We keep our yard mowed but we have seen 2 snakes this week. One was on the carport in the front yard and actually tried to strike and bite me. I killed it with a shovel. Then tonight  the dogs killed one in the backyard. We looked them up on the internet and they are garter snakes. And according to the net they can 20-50 babies at a time. Very Scary !!!

What do you reccomend putting in the yard to run them off. My mom swaers by SULFAR and DH says to get something called SNAKE AWAY. I'm considering both. I will be taking a trip to Lowe's or Home Depot.  in the morning. Any reccomendations ?

I hate to say it but I don't care if the snakes die or just go away. They freak me out !!!

Why are you killing them?  They aren't poisionous!  Trust me those snakes want nothing to do with you as well.  In many states it is ILLEGAL to kill snakes.  They are there probably because there is a food source.  Do you know most snake bites occur when someone is attempting to kill them?????

http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/snake-kill.htm

oh don't kill the garter snakes! they are good to have around. they eat all kinds of pests- from bugs to rodents.

there was an adult and a couple of baby garter snakes living in my backyard when i moved in. i was sad when they left.

a neighbor of ours swears by 'mothball flakes' he lives on the edge of the woods and it keeps the snakes away but doesn't hurt them. Good luck to you even though they're harmless, they scare me.

OMG, 20-50 babies at a time!!!!  Ok, I really wish I hadn't opened this topic and saw this.   I just found two babies a few weeks ago and now I'm wondering where the other 47 are.  Ok, I'm terrified of snakes, there I said it.  Now I'm shivering at the thought of all these babies having babies.  Also, I just moved here a few years ago and I don't know what this snake is.  It's not like a garter I've seen before.  Pictures on the internet are deceiving to me.  I find a pic that is sort of kinda like the snake I saw and then I see another pic with the same snake name and it looks different. 

mothballs didn't get rid of my resident black snake in my shed.  My doggy got rid of it for me.  I'm sure he had relatives too.  *sigh*

I had a baby snake living under my deck a few years ago. I'm guessing the three-footer under there is the same guy, but not sure. All I know is two years ago I had a ton of moles living under my flower beds and this year I had absolutely none. I couldn't kill the moles so he must have.  I named him/her Gregory. And when I run across him accidentally, he quickly skitters away. Never tried to bite.

Garter snakes aren't poisonous and they aren't aggressive unless they're cornered.  They keep mice and rats away.  I wouldn't kill them.

ETA: they have so many babies because their babies have a high mortality rate.

Snakes kill rodents. Snakes are not disease vectors. Rodents are. You should be grateful for every snake you have because they are keeping the rodent population in your yard under control.

Garter snakes are not harmful and will only try to bite if you corner it. Every snake, even the venomous ones, will escape rather than attack. Humans are NOT prey for snakes. If you saw one, it was most likely sunning itself to raise its metabolism-it definately was not laying in wait to attack you.

Finally, realize that snakes did not "choose" to be snakes at birth any more than you chose to be a human. They are not evil or creepy, they are simply snakes, interested in living their lives. Live and let live.

One way to calm hysterical fears about something is to learn about it.  I recommend a very short but informative book, "Snakes" by John Crompton which I have often seen available on PBS.

Oh, and as for the poisons, do NOT use them unless you hate all of the birds, squirrels, dogs, cats, children, etc. in your yard too.

Yeah..killing snakes is just so wrong.  They are here for a reason.  I remember one year a ring neck got into my mom's basement and had babies.  My sister and I were flinging them out the door with kitchen tongs.  It was comical. 

Please don't kill them!  As someone mentioned it is often illegal and really isn't necessary.  Last I checked humans aren't on the menu. 

It's also a good idea to learn the POISONOUS snakes in your area.  There are much fewer of them!  Then when you see a snake and don't recongize you can be pretty certain it's harmless.  For the most part, if you leave it alone, it will leave you alone.  Breaks my heart that in today's world, with all the animal programs on TV etc...that people still feel the need to kill snakes!  By the way...you do realize that most snake bites occur when someone is trying to kill them don't you?  Leave them alone!!!!