Dear heavens, you don't have to tell me about mice, voles, chipmunks, and squirrels. I've got a bumper crop of them too. As usual, kimmsr is right (a sweeping bow to kimmsr). The pile is quite dry. Although garter snakes do eat earthworms, they also like other things, and I suspect they are hunting baby voles and baby chipmunks. Slugs don't seem to be present in the compost, but the snakes will go to my gardens to hunt slugs and toads. I have a crazy neighbor lady who feeds the squirrels and chipmunks. Bless her heart (She goes out every night with a bucket of unshelled peanuts and puts them in the feeders for the rodents. Gee, I don't know why the rest of the neigborhood is having a chipmunk infestation. I find chipmunk holes all over the place, along with empty peanut shells. I had a general chat with her, just to see what she's thinking, and she informed me that she hates the hawks that hang around because the hawks are after her squirrels and chipmunks. She is not of this planet. I'm rooting for the hawks. :-) Sure enough, when leaving for work one morning last week, a beautiful red tail hawk was tearing apart a squirrel on my front lawn. Anyway, it looks like there is a 'munk nest (probably voles too) hanging out in the compost area. A garter snake buffet! Ah, voles. Don't you hate them? Honestly, aside from snakes and a cat, there's not much that works. Neither the snakes nor that cat are all that good at eliminating large numbers of rodents in a short period of time. I tried the granules -- you know, the sharp ones that are supposed to be uncomfortable for voles. It obviously didn't work, but then I learned that voles, especially the females, have very complex underground runs with many exits. They also seem to make new ones quickly. All I did was give them an obstacle that caused them to use alternatives. Did the predator urine thing too. Coyote urine. Despite the fact that we have 2 dogs that pee in the yard and it doesn't seem to deter the voles, we thought it clever to purchase expensive, smelly coyote urine. But again, given their ability to use alternate runs and their propensity for making new tunnels, it had little effect on the voles. Of course, neither voles nor chipmunks are as simplistic as we are, lol, and I found a study that essentially said that predator "byproducts" may keep the vermin at bay for a day or two. Eventually the drive to forage for food and/or find mates outweighs the risk of *possibly* encountering a predator. Success breeds success, and when the critters venture out to eat or mate and find no imminent threat, they start to ignore the urine. Sigh. I use mouse traps baited with grains, apples, or peanut butter and put them at the entrances to the vole runs. If you're worried about something coming into contact with the trap, cover it with a pail turned upside down over both the hole and the trap. When and if the vole is attracted by the food and exits the hole -- snap! It's ugly, but it's the only "sure kill" of any given vole. Keep doing it until you go several days without catching anything. Then try moving the traps someplace else where there are entrances to vole runs. My only concern is accidentally killing moles. Those star-nosed moles are especially cute. It's usually easy to tell the difference between a vole hole and a mole hole, as the mole hole will usually show loosened, slightly piled, soil around the outside of the hole. It looks obvious that something pushed up some dirt. Vole holes are usually "clean" with no sign of loosened soil at the entrance of the hole. I let the cat handle the chipmunks. It's not terribly efficient, but I don't want to deal with chipmunk carcasses. I used a havahart trap once to catch the chipmunk that was burrowing under the house's foundation. Ok, now that you've caught it what do you do with it? Drive it down the road a few miles and let it out at someone else's house? How to win friends. :-)

C.Meens, is this home you are in a NEW home, or have you been there for a good while? If you've lived there a good while, I wouldn't worry much, BUT, IF you have just moved to your home, they likely have a spot close to your home where they overwinter. After I lost my past home in a divorce/bankrupcy situation, the guy that bought it (it's close to my present home) said there were Garter snakes living under the siding, they couldn't have been there long, so, he was able to get rid of them, OR they were living there unbeknownst to me when I lived there. BUT, they couldn't have been there for TOO long when I had been there, the double wide wasn't THAT old anyway. I wouldn't worry unless the house is new to you and keep finding more and more Garter snakes in your yard, There IS a house that was FAMOUS for having a swarm of them living in the walls and everywhere, BUT, I am sure THAT house has been deemed unfit for occupation by humans. I'd seen it on TV and REALLY IF somebody sold THAT house to anyone KNOWING the situation, they'll get sued big time. IT was MAYBE in Idaho or Iowa some place in the Midwest I THINK. Sorry, it may be the Vodka talking, but YOUR house is likely fine, I've seen a garter snake here and there, but, NOT this year yet. I've also seen a black racer snake many years ago. I am glad to see the snakes are NOT venomous ones. IF they do hang around you MAY have some rodents around for them to be hanging around your place. Do you have some animal feed that may be attracting mice? I HOPE this helps, I wouldn't worry, maybe they have overwintered in a hole in the ground near your place.

Hi - it definitely is a garter snake - not sure which species, but probably a Plains garter snake. Perfectly harmless. Hope this helps! Tucker

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