Historical March 1990 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Have you ever met an urban snake? Bet not!!
But you are probably benefiting from one, or more!
They are small, shy creatures that avoid dogs, cats, and people—if they can.
They feed on mice, insects, grubs, and spiders, not people.
Our first contact was about 15 years ago. Fatso McMitten kitten brought a play thing to our second floor landing. “Fatso, where did you get the shoestring? Let me see!”. Then: “Bruce, it’s a snake!”. I nearly went through the roof. (Saved re-roofing the house). Dead, of course.
When we saw sister/brother of same snake creeping through our iris bed, we got out the field guide: “Worm snake, max.13 in., dark above, pink below, head not distinct from neck, small eyes!’ (Italics mine—I’ve seen longer night crawlers). Bruce called it just a “slow worm” and called it a gardener’s friend.
Our next encounter was the 1985 “mouse epidemic!’ A neighbor found a nest of snakes and killed them all; that summer my plethora of cats brought in one to six mice to the hearth rug weekly…all except Fatso’s sister, Sister Sue!
She brought in snakes, frightened into catatonia, to lay before the Great God Refrigerator.
We retrieved one of these fellows, put him in a plastic jar (improvised herpetarium) with grass and a twig, and went to the grocery.
The surprisingly strong fellow was curling down the table leg, trying to escape, on our return. “Oh, put it out in the garden!” said I. Bruce tried to comply by unwinding its 14 inch coils and taking it up—and it peed all over his hands. Smells like a skunk, and snake got released (flung) into the iris bed.
We have never been sure if this was a ribbon snake, (“which when first caught often releases a strong smelling fluid from its anal glands”), or a common garter snake (“which makes a good pet.”) Both are “dark, 3 stripes above, paler below, head distinct from body, can rarely reach 48 inches!’ although I have never seen one over two feet long. Both varieties of urban snakes in our area—the slow worms or the ribbon/garters are non-toxic, non-pesticidal and nonpoisonous, free, self-sustaining ecological controls for pests such as mice, grubs, and bugs.
If you meet one, put him in your garden under the tomatoes.
He will try to eat every cut-worm he sees, shyly and reticently! Source: Collins, H.H. Jr.. Complete Guide to American Wildlife, 1959, New York, Harper’s Row.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, March 1990.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1990_03.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 7.
