Reply to Ruth No need to call for help. Just walking about will frighten it away. Your local wildlife trust would, I'm sure, be pleased to know another locality for this handsome creature if ever it came your way.
Update on the garter snake It seems quite happy. It's been eating its pinkies (dead newborn mice available from any good pet store) and had shed its skin. Its growing.
If you've seen a grass snake in your pond you might like to complete Pond Conservation's Big Pond Dip survey - we're trying to find out more about the wildlife that lives in garden ponds.
the snakes in your picture are not grass snakes.could be misleading.they have a very similer nature ie eat small fish,frogs etc and hybernate .these are garter snakes you have shown they even grow about the same size but grass snakes they are not
Before I make comment I have just read the above note No. 16 - over the week end I was confronted by a snake in my pond with what was left of a frog in its mouth - I thought it was a grass snake with the yellow flash just behind its head.. I have a good mixture of wild space in the garden along with lots of flowers and borders - have a fantastic range of animals and bugs. Budlier is covered in Butterflies and the lady bugs find the spent flowers a cozy home. I am unable to trim the dead flowers. Could someone advise me as to the best time for cleaning out the pond of spent leaves etc., without damaging the wildlife and larve within the goo. Happy Gardening all.
Yesterday we discovered an adder in our garden which had got caught up in the nets over our cabbages and had died. We're now quite worried that there are others, particularly as we have a toddler running around the garden. Any top tips?
Reply to Alison children are very unlikely to ever see snakes because they thunder about so much. The adders are likely to be long gone before your toddler ever gets close. As someone who has actively looked for wild reptiles during ecological surveys I can say that it is extremely difficult to ever get a hold of one.
I have loads of grass snakes in my garden and they freak me out! I live near the city and have a snake phobia. I would love to have a snake free garden - I have to pay for gardeners as I get so nervous weeding.. How can I tempt them to move away? There is no way I would have a pond - they lie around my neighbours on the warm stones.
Reply to Jenniferms Sorry to hear you don't like snakes. You probably cannot tempt the snakes to move away, but if you move heavily around the garden, they will feel the vibrations and get out of your way as quickly as they can. They are really very timid creatures.
I love reptiles, I actually own a 3 year old corn snake. They don't demand your time! I was going to get an iguana but the lizard supplies were far too expensive.
Posts
No need to call for help. Just walking about will frighten it away. Your local wildlife trust would, I'm sure, be pleased to know another locality for this handsome creature if ever it came your way.
Update on the garter snake
It seems quite happy. It's been eating its pinkies (dead newborn mice available from any good pet store) and had shed its skin. Its growing.
Go to: http://www.pondconservation.org.uk/ and follow the links.
Jeremy Biggs (Pond Conservation)
regards mr l shelton
children are very unlikely to ever see snakes because they thunder about so much. The adders are likely to be long gone before your toddler ever gets close. As someone who has actively looked for wild reptiles during ecological surveys I can say that it is extremely difficult to ever get a hold of one.
Sorry to hear you don't like snakes. You probably cannot tempt the snakes to move away, but if you move heavily around the garden, they will feel the vibrations and get out of your way as quickly as they can. They are really very timid creatures.