The Snake: A Garden Predator

The Snake:

The gardeners first early spring day  back in the garden.  The grasses edging the garden plot were wet with the early morning shower. Her shoes were damp having soaked up moisture stepping across the grass, but no worries.  It was time.  Time  to remove the tarps covering the garden and begin the process of enriching the soils for those delicious vegetable starts growing in the green house, clamouring for real soil, sun, and garden companions.  With determined gusto the gardener lifted one corner of the tarp and flung it to one side, eagerly anticipating  weed free, humous soil that had been incubating all winter long.   And there it was.  The snake.  slithered up in a concentric circle, beautiful symmetry in repose.  The gardener was momentarily startled, after all it was a snake, a creepy, crawly, scaled reptilian from the ancient millennia, and still existing. A proven survivalist!

For a moment the snake was perfectly still and the gardener had a chance to take in the beauty of natures mathematical formula. 

There were so many amazing details. What first grabbed the gardeners attention  was the fact that the snake’s eyes were wide open! And yet the snake was totally inert as if in a deep sleep. No blinking, or moving of the pupils. An uncanny feeling, reinforced by the geometric precision of scales as they curved with the body into the circled knot of the snake.  Some of the scales were pigmented a bright yellow, forming an identifiable stripe down the otherwise neutrally grey coloring. It was this stripe that enabled the gardener to  identify it as the garter snake, a common pacific northwestern reptilian, especially fond of gardens.

But within a matter of a few seconds the snake suddenly  reacted to the invasion of light.  It lifted it’s head  that had been resting on a coil of its body. A bright red forked tongue whipped out and scanned the space searching for the presence of the disturber.  The scent cells of the tongue immediately determined the gardener’s position and in a threatening dart forward the snake sent out a warning message, ‘’Back off ‘’.  The gardener instinctively recoiled in horror and fear, but the snake maintained its aggressive stance, and as a sign of dominance over the situation again flicked its bright, forked  tongue and aggressively darted forward. 

But the gardener was not so easily intimidated with this second act of defensive aggression.  As far as she was concerned this was her garden and she wanted this space.  This lack of retreat triggered  the snake’s  last action of defense. Attack!  The jaws unlocked, the mouth opened, and  the gardener was able to peer deep into the shadowed depths of the snakes digestive system, an opening big enough to swallow a mouse!  As the gardener stood in momentary awe over this act of nature the snake lunged forward. Unfortunately the gardener had fastidiously rolled up her pant legs leaving the ankle exposed and the snake was able to grab on with a set of tiny teeth.  The gardener shook her leg. The snake hung on, and continued to hold until the gardener bent down , grabbed the tail, and pulled the snake off, flinging it to one side.  The snake instantly slithered to the darkest available spot,  the  compost pile.  

The gardener was in an incredulous state as she surveyed the damage to her ankle.  Two very shallow scratch marks were flaring red where the tiny teeth had dragged across the surface. Slime covered the skin.  It seems that the common garter snake does attack.

With a little research the gardener discovered that the garter snake does have a very mild toxin that it uses to subdue very small prey, not strong enough to be of harm to humans.  Irregardless, for the rest of the summer the gardener kept an attentive eye in search for the snake, sometimes hearing a rustling amongst the beans, or a quick flash of slithering grey darting back into the compost pile. Occasionally discarded snake skins were found in various locations.  Overtime the gardener began to enjoy these encounters and it was a special moment when they occurred.   They had learned to live together and , as the gardener liked to think, enjoy each other’s company