Oh, man. I wish I had snakes. Occasionally I see a black snake and get all happy. I have so many moles and voles that they've pushed up my flagstones and walking on the yard is an exercise in ankle strain. I admit to using Grub-X, but while the grass (non-mole spots) are looking like grass, evidently the moles and voles have something else to live on. I have a good snake story, though. I have this one area where even though I stomp on the mole trails, they redig them into a raised bed. I keep moving plants away from their trail, but inevitably they end up under this one heuchera. One day, I was standing in the yard talking on the phone. I saw something dark move near the heuchera, and couldn't figure it out. I thought it might be a hurt mouse or something. I don't know why I didn't think mole. Anyway, upon closer inspection, it was a snake backing into the mole trail away from me. He'd found a little smorgasboard. Unfortunately, he must have gotten full and left, because the moles are more than ever. But it was so cool to find this snake doing his think in the garden! I like snakes. Not big on spiders, but I like snakes. C.

Garter snake=harmless. Cotton mouth= Yikes! Too scary, countrycarolyn. I had an uncle from Ohio that was came to visit us in Alabama to hunt. We took him up to Mt. Cheaha where we saw some guy trying to capture a HUGE (my young mind remembers it being about 5' long, but I don't was know what it was in reality) rattlesnake alive so he could take it to some lady who milked the venom and did research. I guess she was not normal, having a hobby like that. My uncle hates snakes and decided right then and there that Alabama was a No Hunting Zone. I was amazed when I moved to NH that there are NO native poisonous snakes. NONE! Hard to believe. My 11yo daughter can catch snakes with her hands. I guess she's not normal, either. This week in the garden we saw a big garter snake with a huge bulge in its body. Don't know what it had for dinner, but it looked like it was about the size of a mole or vole. What a helpful snake! P.S. Once in Alabama there was a small rattle snake underneath my bed. I have no idea how it got there, but it was quite a surprise to see it staring at me when I went to get a box out. Remembering my parents' adrenaline-pumped strategy to kill the thing is still a hysterical memory. I'm not too scared of snakes, and they would have been better off letting me try to catch it, but then I would have missed out on one of the most hysterically funny episodes of my childhood. The best paid comedy writer couldn't have made it any funnier.

Hey DBD, and thank you so much for your answers.. Do you think that bump will ever disappear?? I will go and buy that fish filet.. Thanks again Susanne(SUE)

He or she won't hibernate under your crawl space - it won't be protected well enough under there. Likely it will crawl back to the woods, or hibernate in the chipmunk hole he visits. Females grow larger than males and have a tail that tapers more quickly - not an easy way to distinguish them, I know. See the link below for detailed species accounts and photos. joe Here is a link that might be useful: garter snake photos and info