If snakes freak you out, it’s okay to skip this one. It’s not all fawns and rainbows out here in the country. I’ve come to realize harmless snakes get a bad rap. I can’t say I like them, but I acknowledge their part of the ecosystem and try to be chill when I encounter them. That wasn’t always the case. As weeding season is here, encountering snakes comes to mind. I’ve actually already spotted my first garter snake in the yard this year already.

It was our first summer here in our house in the Driftless area of Wisconsin, and it was an outdoor chore day. Our setup consists of the main house with a garage and a separate, detached garage we call “The Shed,” where the garden tractor, winter storage stuff, tools, etc. are kept. To get to the Shed from the house, we walk down our covered porch and past what used to be an in-ground pool. We were told the original homeowner filled it in after getting sick of keeping bears out of it.

Old pictures show the “pool area” with fresh landscaping, but by the time we bought the place it was an 800 square foot, overgrown mess. By “overgrown” I mean “can’t see the ground.” Thick evergreen bushes, all manner of weeds (did you know “giant ragweed” can grow 12 feet tall?), rotting stumps, you name it. I bring this up to set the stage for “chore day.”

I was in the lead on the walk from the house to the Shed when I stopped dead in my tracks and held up my hand, signaling my husband to stop behind me. He asked me what was wrong and I pointed to the sidewalk near the Shed door. A long snake was sunning itself.

“Oh,” my husband said. Understatement of the year. The snake in question was at least four feet long, brown with black splotches.

“That is not a garter snake,” I said. My snake-identifying prowess at the time only had two categories: Garter Snake and “Not a Garter Snake.”

The next thing he said to me was not funny in the moment but makes me laugh these days:

“Keep an eye on it while I get the camera so we can ID it later.” He trotted off back to the house.

KEEP AN EYE ON IT?

As he walked away, the snake slowly doubled back on itself and slithered into the overgrown pool area. The “I can’t see the ground” pool area. I took one step forward and leaned over, but there was no way I was going anywhere close enough to see where it went. My husband came trotting back up.

“Where’d it go?”

“In there,” I said, pointing into the weeds.

“Why didn’t you follow it?”

WHY DIDN’T I FOLLOW IT? We never did get a picture of that one.

Over that summer, we painstakingly cleared the pool area. When I worked alone, it was an exercise in courage, working from the outside in. If we had close neighbors, there were mornings they would have thought I was being murdered. Those would be the mornings I was screaming, squealing or yelling at a garter snake or three that surprised me. By summer’s end though, I’d salvaged two bushes and all the black-eyed susans I could find. Everything else had to go. The next summer, I finished my rock garden:

Keeping the garden up is when I discovered where the snakes actually live. This is the far corner, by the Shed door:

I am not sure if there is pool infrastructure under the sidewalk or they just found a gap to live in underneath, but that is definitely a snake home over there.

Here’s the thing. I’m a live-and-let-live kind of gal. If it isn’t getting into my house and isn’t harming anything, let nature do its thing. I came across plenty of garter snakes while clearing the pool area. I’ve gotten over squealing and jump-scaring when I see one. When I go weeding in the morning and one pokes a head out, it just wants to start its day. I adapted well, until…

Apparently garter snakes are cool sharing their apartment. And now I know a lot more about snakes in Wisconsin.

There are only two types of venomous snakes in Wisconsin, the Timber Rattlesnake and the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake. As their names suggest, both have rattles on their tails. While they exist in our part of the state, they are rare sightings. If you want pictures of these and a few other Wisconsin snakes that are mistaken for them, here’s a handy page from the Wisconsin Herpetological Association.

My new “friend” above didn’t have a rattle on its tail. Trust me, I took a lot of pictures and zoomed in. The snake above is an Eastern Fox Snake. The orange-red head is the giveaway. I’ve actually found these guys to be very chill, at least the two I’ve met. Unlike garter snakes, I’ve never seen an eastern fox snake move quickly. Garter snakes freak out and run for cover. Eastern fox snakes play it cool.

I’m okay if they have their home over in that corner by the Shed, now that I know to look for them. Eat all the mice you want, guys! If I see one, I circle around the other way and let them be. That said, that’s the only corner I’m relinquishing. Last summer I spotted a Not a Garter Snake on the sidewalk off the main house. Since snakes are sensitive to smells, I discovered natural “stink packets” to deploy to encourage them to stay away from the main house. If I see one trying to make a home closer to ours again this summer, I’m ready.

I’ve put hubby on notice that the same deal applies to snakes as it does to mice. If one gets in the house, he has to deal with it. I’m outer defenses, but he has to defend the interior.