gophers, etc. who burrow your garden beds and eat up your plants. They will even feed on worms and small stems of your plants. Garden snakes have a varied diet and will not shy away from eating slugs, snails, leeches, spiders, and other insects. Toads, frogs, salamanders, fish, tadpoles, lizards all make up a delicious meal for a garden snake. A small mammal scurrying across the garden or a small baby bird in its nest, make up a small snack for a garden snake. Eggs and carrion are a few other tit-bits that these snakes enjoy. I hope this explanation has helped you answer a kids question of confidently.

How to Keep Away Garden Snakes?
Wondering how to get rid of snakes in your garden? If you want to avoid these snakes making home in your yard, don't just kill the poor creatures. All you need to do is make your garden snake-proof. You need to repair any crack and fill holes around the garden to keep away snakes. Do not grow bushes and other plants too close to your foundation as it will bring the snakes closer to your abode. Do not mulch the garden beds thickly and keep garbage bags in a sealed trash can. Keep your lawn neatly cut and do not leave a pile of leaves, rocks and wood in the garden. Keep the rodent and gopher population in check. The lower branches of the shrubs and bushes should be cut at least 12 inches from the ground to keep away garden snakes.

These are some of the points regarding garden snakes that may come visiting your yard. A garden snake will probably laze around the rocks or under the shade of plants on a warm day. They have beautiful color patterns and keep away the common garden pests. Mind your own business and the snakes will mind theirs. Maintain a safe distance to avoid a sssss-ccccarryyy encounter with a garden snake!