C.Meens, is this home you are in a NEW home, or have you been there for a good while? If you've lived there a good while, I wouldn't worry much, BUT, IF you have just moved to your home, they likely have a spot close to your home where they overwinter. After I lost my past home in a divorce/bankrupcy situation, the guy that bought it (it's close to my present home) said there were Garter snakes living under the siding, they couldn't have been there long, so, he was able to get rid of them, OR they were living there unbeknownst to me when I lived there. BUT, they couldn't have been there for TOO long when I had been there, the double wide wasn't THAT old anyway. I wouldn't worry unless the house is new to you and keep finding more and more Garter snakes in your yard, There IS a house that was FAMOUS for having a swarm of them living in the walls and everywhere, BUT, I am sure THAT house has been deemed unfit for occupation by humans. I'd seen it on TV and REALLY IF somebody sold THAT house to anyone KNOWING the situation, they'll get sued big time. IT was MAYBE in Idaho or Iowa some place in the Midwest I THINK. Sorry, it may be the Vodka talking, but YOUR house is likely fine, I've seen a garter snake here and there, but, NOT this year yet. I've also seen a black racer snake many years ago. I am glad to see the snakes are NOT venomous ones. IF they do hang around you MAY have some rodents around for them to be hanging around your place. Do you have some animal feed that may be attracting mice? I HOPE this helps, I wouldn't worry, maybe they have overwintered in a hole in the ground near your place.

I'm petrified of dead mice and living ones out here in the New Mexico can carry Bubonic Plague or Hantavirus. So, we use a combination of mousetraps (that DH has to empty for me), steel wool into every possible opening they can get into and pure peppermint oil. Our pest control people told me that mice (and packrats, another huge problem out here) have highly sensitive noses and for some reason hate the smell of peppermint. It must be the pure oil, though, and not the peppermint extract sold for cooking. I stuff plastic webbed tubing with cotton balls, tie off both ends with rubberbands or plastic coated wire ties and then put several drops of peppermint oil on them. I put them in corners and along the walls where I know the mice travel, as mice follow the urine scents they leave as they walk and tend to use the same routes over and over. I buy the peppermint oil at my local Ace Hardware store. You may be able to get the tubing there, too. I'm still using the bunch my pest control people gave me, so I haven't had to buy any as yet. Re-moisten the cottonballs every month. I've been using mine for a couple of years now, so they do last. Here's the oil I use: And here's what I use to make them with: I've also used one of those high frequency emitters outside in our seating area on the front portal. It needs to be plugged into an outlet and seems to have worked fairly well. I need to remember to buy a new one as mine broke a while back. Lynn

I love the unlovable animals too. toads,lizards,snakes(except copperheads),i've killed 2 copperheads and i was sure they were copperheads,we are overrun with the things and my hound was bit by one. I still feel bad about killing them as i even take spiders,granddaddy longlegs and grasshoppers outside to avoid killing them. i have heard a panther a time or two but never seen one. Don't use pesticides except once when a Direct tv serviceman made me sprey the wasp nests around our porch.They had never bothered me. I have never seen a possum around here. They must all live in town. LOL Have all kinds of birds,bugs,and creepy things. I leave them all alone except for copperheads and if they left my dogs alone i'd leave them alone. Its really true that its a jungle out there and humans are the most dangerous animal of all. vickie

The more time you spend in the garden, the less they will want to be there. Definitely make noise and let any of the dangerous snakes know that they can't make that area their hunting ground. As far as mulch, I garden in un-walled beds and do use straw/hay in the growing areas, but on paths I use wood chips. Snakes would be visible on the chips. There are a lot of copperheads here in Tn., but they don't like people and if you can keep your living area free of debris where they can 'den', you can largely prevent them from wanting to make your yard a home. This time of year the young ones are migrating some to establish a territory. You need to make it obvious that your yard is not an appropriate place.