Well what do you know!!!I thought it was all over and the cards are still rolling in!!! Thank you to LISA!!! She sent me a lovely card with 2 types of Basil (I have never seen Africa Blue CANT WAIT!!), Hakone Whate double balloon Flowers!!! Fabulous!! and "The Black Pearl" Well today is the last day of the month! I wan't to thank you all for sharing yourselves and your gardens with one another! It has been a pleasure to make new friends and get to know each of you a just a little bit better! Happy Mailboxing! Frances

Christie, Yes, it sounds like a very typical garter snake den. You will tend to see the biggest numbers around this time in March when they start to emerge (one or two may even come out on warm days in January or February but they won't stray far from their holes then). They'll hang around the den for about two weeks and then disperse. Of course one or two might go to the den in August or some other time to escape the heat, but for the most part most will migrate away from dens later in March and return in mid to late October. The hole is probably relatively deep and probably holds many more than 5 snakes..maybe 30 or more. I have a den in my yard too and know of several in my residential neighborhood. It doesn't take much of a hole, a rock wall, or a stump for a garter snake den. Some of Missouri's other snakes require more extensive communal dens in deep cracks of bluffs. But garter snakes have pretty minimal den requirements. They don't need a back entrance although there could be one..but what you see could be their main, and maybe only, way in and out. All of these are guesses based on the typical dens I am familiar with. Obviously there can be great variability. You may see the snakes in mating balls this time of year near their dens. If you see 3 or 4 smaller snakes racing around and trying to get on a bigger one, you're most likely looking at a few frisky males trying to get with a female. Unlike humans, among garter snakes the females are usually larger than the males.

It got up to a toasty 67 degrees today and the snakes clearly approved. That's the earliest in the year I have seen a copperhead here. I'll post some pictures of the snakes and habitat when I get a chance.

I "stumbled" upon this thread as I'm reading quite a bit on snakes lately. I moved into an area in Alabama that is known to have Copperheads, (unknowingly until AFTER we closed on the home) and there are other snakes (Cottonmouths, rat snakes...) as well. I haven't seen Cottonmouths but I have seen other snakes. I have eliminated quite a bit of the things that provide food and shelter for them. I plan to expand quite a bit of hardscape (concrete, crushed aggregate, river rock, pavers/patio) and ALL monkey grass, jasmine, pine straw, and other ground cover including shrubbery will be history. The goal is to keep everything clean and green and incredibly unpleasant for snakes. I have also found rodent holes and filled them with crushed aggregate, and rocks. I make certain to use long garden tool handles to push the rock into the holes and pack them to the point where no further material can be packed. We have killed two Copperheads to this point. one was under my vehicle as I headed out one morning. We have younger children, visitors, dogs and cats... that may not be aware of the dangers. The Copperheads are particularly dangerous as they can be aggressive and may not be easily seen by an unsuspecting visitor... We want to decrease the likelihood of an encounter but we also don't allow the snakes to live once we discover them on the premises.