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This is a garter snake. It moved very quickly!
Today in my garden
- Thread starter R.R.
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Like seeing those around, they take care of a lot of bugs. Just to be different and kind of experiment here in cold wet Connecticut I built a outside cactus garden and can see quite a few of these snakes in the area when they need a little warmth .
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That's a big one, Zigs!
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Snakes! those things scare me.
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Lucky you. We used to have garter snakes and tree frogs until the city raccoons got so plentiful. Never see or hear either any more.
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Yikes, I don't like snakes one bit... I have the hardest time telling when a snake his a dangerous one or not, because as soon as I see something moving I freak out. My mmom is the same way, we can't stand snakes... I grew up in a place where you'd often see very nasty and mortal snakes, so... no time to lose.
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Thankfully I can say I know of no garter snakes being seen around here since I was a child. Not keen on snakes at all. I'll stick with my garden toads and lizards, thanks! (Just wish they'd hurry and get rid of the darn snails!)
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At least it wasn't one of these:
I was thinking the same thing Dave....Mean little boogers, them Copperheads are!!
I was on my knees in the water of a creek where a feeder spring was coming into the main creek and was digging around for arrowheads with my attention on my hands I did not see the one shown below coming down the feeder spring until he was in striking distance of my face! Thank the Lord I had my pistol on..so I just fell backwards and pulled my pistol and began to fire at the snake as he was still coming at me in the main creek, eventually hitting it in the head on the third shot. The bullet went in right where the head joins the body on the right looking at the image. Needless to say that put a damper on digging in the creek for a few minutes.
I was struck on the calf of my right leg in October of 1994 by a Cottonmouth moccasin, several miles back in a national forest and we had no cell phones then. That is not a pleasant experience. God had to have been there because the teeth did not make it through my rubber boots. They strike so hard that it left a softball sized bruise on my calf for over two weeks, I had on a rubber boot with my pants leg inside the boot and socks....I thought that I had been hit with a big rock.
Oh, I know those well. We were putting mulch down one day, my husband throwing the mulch out of the pickup bed, me on the ground spreading it. It was summer and quite hot out, and I, as usual, was barefoot. And not really looking where I was going. All of a sudden I stepped on something "shiny" and squishy. It wrapped around my foot and slapped the top of my foot. Oh course, I screamed like a little girl and started dancing around. My heart about beat out of my chest. When I looked down, I saw this little garter snake slithering off into the tall grass.
My husband, being a typical man, didn't even notice!! The thing could have been a rattlesnake and bit me, and I could have been dying from snake poisoning, but if I wasn't where he was throwing the mulch, he never would have noticed.
I'm also familiar with these, for a very similar reason. We lived in a place that was wooded, and the previous owners had allowed the garden beds that where next to the house to become extremely overgrown. My husband was cleaning them up, when he came across a nest of tcopperheads. He thought he had killed them all, but....
A few nights later, I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. And I stepped on something - again it was slick and squishy. I could tell it was something alive and seemed to be a big worm, but I realized that it was a snake. The scream quickly woke my husband up and when I told him I'd stepped on a snake, he didn't believe me. I made him turn on all the lights and we started looking around. Sure enough, we found a baby copperhead, which my husband quickly dispatched (by throwing a heavy book on it, then stepping on the book).
Afterwards, we discovered that baby copperheads are actually more deadly than adults, because they can't control their venom, and if they strike, they release all of their venom. I was lucky that it didn't bite me.
I can tell you, for a few weeks after, I always thought twice about getting up in the middle of the night!!
Oh I'm sure he would have noticed when his 'throw' pile started to add up, and would have taken care of you,,,,,,,,,,,,,as soon as you were done spreading the mulch
Yeah, exactly. The conversation would have gone something like this, "Well since you're laying on the ground, writhing in pain, you might as well spread the mulch, since you're down there anyway. While you're flailing around, could you move over a little to the left?!"Oh I'm sure he would have noticed when his 'throw' pile started to add up, and would have taken care of you,,,,,,,,,,,,,as soon as you were done spreading the mulch