So glad that Hissy has found a good temporary home. I've always loved snakes and have had them as pets since I was a child. Later, when I was in grad school and living in an apartment just off campus, my much younger brother brought a rat snake home from scout camp. Unfortunately, my father, who was terrified of snakes, announced that either the snake went or he would go, so naturally I took him off my brother's hands and installed him in a nice herpetarium in my apartment (at which point I discovered just who my friends were and weren't!) Kaa (as I named him, from Kipling of course) stayed with me until I had to move to another location, at which point I found a new home for him.I would love to have a snake pet again, but now I'm in a New York City apartment and haven't the room it would need. I'm hoping that Hissy will find a wonderful new home. Thanks to you for being so kind in rescuing him even though you weren't familiar with snakes!

I LOVE your very private garden and pond! I realize lots of people love 'wide open spaces', but coming from the wind swept plains of western MN I have liked walled or fenced gardens since I was first introduced to the amazing things people in LA and San Diego could do with a tiny walled patch of paradise, where space is such a luxury. The sitting areas, the bridge, the plantings...I like it all! Wish I could figure out how to do that in my yard. Thanks for sharing, S

In my opinion best advice is to seek treatment for phobia. I had a severe phobia of dogs that I had to get treated and it is very worth it and I think a lot of people that have more "socially acceptable phobias" (e.g. spiders or snakes rather than beloved dogs, people thought I was evil for being scared of dogs! even though I have been up to cottonmouths before and been fine, didn't bother me,... but as a kid I got CHASED DOWN by dogs and attacked so...). We share this world with a lot of creatures, it's something to get used to. Desensitization&exposure therapy is best to build yourself up first before you ever see one. That being said, eliminating brush piles in areas you frequent/maintain a lot, keeping it open will keep snakes out of those areas and make them favor more wild spots. Keeping things open tends to be best for the more cultivated areas of the garden anyway, to maintain airflow. ALSO snakes are often not very active in the day except after rains. They don't like being out in the open especially in the day because one of their main predators, hawks, can see them. I rarely see snakes around my house and I have a bunch of brush lol I've only seen them out at night (there's the cutest baby kingsnake but i digress). avoid times when snakes are most active and you'll be a lot less likely to see them. anyway best of luck treating your phobia, it's a hard road but very worth it to be free of it

Zeetera, I LOVE lizards, they are so fun. My cats keep the lizard population down here, we used to see a lot of blue-tailed skinks. I like the green lizards or the tan/brown ones like we played with in FL all the time. They aren't big though, just little and fast. There are black snakes there that like to hunt them. Patti, I want you to know, I had snake dreams last night, 2 different ones. In one, 2 big snakes were trying to squeeze a fawn to death. Woody rescued it and then we had a fawn to care for. lol Great. I'm already tired and now a fawn? Then, a big poisonous snake was in some leaves,I saw it moving, told Woody and then it struck at me but I had jeans on and it glanced off- I'm surprised I didn't have a heart attack in my sleep! In my dream, Woody grabbed it behind the head and dispatched it. (Sorry, Marilyn, but it was just a dream!) See what you started!?