Around here we don’t kill snakes or spiders, we read about them, welcome them and take care of them if we can. The only exception is flies, which I am permitted to slaughter ruthlessly and without mercy.
One day Maria will read a book about flies, name one, and that too will change. I like what I am learning about creatures I used to kill without thought, and snakes do a lot of good in the world and suffer mightily from our misconceptions and prejudices.
We have two kinds of snakes around the farm, garter snakes and milk snakes. The bigger milk snakes live out in the gardens and stone walls, the smaller garter snakes live mostly around the farmhouse, where they can find both sun and shelter.
Lots of people hate snakes and kill them on site, but this seems unfair to me. The common name ‘garter snake’ refers to over a dozen species of the genus Thamnophis. Most species are classified as non-venomous. Garter snakes are not dangerous to humans and are often described as completely harmless.
Garter snakes are common pets. It is thought they were named for stripes that look like garters men used to hold up their socks at one time. It may also be a corrupted version of the German word for garden.
They do get rid of moles who can destroy gardens.
One of them – we call him Marigold because he loves to sun himself in the marigolds, lives in our basement. Every morning, he slithers up into one of the flower pots we put out where he curls up around the plants and sticks his head out to catch some sun.
When it’s cold or rainy, or a dog or chicken gets too close, he melts back into our basement foundation in a hole too small for us to see. Maria spotted him there and greets him every morning, talks to him, and will soon, I expect be feeding him something.
Marigold used to hide from us but doesn’t slip away anymore. We both get the feeling he likes to be spoken to. If we get too close, he will back away, but he doesn’t rush back into the basement anymore.
It’s a lot more meaningful and enjoyable to love nature rather than simply kill it because we don’t know any better, or are afraid of it.
Garter snakes are lovely creatures. I’m glad that Marigold has a good and safe home.
Bravo!! I am not a big fan , but have always realized that the snakes that are found here and are quite beneficial . At times I am startled by one appearing, and once I am over my initial shock , I just go about my business and leave the snake to do the same. However. even though I have stone walls that they hide in , there are no frequent and familiar visitors that you seem to have!
When our daughter was around 11, she caught a garter snake and we kept him in a terrarium. We used to hold him and
he would anchor himself to us with his tail and then crawl around on us. His name was Albert Einstein! We didn’t keep him long, we let him go in a beautiful area!
I love the name…
The only thing I swat at to kill are mosquitoes and horse flies. Everything else is safe from me.
We live in the country and welcome the snakes and spiders- never kill them! Last summer we had a baby black snake in our kitchen- NO idea how she got there- my husband gently picked him up( my husband loves snakes) and released him into our backyard. I received many reactions on that Facebook post!!
Why do people hate snakes so much?
We also catch and release spiders that venture into our house!
I used to kill them, Maria taught me to respect them, now I rescue and re-home them. It’s better. We need spiders and snakes..
Maria has me catching my spiders and taking them outside. I just found an Eastern Yellow Belly Racer, a handsome snake with a yellow underside and moved him more to the garden part of the yard.
Jon, a you mentioned in your story about chickens, they eat flies. So, perhaps you could stop killing flies, or add more chickens to the farm.
I love to kill flies, a pleasure always..
I, in California, was concerned when my mother in Texas did not answer the phone at near midnight. Finally, I learned she had returned a spider to the laundromat where he had apparently jumped into her basket earlier that day. She said, “He would not have known where he was if I had just put him out.”
A true animal lover..
WE HAVE A COVE BETWEEN THE GARAGE & house. Ideal for snakes, the girls named one that lasted for years Jake. He had a bit of his tail missing so he was identifiable from the others. A few years back I noticed one of our ArborVitae shaking. Upon further investigation two snakes were mating at it’s base. Just shaking the tree. Jake was one of them and the other was a much larger female(they tend to be bigger). The dog stuck her nose in and broke them up. I removed the dog and the snakes went right back to it. They can really shake a tree!
Love that last sentence, should be a bumper sticker. It’s amazing how many living things of all species are killed out fear or misunderstanding.