Yes - I heard you! And I even let out a gasp looking at your picture. We have tons of garter snakes in our area. I freak out every time I see one.

I think yours is a milk snake.

Here is a link that might be useful: Milk Snake

I think it's a milk snake too, but it is worth checking out.

Last week's big question was 'Who put the garter snake under my vacuum cleaner?" Except I know who put the garter snake under my vacuum cleaner because he was lying next to the vacuum, batting at the snake with his front paws. That's why I even bothered looking under it to find the snake.

Snakes do not like being picked up. Even if they are just being transported outside.

Yup, that must be what it is. Sounds like its not harmful. I still hope the dog doesn't find it.

It took me 10 years to sorta get used to regular garter snakes. This guy is so much bigger. But I read they eat mice and voles. That's VERY good news here. I've got both.

As a matter of fact, last weekend I disturbed a mice birthing while dumping the compost tumbler. I put the baby mice off to the side to see if Mrs. Mice would come get the babies. I thought so, but maybe it was Mr. Milk who got them. ugh.

last weekends nature encounter:

Do you think Mom came back and got them or milky?

My goodness, Wendy. You have certainly been having some amazing encounters with the animal world! I can certainly understand the scream. I LIKE snakes, but they are so well camouflaged that they always startle a squawk out of me when I get too close to one and they move. I've heard that milk snakes got their name because they hung out in dairy barns to get the rodents that also lived there and some folks though that they must like milk.

Here's a page about milk snakes. It says they hang out during the day under cover and hunt at night, so if you remove hiding places, I imagine that s/he will move along. Given my druthers I'd rather have the snake than the mice which follow the vole tunnels and eat my plants!

Here is a link that might be useful: Milk snakes

Wendy,
I thought that was you screaming! The fact that you were able to get within zoom lens reach of those mice tells me you are a very, very, very, brave woman.
Personally I would encourage the shy garden friendly milk snake to stick around. Where do you think it wintered over in your yard? As I understand it they need a non freezing environment to winter over (milk barn, garage, bulkhead,)?

Sheesh! You scream just like a girl! LOL

"Where do you think it wintered over in your yard? As I understand it they need a non freezing environment to .."

oh no... that's a scary thought. I don't want to know or even think about it! No shed here. Just attached garage. I do have stone walls in the yard, maybe they were warm enough. That would be okay.

I still have a whole hill of other cotoneaster with leaves that may not get cleaned up until August. Mr. Milk probably headed over there today. Yesterdays cotonoeasters are just a very small patch of very drawf ones right near the hostas (home of the voles).

As far as mice go, as much as I hate them (its a toss up if snakes or mice are worse), in this context, it was okay (once my heart started beating again). If the babies survived, they will probably end up in the garage over the winter and they will be killed (Ortho no-see-no-touch traps -- love 'em). I felt a need to not kill the babies, but won't mind killing the adults. weird.

I would be excited to see a milk snake in the yard, or even a garter snake, but in a good way! I like snakes. But then, it's extremely rare to see a scary venomous snake in New England. They eat some things that are bad for the garden (moles, voles, slugs).

Mice are definitely much worse than snakes. They are vermin and will invade houses and buildings where they are invariably dirty and destructive. Babies or adults are promptly exterminated if I stumble across them, usually by stomping on them. The cat also catches quite a few.

Oh the poor mouse babies! I hope mama mouse rescued them before they became dinner for the snake.

I encountered what certainly looked like a garter snake on the bank of the brook a few days ago, coiled into a striking posture and audibly hissing at me. I may have surprised him with my weeding activity, but I've never known a garter snake to act so aggressively/defensively. It made a run for it out into the shallows of the brook where it lay in the water, waiting for me to depart. While I know that all snakes *can* swim, I've never seen a garter snake deliberately head out into the water. They usually slither off into tall weeds or under the foundation of the barn. I was determined to finish my weeding so I didn't take time to go get the camera. But my search later to identify the snake didn't turn up anything that looked remotely like what I saw, except garter snakes. Has anyone ever encountered such aggression in a garter snake?

Now milk snakes are known to coil, strike, and hiss! I'd expect it from your serpent, Wendy!

Ok your PICTURE made me gasp..
Confession... ALL things creep crawly slithery and scurry freak me out at least a little. Gardening near by me can be a treat for the easily amused.
I jump squawk and out right scream often.
My hubby just just his head and chuckles and asks How is that YOU are a gardner?!!!

Spedigrees - we have lots of garter snakes in the yard. I've never seen the garters coil and hiss, but they have "escaped" from my and my weeding hoe by slithering into the pond and "swimming" away. Made me convinced that it was actually a black water snake, but the markings truly say garter snake.

Interesting, Pixie. Having a pond as you do affords you more opportunity to observe critters around water. I don't spend that much time near our brook, so perhaps that is why I've never seen a garter snake take to the water before. The defensive motions were odd, but maybe I startled him.

I do my share of screaming, but it takes hornets or other stinging insects to set me off.

"I do my share of screaming, but it takes hornets or other stinging insects to set me off. "

I must be a total wuss then, since all it takes to make me scream is a dog off leash.