My first visitor was around 10am today. I was in the process of putting tags on seed pods when I noticed something between the pots moving. Yeap, it was a snake. A baby Garter, appx 24" long and about as big as a pencil, black with 2 yellow stripes down it's back. I don't think the little one even saw me. I told him it was ok to stay and grow in my garden. The only thing he needs to do is catch as many voles as possible when he gets big enough to eat one.

Then about 1pm, I was in another area of the garden, again putting on more tags(I had a long lunch break today) when I went to step around an old tiller covered up with a big tub, I caught a movement. This time it was not a baby but a big, really big for a blue racer. He was around 5 foot long and about the size of 1" pipe at his biggest side. Blue Racers are good snakes, but they will bite. I've been bitten twice by one and it may have been this very one. So, I told him to go on his way because he was between me and the pots I needed to get to to put the labels on. He promptly looked up at me and took off. They can move fast, really fast and I did not try to stop him!! The last time I handled a Racer, last year, I took one out of a tree that was up next to the house. The tree had a pot hanging on a low limb and a Wren had built her nest in the pot. The snake was climbing the tree to get to the nest. I could see the pot and the snake out of my living room window, so I interfered with his climb for supper and he didn't like it one bit. I got a good hold on him but he managed to get his head out too far, and I got bit. They have teeth like a catfish and they didn't feel good burried into my hand. Of course, he didn't just bite, he held on and I couldn't hold him and pry his mouth off my hand, so I had to get my daughter to come out and get him unhooked from my hand. Now, imagine me standing there holding the snake about 6" from his head and his mouth clamped onto my other hand. My daughter(30) is telling me in no uncertain terms that she WAS NOT GOING TO TOUCH THAT SNAKE!!!!! I gave her my gloves(naturally I didn't have them on) and told her to grab the snake behind his head. After several false starts and much encouragement from me, she finally got a death grip on the poor snake, who still had my hand in his mouth. I was able to take my other hand and pry his mouth off my hand(my daughter is all this time, squealing like a little girl pig for me to hurry up so she could drop the snake. NOPE, you can't drop him, that's why I caught him in the first place, he has to go to the woods. So, again, I this time, got a really good hold on him and let my dear squealing daughter turn him loose. I then took him out to the woods, away from the bird nest. I'm quite sure he probably beat me back to the house, but he didn't bother the birds again.

Last year, I only saw one snake all year. This year, I've seen 5. In the 19 years that we've lived here, we've only had one bad snake on our 3 acre lot(that we know of). It was a huge, reallly reallly huge, copperhead laying in our driveway. He was about 50' from our front door. He would not leave, period. He was sunning on the concrete and had no intention of leaving. So, my DH helped him on to that great big garden in the sky with his shotgun!! The dogs were having fits, the same dogs that never even see the good snakes, so we atleast know that they didn't like bad snakes. Since we have 2 acres in uncleared woods as part of out property, we have been really lucky not to see anymore bad ones.

Oh me, I gotta go move a water hose. Hope ya'll talk about your visitors, too. I didn't get to take any pictures, sorry.

We had one in April. It was in the Crape Myrtle next to where we park at James'. There was an bird nest ( nothing in it) in the tree so I imagine he was looking for breakfast. I wanted him down because I didn't want him trying to wiggle his way into the van and then give me a scare while I was driving. Anyway, I did get him down and then later he was spotted crawling across the concrete by the house.




I'm not sure what kind he is. Someone said a male black snake but he also looks like the pine snakes we have around here.

When I lived at my old place, it was 10 acres, I only saw 1 bad snake the 2 1/2 years I was there. It was a baby rattle snake and I'm sure the mama wasn't too far away.

I have only seen a couple others when I'm cutting the grass way out back where we keep all the pots and that's only if the grass gets really thick.

We do have a bunny that I believe lives in one of the beds. I've seen a baby bunny in it and this one (most likely the mama) is always hopping around the beds. It doesn't pays us no mind, just keeps eating or playing when we are out there.

Hmmm, now what might be worse?

Uninvited guests or a snake?

Let me think....

I think, that might be a wash out for most. Me, I'll take the snakes. I don't mind uninvited guest as long as they are respectful of all they see. But, don't mess with my stuff!

OMG I will never live near the woods, I HATE snakes. I had a possum visit my garden a first ever. He was on the neighbors shed by my back yard and the dogs were barking like crazy all over the place. I don't have any dogs, but the neighbors behind me do. I see squirrels and birds, thats all thank God. I have a wooden fence in the back, it keeps stuff out, plus I live in the city. We found a turtle out back once, I had my son take him to the front yard so he could leave my yard. Here is my garden visitor.

