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I know they are "God's creatures" as my grandsons say. I say they are fine until they come near me or on my property and then it is death to them. I live on a farm and rarely see them. We have lots of cats so that helps.
When I was a kid, I used to play the chase game, on a dirt road behind my house, with a Blue Racer. I thought it was great fun. These days, I am wishing that the Black snakes I saw when I first moved in here would come back and catch all the mice that keep getting in my car and are too cagey to get trapped. I have never seen such intelligent mice, they have un-baited about six different types of trap and not gotten killed in the process. Have tried all the scent things that have been recommended too to no avail.
Yooper32 aka: Donna B
Last summer I saw a red eastern garter snake crawl up the concrete foundation and slither under the siding on the house. Freaked me out!! Surely he could get into the basement by doing this?? Now I have the black and yellow garter snakes in the side yard. Makes me leery about cutting grass.
Funny. If you are a gardener you will get over your fear quickly. Make them your friends - they are wonderful for the gardens.
It would thrill me to death to have to deal with garter snakes. I live on a farm right next to the river and have a big cottonmouth problem. Killed my first one of the season yesterday morning. I usually kill around a dozen a year. They range in size from 3 to 5.5 feet long. This one was about 6 feet from the house. Love my shotguns!
Melinda in Tulsa
Where the wind comes whipping thru the plains and we really DO have Earthquakes!
Love my Babylock Unity, Symphony and Serenade!
I am petrified of snakes & live in south Texas and behind my house is farmers fields so we get a few rat snakes, bull snakes, rattlers and my dogs killed a Coral snake in my back yard, that makes 4 Coral snakes killed withing a 3 block area of my house. Unfortunately my middle daughter loves snakes & every other kind of bug, reptile ect she has gotten bit several times picking up snakes. I'm so afraid she's going to get a hold of one she doesn't know is poisonous, they live in Bulgaria now so I'm sure there are some poisonous ones she don't recognize over there.
I grew up with 3 older brothers that loved to tease and torment with snakes, spiders and other creepy things. As far as I am concerned the only place for any of them is in a zoo that I am not going to.
I lived in New Mexico for awhile and we had rattle snakes. We bought a pair of geese and we never saw a rattle snake for the rest of the time we lived there. They took care of them.
I am too POSITIVE to be doubtful, too OPTIMISTIC to be fearful and way to DETERMINED to be defeated.
This has been the most interesting thread! Were I live in BC we have racers, bull snakes, rubber boas, garter snakes and wandering garter snakes. We also have rattlesnakes a little further south. One day my husband was outside and came across a garter snake. Our 5 year old was outside at the time and my husband told him to come over and see the snake. When my son reached down to pick up the snake it coiled up and bit him on the hand. My husband was so surprised and shocked he killed the snake with a shovel. It turns out the snake was a wandering garter snake and they are very aggressive. Our son has been leery of snakes to this day.
When my Dad lived in Northern New Jersey, I had to get use to when walking down the broken stones steps, there were a couple of garden snakes that moved very quickly. I got use to them. I haven't seen any snakes where I live in a city in So CA but I do see small lizard running here and there as I walk.
A Good Friend, like an old quilt, is both a Treasure and a Comfort
I was raised on a farm and there was a huge black snake that lived in the barn and specifically in the grain bin. Dad was adamant about not harming his snake because that critter could eat his weight in rats and mice. We learned to give him a wide berth and not disturb him. That being said I am scared to death of any kind of snake no matter how small. We don't see them often here but I wouldn't like coming across one while weeding. I wear heavy vinyl gloves outside and long pants and tennis shoes so I'm pretty well protected against the odd thing that crops up. Spiders are another thing I can't stand.
Debra
My advice? - - - Move!! Yikes! Can't stand any creepy crawly. signed/Sissy (aka)