I spent 32 years living in the country but the last 15 I was a city dweller. That is until January of this year. We moved out of state and purchased a house that is bordered by woods and a small river. I haven't seen any garter snakes yet but I did chase a 2.5 ft Black Rat Snake (non venomous and move verrrry slowwwwwly) out of our fenced in back yard 2 weeks ago. The snakes don't bother me; it is the spiders that are the size of my cat's head that freak me out. Found this Skinny Legged Wolf spider on the glass sliders yesterday. The concrete that he is sitting on us about 3" wide so that gives you a good idea of how big this thing was.