Dot



he took off down the back fence and disappeared

Next time you get snake bit Mona, take some vinegar and squirt it into his mouth, the snake will promptly let go. (ask me how I know remember, it's my son with that 9 or 10 foot boa claiming a bedroom in my house right now!)

I don't mind snakes - and as far as I know, there are no poisonous ones nearby. Now the family Cottage in PA is a different story - rattlers and copperheads there - but they mostly stay on the other side of the river thank goodness ~Jan

We get possums here along with coyotes, raccoons, fox, armadillos, and who knows what else. At least they only come out in the middle of the night (unlike your visitor Dot) when no ones outside.

I CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE!!!!! We don't even have squirrels!

Oh my goodness. You are very brave. I do not think I could have stayed calm with the snake teeth in my hand. I would have probably lost my hand banging it into the brick house.

I have only seen one small gardner snake so far this year.

I have lots of turkeys and birds.







This is my resident woodpecker

Oh I love your Pileated Woodpecker. I miss the ones at my old place. These two were always together.




Then there were the Sherman Fox Squirrels that would come visit. We had two but the dark colored one wouldn't get close enough for a photo, but this one wasn't scared to come right over by the daylily area I had at the old place. They make 2-3 different nests so sometimes she (I think this one was the female) would be spotted way out yonder in the cow pastures behind our property or in the nest right in our horse paster by the barn




Most of the time if they spot you watching them they will lay out flat like in the photo trying to blend in so you won't see them. If they are high enough in a tree it works well because the darker one would do that and I couldn't find him whatsoever in the tree to take a photo.

Betty, WHAT no squirrels. You lucky girl. We used to get so many squirrels and they were cute running around chasing each other, swinging like Tarzan on on Weeping Willow branches that hung low. The juveniles would do that, the adults hunted acorns. They were cute until they started digging in my daylily beds.
I had one that would come onto the porch that had been painted and he would eat the paint chips that were flaking up.


see the paint chip in his mouth


When there got to be probably 40-50 squirrels that were coming around digging in all the beds (front, side, back) I had to start thinning them out. They can get inside your car and chew the wires if they decide they want to use them for there nests and I sure didn't need that.

Oh I forgot to mention the chipmunks, wish I had a photo. I definitely had to get rid of those because they can multiply like rabbits and if they get under your house foundation and dig lots of tunnels it can mess it up. They had tunnels everywhere and would come on the porch and nibble on my potted flowers. I had some seedlings that I had potted up and sat near one of the daylily beds and the chipmunks would come nibble then down to a nub.

Nibbling on my seedlings down to a nub is equal to a death sentence! I share. I share all the acorns on my 100+ oak trees and hickory nuts by the thousands in my yard. I share my cat's food at night with possums, rackoons, and unknown others. I share all my bowls of water that I fill regularly for all the wild animals. I share my sprinklers with all the birds, even when my plants don't need water, the birds love it so much. I share untold amounts of $25 bags of sunflower seed with all my spoiled birds. I'll even share my gardens with snakes, armidillos, voles, moles, rabbits, squirrels, bats, wild cats, skanks, and whatever else visits when I'm not outside. BUT!!! They must not eat my daylilies. I do not share them!

I was weeding in my daylily garden, that I put rabbit fencing around a few weeks ago... and heard a rustling...

and out popped a baby bunny! It jumped through the fencing and took off - followed by my dogs. Dogs didn't catch it, but I am hoping they frightened it enough that it will STAY OUT

By the way, great squirrel and bird photos! ~Jan

I don't really want any snakes in my garden so I am just as glad that there are none here. Plenty of Squirrels though.

We have every critter that crawls or walks in the southeast, most are harmless but they will make you hurt yourself. Had two of these chicken snakes in the same tree a couple of years ago, harmless but huge.

Oh yuck. At least they are harmless. This city girl wouldn't the difference from one type of snake to another.

I don't mind the squirrels. They will occasionally dig up a bulb or a petunia but they pretty much leave everything else alone. I grew fond of them while growing up in San Diego. Mostly because the ground squirrels out that way have evolved with the rattlesnakes and many of them are immune and so would mess with the snakes and alert passers by to the snake's presence. I am absolutely mortified of snakes. I have no idea why but even watching National Geographic shows about them makes my heart race and I feel a little nauseated.



I loathe chipmunks. This spring I found a daffodil growing out from a hole leading under the porch because one of those little boogers dragged it under there before realizing it wasn't appetizing!

I had a garden visitor on one of my daylilies. Look closely and you will see a juvenile praying mantis on this flower.

I love praying mantis. We don't see very many here but when I lived in South Carolina there would be 1000s of the babies everywhere it seemed when the eggs would hatch.

Well I was going to spray all my daylilies with neem oil but I think I will be selective and only spray those that look sickly. I sure don't want to kill all the good bugs.