I think I have seen ONE in my lifetime and it was a long time ago. My problem with moving mulch from my pile is that many snakes lay eggs in the warm mulch and for some reason the day I start diggin in with my pitchfork is the day they start hatching and I end up injuring some before I discover whats going on. I need all the snakes I can get for my yard. Now if I could just find a winter active vole hunting snake the world would be perfect.

Last year I had gater snakes everywhere. This year I have not seen a single one. I'd run to the store and get garter snake attractant but it would most likely back fire and bring in deer to eat everything. Seriously, I would like to know why they are staying away this year as I still see plenty of sign their food is not in short supply here. I might even have gained a gopher from the looks of things.

Jo, any time you catch and release a critter, you can pretty well plan on it coming back. It's fine to be a humanitarian about it, just as long as you know that's what they're going to do. I think that some of them can beat you back to the property, and dumping them where they'll be a problem for someone else is not a very good plan either. I hate to have to shoot things, but there are times when it's really the only thing to do. Dawn, I know what you mean abut every day being an adventure. When I went out to check the tomatoes earlier, I found a small turtle that was feasting on a small fruit I had tossed aside. Not a terrapin. An actual turtle. I just left him alone. One of the more exciting things that happened is that I have a big bank of windows in front of my computer and around to the side, so I get a really good view of most of the pasture. One day during the heavy snow, in the middle of the afternoon, I saw something swoop down and grab a small prey and then fly up to the top of one of the sheds. I figured it was a hawk. Naturally, I got out the big binocs, because I wanted a closer look. Imagine my amazement when he turned his head and looked at me and I realized it was not a hawk at all. It was a huge owl, out hunting in mid-day! As far as those black snakes, we tried the artificial eggs, and I tried jamming the holes full of bird netting, and we shot a bunch of them. I was horrified to learn that they can kill a full-grown hen. My neighbor who raises chickens as a business is the one who told me what the problem was, after I had him come and look at a dead bird. What seemed to finally cut the population way down was when I put out that Snake Stopper powder. I've only done it once, and probably need to renew it pretty soon, but we haven't found a snake in the chickenhouse since then. Not that they can't come in and steal eggs and leave again. I just haven't seen any of them this summer. I scattered the powder when I figured snake season was about to begin, as soon as it really warmed up, and it seems to be working.. Pat

Well, as of this morning the fish is still alive! I thought he had died over night when I didn't see him but there was no body in the skimmer. Then I thought that maybe a raccoon had made off with him. But then I saw a little bit of orange under some leaves. I touched it and his tail moved back and forth! It looks like his survival instinct is intact enough to hide (and he can move well enough to do it) so I'm holding out hope. If he makes it, he will be named "Mayweather"! I've seen snakes eat some pretty big things too but this snake couldn't even get part of the fish's head in his mouth. He could only drag it and bite between it's eyes. I know the snake likes to hang out in the very shallow corner of the pond (about an inch deep). I can only imagine that the fish was rooting around for food and "goosed" the snake. I just can't imagine how the snake managed to drag the fish out of the water and six feet away into the garden! I just wish the snake was that aggressive to the mice and moles!