Melissa, congratulations! I celebrate the return of your garden snakes. There's something quite magical about sharing a cultivated green space with garden reptiles. They're peaceful and shy and very helpful.

I'm very fond of snakes and am thrilled when I spot one in my garden, a rare event. My last residence included a large sloping lot with oodles of garter snakes. My once indoor but eventually indoor/outdoor cat (long story) used to catch and release the snakes...into my finished basement. Ditto field mice. I made a daily snake and mouse check, collected the prisoners and released them in an area under my neighbor's brambles.

When I lived in TX, I discovered indigo snakes which really are a true deep blue. I'm good without encountering any more rattlers and water moccasins. I've heard the eerie sound of a big rattle a sufficient number of times to last forever, thank you very much. (Always wear boots when hiking in TX.) Also, I am relieved the US wilderness isn't cobra and mamba habitat. And I find all you Australians who live with a ginormous, diverse population of poisonous critters--reptiles, arachnids and mammals--to be very brave! :-) Carol

I should have added to my comment: humans are much more of a danger to snakes than vice versa. We've encroached on and destroyed their habitats and their food supplies, and we've outright murdered them. Many are becoming or are currently endangered. Ingrid, one of your traits, and your husband's, that I so appreciate is that your heart stretches to embrace all creatures. You rescue bunnies (silly snake) and appreciate rattlers! Carol

I had a green tree snake who lived in my last garden. He was quite beautiful, and harmless to humans. Here, unfortunately, my daughter had a brown snake in her flat (downstairs). She was certain it was the deadly one, and as she has worked with a wildlife service, I'm sure she was right. They used to be very common in these parts, and in the past I have had a few encounters I'd rather not think about. They actually chase you!

The other day, when I was digging out a giant marauding salvia, I saw a baby brown snake (didn't rear at me, so maybe not the deadly kind) and a giant ant with a bright green head - both at the same moment, and scurrying in opposite directions! There used to be snake skins everywhere on roads, but you never see one now. Instead we have an exploding population of bush turkeys, so I was quite happy to see the baby snake. I just hope he's not a deadly one!

The builder's son caught a funnel web behind my garage a few days ago (also deadly). He took it to the local hospital so they could extract the venom, as they're short of the anti-venom at the moment. This is a prime spot for funnel webs, as there are a lot of sunny drystone walls in this garden, and I'm told that's their favourite hangout.

Carol, when we came to Australia 50 years ago, all I'd heard about were sharks, snakes and spiders. My parents bought a house in Palm Beach, a northern suburb of Sydney, which in those days had a lot of native bush, including our 'garden'. There were loads of brown snakes and spiders, and sharks in the water! I got used to it, and was later amazed to learn that most other Australians were quite alarmed by them! I never saw a bush turkey in those days, but did see koalas and wallabies - sadly long gone.

Trish

I've only ever seen a snake here once . . . Well, that's not accurate. I saw a Pacific Gopher Snake once, and another time, I saw the shed skin of one. I wish we had more of those guys, as they are gopher-getters.

But we have hundreds and hundreds of Western Fence Lizards, who are helpful with insect control, and the occasional skink, and I enjoy all of those.

It seems that everywhere that man encroaches the wildlife suffers. Snakes are especially at risk because so many people don't appreciate how useful they are. I have to admit, though, that I would be a little leery of living out in the country in Australia with so many heavy-hitter poisonous snakes. They make our rattlesnakes seem like sweet little pussycats.

I'm glad there are others who enjoy snakes. The Australian ones sound scary. I grew up in snakeland, north Florida, and never saw that many, so I don't go through life worrying about them. What people ought to be frightened about, if we were rational creatures, is climbing into the car to go to the grocery store. Many people are killed in automobile accidents, very very few from snakebite. Agree that habitat loss coupled with human hostility is a major threat. More live and let live is what I believe.