Pair of snakes in my yard (photos)

I happened to be taking some trash out when I saw I had a visiting garter snake come through the fence from my neighbor's yard. I went in to get my camera (and block off the dog door) so I could document his adventure ;).

http://pix.myphotoalbum.com/k/k9/k9s...ale3.sized.jpg
"Hello..."


http://pix.myphotoalbum.com/k/k9/k9s...ale4.sized.jpg
"Have you seen my girlfriend?"


http://pix.myphotoalbum.com/k/k9/k9s...ale5.sized.jpg
"Is she over here?"


http://pix.myphotoalbum.com/k/k9/k9s...ale6.sized.jpg
"Is she under here?"


http://pix.myphotoalbum.com/k/k9/k9s...ale8.sized.jpg
"Wait.. I think she's over here."


http://pix.myphotoalbum.com/k/k9/k9s...air1.sized.jpg
"Ahha! I found her!"

http://pix.myphotoalbum.com/k/k9/k9s...air2.sized.jpg
"Hello sweetheart" :love:


http://pix.myphotoalbum.com/k/k9/k9s...air5.sized.jpg
"Our patterns match so well"

(a few more)

http://pix.myphotoalbum.com/k/k9/k9s...air4.sized.jpg
"It's spring and love is in the air!"

http://pix.myphotoalbum.com/k/k9/k9s...ale1.sized.jpg
"Hey where you going??"

http://pix.myphotoalbum.com/k/k9/k9s...ale2.sized.jpg
"All that affection and she's leaving me. So cold blooded." :p

scary.... but yet amazing to catch that and share it...

now are you gonna have baby snakes all around??.. LOL....

do you have to reposrt them or something to AC....are they venomous (sp?)

Oh boy! Do you worry about the dogs grabbing the snakes Jess? How long were they? I couldn't tell by the pictures. We get one once and a while here and I relocate them to the wooded area near our home. Wouldn't bother me a bit except for the dogs, I'm sure they'd kill the snake.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Husky_mom

scary.... but yet amazing to catch that and share it...

now are you gonna have baby snakes all around??.. LOL....

do you have to reposrt them or something to AC....are they venomous (sp?)

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Oh no they are just harmless garter snakes. I'm sure the female will have young. She did head under my shed, but I'll probably never see them. I'll just have to watch out for them when I mow, I don't want to hit anyone.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chocolatepuppy

Oh boy! Do you worry about the dogs grabbing the snakes Jess? How long were they? I couldn't tell by the pictures. We get one once and a while here and I relocate them to the wooded area near our home. Wouldn't bother me a bit except for the dogs, I'm sure they'd kill the snake.

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I did worry about the dogs bothering them so I closed off their doggy door until they had gone their separate ways. I doubt the dogs would bother them though, none of my three seem to have a strong prey drive. And I don't worry about the snakes biting since they aren't venomous and have no fangs. They seemed about average sized garter snakes.. maybe a foot or a bit over I would guestimate.

I was following the female as she went through the grass and got too close, seemed to scare her and she whipped right into the shed and banged into it in her panic, I felt bad :o. Then she slipped under it. I'll be keeping an eye out for them when I'm doing yard work, mostly to avoid hurting them :)

Wow, their coloring is beautiful. I'm glad you saw them & will be on the
lookout while mowing.:)

My dogs would go nuts & chase after them for sure.

Oh, my, they are gorgeous! And great pictures, Jess! Thanks for sharing.

Wow Jess!! It's so hard to find and photograph snakes in the wild and you catch two love struck pair! :D

Gorgeous photos. :love:

They are very beautiful! I get them in a wild part of my yard too( in Canada) and it is interesting to find shed skins looking like ghost snakes. Thanks for the pictures.

Awesome photos, Jess!

I usually have a couple of garter snakes in my yard every year but so far I haven't run into any. I have to say that I'm glad because I get a little freaked out by them...lol :o. Also Katie and Tori like to play with them so I'm glad we haven't run across any yet.

They are so beautiful.
Thank you for sharing this story :)

Those are such great pictures.

I'm so impressed you were able to get to your camera and get pictures before they disappeared. We have a lot of snakes in our yard and I always run for my camera in hopes of snapping a few pictures, but they're almost always gone by the time I get back.

Wow, their coloring is beautiful! I'm not so sure I'd be that brave to get so close whether they're harmless or not. (I know, strange thing to say for someone w/the ID of Medusa, huh? I like snakes in culture, not necessarily up close and personal. LOL) Thanx for sharing these pix. :)

Thank you for the comments and so glad you enjoyed the pictures. I was really thrilled to be able to watch them and get some really nice shots. Of course I wasn't as close as the photos of them are, I was using my 300 mm zoom lens, but I still was able to get closer than I would have thought without frightening them. I think they were just so caught up in their.. err.. relationship.. that they weren't as alert to the surroundings. I was standing on the sidewalk in my socks too and probably made no alarming vibration. I do know once the female got in the grass and I was following her, she suddenly seemed aware of me and took off.

Hopefully they will stay safe. A neighbor across the street from me a couple weeks ago was bragging to me about killing one in his yard :rolleyes:. I hope he wasn't trying to impress me.

Jess, those photos are nothing short of incredible. WOW!! They're both so beautiful. You are some photographer, girl!! Thanks for sharing.:)

I am soooo impressed by these pics!! Those snakes are beautiful!!
Do you have lots of snakes in your country? And do you recognize them right away?
I would be so scared, and would scream all neighbours awake:eek: . I am glad to know that there are very little snakes here; only vipers, and only in the woods

Aw! This thread is just full of cute! I once saw a garter the color of the female but she was at a herp expo and being sold for $500!

These pics are amazing! I had to touch one today when I moved it off the road and actually screamed (LOL). I'm a bit scared of them but I find them fascinating! Thank you for posting these cool pics. They really are kind of beautiful. :)

Absolutely amazing Pics!!!!:eek:

OH how stunning. I used to catch them with my dad when we went on hunting trips in Manitoba (I was young then, ok?;) )

They were pretty enough with the gold stripes, and an orange stripe was rare. The colours on that 'girlfriend' (who does look a tad plump to me!) are simply stunning! I didn't know garter snakes could have colours like that!

From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garter_snake

I also read that to encourage them to stay around, that a nice rock pile would do that. They love to bask in the sun on rocks.

They eat mostly insects and stuff...but were said on Wiki to eat rodents...so I would think wee new kittens should be kept at a safe distance.

Lovely critters!

I've never seen a garter snake marked with red before! It's beautiful. People who have never held or touched a snake are missing out. Snakes have a texture that's hard to describe. There is a definite "scaliness" that's smooth at the same time. They are typically cool to the touch, and NOT slimy at all.:p

WoW!! GREAT pictures!

She has beautiful coloring! :eek:
I hope we get to see baby snakes!:D

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Originally Posted by smokey the elder

I've never seen a garter snake marked with red before! It's beautiful. People who have never held or touched a snake are missing out. Snakes have a texture that's hard to describe. There is a definite "scaliness" that's smooth at the same time. They are typically cool to the touch, and NOT slimy at all.:p

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It may just be my ignorance, having been raised around them, but I really don't see how anyone could get the idea that snakes are slimy.

You'd be surprised how many people do think snakes are slimy. Maybe because they see pictures where they gleam in the sun? I am not sure. For me I have handled snakes before and I love how their scales feel.

I have never seen a garter with the female's markings either. I looked at some google images and wonder if she is some sort of hybrid between two subspecies. She certainly seemed very unique and beautiful.