i talk to anoles, too. :) in fact, we- me & the kids- put them and green tree frogs in the cool greenhouse for the winter to help with bugs. don't know that it's worked, but it is fun looking for them. the big male likes to sun on my bird's perch, and he likes to flirt with me, bobbing his provocative throat pouch at me so i'll be impressed. i bob back at him and tell him he's handsome. hb- i can't say that i'm too surprised the racer was striking under those circumstances. i think i'd try to bite, too. lol. glad he didn't take off. i haven't seen ours around since he got in the net, but didn't see him before that either, so no biggie. we sight a big king snake once or twice a summer- i think it's probably the same one we've been seeing for a number of years. we kept a couple rough green snakes as pets for a summer in our terrarium with some anoles and skinks, and they were so cool. they hung out and curled up into knots together- the thing that surprised me most- and were like living sculptures. the anoles got used to them within a day or 2. they were also complete pigs, which is part of why we let them go, fat & sassy, ready for fall. when we released them, they hung out in the same tree for a couple of days- i guess they thought it was a big cage. we got some good pix of them there. my kids and i wouldn't mind having another snake, but i don't want anything that eats furry things, which eliminates most of them, unfortunately. as an aside, i haven't found a single garter snake in the 13 years we've lived here. lots of other kinds, but no garters. i thought they were ubiquitous. probably one of the coolest was the ultra tame milk snake we found one day. gorgeous markings! worm snakes are cool, too. tam

No thanks Larry. Our older dog managed to kill 6 baby rabbits this spring but he didn't get all of them because when I was hand watering the peas this morn early I ran two the same size out of a 20 ft section. Then when DH was mowing this afternoon he ran one completely out of the garden and into the woods. And the dogs of course were way at the other end of the yard asleep under a bush.

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

At 7000 ft in elevation, it would only be a Western Terrestrial (Wandering) Gartersnake (T. elegans). Checkered Gartersnakes are a lowlands snake. Furthermore, Checkered Gartersnakes don't get into Colorado. There is a nice discussion of CO snakes here - http://www.coloradoherping.com/species-guide.html My experience with T. elegans is limited to a dozen or so encounters in NM/AZ, but most of the ones I encountered were fairly docile. Of course, it felt it was being attacked by a dog (i.e. a dog approached it, even with the best of intentions) it would very likely strike defensively, as would any smaller animal, even a kitten. It isn't the snake being aggressive, it is the snake being afraid of the giant potential predators that are approaching it and doing the only thing it can to protect itself. You would probably react the same way.