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Reptiles & Amphibians

Attracting rodent-eating snakes

newhomeowner-2009

16 years ago

So we have a few garter snakes hanging around the house, though I haven't seen any since last summer. Here's my question: is there any way I can make the vicinity of my house more garter-snake friendly?

The reason is that I have a kind of mouse phobia, and we've had a few lately, even in the summer. I have no problem with snakes at all, but mice give me the willies, and I know that those kinds of snakes love to eat mice. So I'm interested in making my house snake-friendly! Any ideas appreciated.

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Comments (2)

danetherton
16 years ago
Well, Garters don't eat mice much. They are more a worm and slug specialist, and love to eat fish and salamanders. But mice aren't on the menu much.

Now, if you have moved into a new home in a formerly wooded area, maybe you are seeing brown (instead of gray) mice. These are native woodland mice, and though they may get into the house, they ordinarily don't. If you are seeing small gray mouse like folks with very short tails in the garden, they are the American equivalent of Hamsters, and are called Voles, also native, and almost never go in the house.

Now, if they are little gray critters with long tails in the house, they are House Mice, and they are certainly not native.

Rodent eating snakes in your area would be difficult to tell, as you do not mention where you live, not even on your profile. Some, like the Black Rat Snake, live in trees, and use tree holes and bird boxes for a home. Racers like to hide under boards and big chunks of bark, as do Corn Snakes, King Snakes, Milk Snakes and Pine and Bull Snakes. These are all eastern snakes I mentioned, as I live in NC. Where you live determines what species of snake live in your area, and what kind of habitat alterations you can perform to attract them.
I will also say that rodents usually attract snakes anyway...
newhomeowner-2009
Original Author
16 years ago
That's discouraging about garter snakes. I live in the Catskills, and it's an old but well maintained farmhouse situated in a wooded area.

These are definitely gray, disgusting house mice. Not an uncommon problem in the Catskills, by the way.

We do indeed live in a slug-infested area. In fact, since the slugs are more of a problem than the mice, I guess this is good news. Any way to make our garters (or any actual rodent-eating snakes in the area) feel more at home?
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