I have had it with these m*****f****** snakes in these *****f****** potatoes

What KIND of snakes?

Rattlers ?





David

This probably accounts for the absence of mice and other obnoxious creatures in your potatoe patch.

Black mambas.














Just kidding. They're garter sankes. But there are a lot of them.

Biscuit, the fluffy killer cat keeps bringing them inside.

Well okay... that's good.

They are harmless. Leave them alone.

Joe(and watch where you put that hoe.)Nation

It's hard to leave them alone when the cat puts them in my bed.

“I am not a zoologist, man.”

but, we have many garter snakes in the garden.

and the cats seem to like 'em here too.

hmmmm.

they won't hurt the taters...

U make a good point!





David

Quicher bitchin', Boomer. You've got carbohydrates and now, protein.

Garter snakes do have a touchy temperment. Not a bad bite, but yeah, leave them alone.

Ah. The helpful hunter cat! I once had a cat in Tulsa who liked to line up his kills on the steps of the back patio. Here's a nice salamander. Here's two fairly fat mice.

Once he tried to get us to help him with finishing off a baby rabbit by bringing it in through the cat door to the kitchen. There was screaming. Wife screaming. Kids screaming. Baby rabbit screaming. Cat completely puzzled at the lack of enthusiasm. "Hey...It's what for dinner!"

Put any dead snakes out in the yard while telling the cat you don't want them. (He/she will think you are stupid and ungrateful but will stop wasting the effort. Yes. he/she will.)

Meanwhile..

Joe(Keep your bedroom door shut)Nation

I know you.

Next thing it'll be : "Where did my lovely garter snakes go, I miss them so!"

You built it, and they came.

I had to look up garter snakes you know!

The things I do!

If you knew about their pheromonal and sex lives (including males who pretend to be females in order, or so the scientists say, to get heat) you'd not be so full of expletives!

The straw etc is slowly decomposing and makes a nice warm bed. in addition consider whether you are providing a food source. Their diet consists of almost any creature that they are capable of overpowering: slugs, earthworms, insects, leeches, lizards, spiders, amphibians, birds, fish, toads and rodents.

To remove the problem get a kookaburra or goanna.

Awww . . .
That's so sweet.
No reason for panic yet.
But if you find a horse's head, panic.

Boomerang, wear boots, put on gloves. I don't know much about these Texas snakes but there is an 18-inch brown (baby I guess) snake in our garage. We're leaving it alone, and I'm afraid to put the cats out there. We're very close to our cats (in and out, mostly in cats). They haven't caught a bird, rabbit or anything else alive for about 2 years. I scream at them should they do anything but look at those birds. At ages 10 and 3, they don't seem to "hunt" anymore, or leave the yard (half-acre) much.

Last spring my husband was planting a rose bush at the end of our house when he felt a sharp prick on his ring finger. He asked me to get tweezers and pull out what he thought must be a sliver, but no sliver was there. By evening he was in agony with that swollen aching (stiff) finger so went to the emergency room. They treated it, gave him some very strong antibiotics to be taken four days. To end the story, he eventually had an operation on that finger. He had cellulitis. So, he must have been bitten by something, or some one. Thank goodness he got those antibiotics.

Big shoes. Gloves.

Could have been a spider.

I got goddamn cellulitis from spider bites twice.

My granny used to have a big compost pile. It was full of garter snakes. The cat's used to bring her their conquests as well. We would go out snake hunting and catch them, but we quickly tired of them because they stunk. They don't normally bite but they do keep the rodents in check. I wouldn't really worry about them, they're pretty harmless and they won't eat the spuds.

garter snakes do have a stink about em. Other than that jut throw em onto a neighbors yard.

Despite the fact that we've been married for 20 years, Mr. B still prefers that I remove my boots and gloves before coming to bed.

The snakes don't bother me much when they stay in the potatoes, it's when the cat brings the snakes in that I have a problem.

I think I figured the snake situation out today! My neighbors did some planting along the fence -- I think the snakes lived on their side before the digging/planting happened. I found a rather large tunnel, maybe 3" around, coming from their side into my garden today.

Dlowan is right -- I'd be all "where's my snakes" if something happened to them at this point. As long as they don't get big enough to eat the cat I'll deal with them.

Speaking of the cat.... my neighbor suggested to me that I should attach one of those tiny cameras to her collar (first I'd need to get her to wear a collar without hating the world about it) that took a photo every few minutes.

It seems that Biscuit does a 45 minute stroll through her yard each morning. My back fence neighbor considers Biscuit her kid's pet (since she won't get them a pet) and my next door neighbor, left, spends hours petting Biscuit while my next door neighbor, right, has spotted Biscuit roaming through her house. I've notice that Biscuit prefers the porch two doors down for napping, and the fence four doors down for watching the school yard action. She also attends the daily fetch between the dog and me and, of course, is always somewhere catching but not killing something.

My cat's life is more interesting than mine.