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Are Snakes Good for the Garden?

Snakes get a bad reputation, and that’s unfortunate. Too often, people kill them as soon as they see them. Many types of snakes are entirely harmless to humans, but they can be very good for your garden. In fact, garter snakes, rat snakes, and a number of species can be very beneficial. Let’s look at some of the good reasons to keep them in your garden.

One of the best things about snakes is that they will eat the vermin from the garden. This means, you won’t have to worry about rats and mice. Some snakes will eat insects as well. If you are fortunate enough to have king snakes on the property, you will not have to worry about rattlesnakes. That’s right, the king snakes will eat the rattlesnakes.

Of course, there certainly are some snakes that can be very dangerous. Rattlesnakes, water moccasins, and a similarly venomous varieties of snake are not something that you want to have on your property. That’s understandable – however, you might want to let the garter snakes, rat snakes, and the other harmless serpents stay in the garden. After all, think about all those benefits they offer.

In addition to snakes, you might find some lizards out in the garden and the backyard as well. Again, these are very good for your outdoor spaces. They can do a good job of helping to thin out the insects. Not only will this help the health of your garden, but it can also make being outdoors a bit more pleasant since you won’t have to deal with all of those bugs.

Now that you see so many benefits offered by snakes, as well as lizards, you should welcome seeing them in the backyard and in the garden. They are more afraid of you than you should be of them.