Sssss....

What type of snake do you suppose this is? It's no Garter snake, this I know 'cause it kept trying to bite the rake when Ralexwin was trying to pick it up (to throw it over the fence)... I've never seen a Garter snake do that.

This is my garage, and the 6 year old munckin found this one. He screamed bloody murder and now none of the kids (minus the baby, who probably would try to touch it) want to go near the garage.

Then this lady at work says, "Oh, yeah there probably laying eggs underneath and you'll have lots of babies soon enough. Better deal with that soon."

So, I'm wondering... is this a dangerous snake? And should I expect more?

Comments

Mrs. Miniver said…
yuucckk! Baby snakes!
Jessica Bair said…
It looks like a garter snake. I looked up pics online. Apparently they are nervous snakes and may try to bite if handled. That's what some of the web sites said anyway.
IB said…
I was once bitten by a garter snake. It scared to be-jeezus out of me!
Sara said…
I'm with your kids....not going near your garage!
Chelsea said…
I hate snakes. It scared me just looking at your picture.
Claire said…
It looks like a garter snake to me too. Garter snakes and ribbon snakes are both harmless to humans. You don't have to worry about eggs because they birth live young. I had to check on wiki for how many live young...you're looking at 3 to 50! Going in the garage as much as possible would probably be a good idea because snakes in general don't really dig people wandering around their habitat. There is a lot of snake life in the neighborhood here. We saw them a lot last summer in our yard and walking to the park. Luckily the snakes aren't harmful to the kids, other than giving them a good healthy fear of all things slithery :)

If that snake has more than the three stripes I could make out in the pic, then it might be a different type of snake :) Garters and ribbons either have one stripe or three stripes.

Try to think of the snake as insurance against rodents and other vile little animals. Either that or maybe get a push broom with a very long handle and sweep it out to the gutter?
Claire said…
here's a link to the "plains garter snake" from some Iowa site. That type is fat, like your snake :)

I've gotta say though, these midwest garter snakes are big ol' monsters compared to California garter snakes! Either that or they don't make it out of infancy in CA

http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=57&Itemid=26
TerĂ©sa said…
Ewww... I know that is not very helpful, but ewwww. It's times like these that make me glad I rent, and have a landlord to call.
Leslie said…
May I add this to your other comments: EEEK!
Lisa said…
I've got the heebie geebies.
Cannwin said…
lol, you guys are so funny! I'm not so freaked out by snakes. Now if that had been a large spider I wouldn't have even been able to take the picture *shiver* just the thought of a large spider makes my skin crawl.

Well, apparently, like claire and Jessica said, it's a garter snake. But I'm telling you it looks nothing like the itty bitty ones we had out west.

I remember catching garter snakes when I was a kid and they fit in jars... that one most definitely wouldn't fit in a jar.

We'll see what happens this summer... maybe I'll take your advice Claire and start hanging out in the garage.

IB- did it hurt?

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