I did the same thing a few weeks back and unearthed 6 baby black snakes within 6 days or so of each other, all in the same area. Found 1 the first day, 4 a few days later, then a straggler a couple of days after that. I find baby black snakes every year this time in Spring, always concentrated like that. They were all within a 3 feet span of mulch. They were hiding in a particular deep area of mulch that I pulled some english ivy out of (finally rid of the stuff!) after a week or so of rain. It was the last of the ivy that was wrapped into the base roots of a tree that I couldn't pull out last year. When I spread the mulch out evenly when I finished, there they were. I wasn't quite as forgiving as you, though. I say, get 'em when they're slow! Black snakes, are, of course, beneficial, but I don't want them to outnumber our family members, either, so I keep the population trimmed down a bit! Just enough to keep the poisonous ones from nosing around.

It's not unearthing snakes that gets me every year, it's the spiders that start scurrying around....ICK! I really hate those guys :( A garden without spiders sounds like heaven to me.

Oh my Phil! I was never back in this section of the garden after I thought this guy was a stick and bent over and almost picked him up.

Gesila

ha!!!

nothing like bending down in summer.. and seeing a stick .. grabbing it .. and as you rise up.. the stick starts moving ...

up it goes 10 to 20 feet ... while i wet myself.. scream like an 8 year old girl and start running across the yard ... lol

ken

*film at 11*

sounds like me when i was a kid helping gramps clean the garage ... grabbed some ice skates off the wall ... and a mouse jumped out of the skates ... first time my grandfather ever hard me swear and scream and swear some more ... never seen him laugh so hard ...

i feels for ya

dave

Holy Cow, Gisela! Can't believe you had time to take the picture...and is that a snake with a frog in it's mouth, or some weird snake head with frog feet whiskers? Can't quite make it out, but that's a very cool hosta shot...you win the award for coolest shot!

I could handle 100 snakes before I could even think of picking up centipede..for some reason they just disgust me to no end. I kept pet snakes when I was young and have been bitten a few times, you would think I would hate them but its those millions of little legs that get me

Anyone ever been bitten by a centipede? I have, and WOOOW does it hurt! They are a very underrated creature, as far as bites go. Their venom packs a painful little punch. The one that bit me was quite small; I can't even imagine getting bitten by a big one. Was bitten on the hand, and it swelled up like crazy, with intense burning pain. Lasted what seemed like a LONG time. Was 25 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. Last year I had a yellowjacket fly into my shirt, and it stung me 6 times on my front upper body. STILL preferable, in my opinion, to getting a single bite by a centipede.

There are videos on YouTube of giant Peruvian centipedes that hang from the ceilings of caves, with half their body attached to the ceiling, the other dangling free, and they actually catch bats in flight as they fly by. Pretty crazy. Don't know why that fool in the pic is happy with what he's doing. To each his own, I guess.

I have NOT attached a link to one of those videos. You're welcome, Mike. : )

Don B.

Don, I am so with you...I have been stung by scorpions, I've had Dengue fever, I've been swarmed by wasps, I've been stung by half a dozen man 'o war jellyfish, and I've delivered three babies sans drugs...but one centipede sting was the worst pain I've ever experienced. I even had lingering pain from nerve damage for over a year later!

That photo will officially make me lose sleep tonight...

Omg! and here I was envious of fair weathered hosta friends...

key word, of course, is 'was'

Well, yuck. I am not fond of any unexpected creatures. That movement you see suddenly out of the corner of your eye before your brain has processed what it is never fails to make me jump. I suspect it is pretty funny watching me garden at times.

I had no idea centipedes bite. I always try to put them out when I find one inside. Of course, I don't just pick them up. Now, I definitely won't!

"Film at 11". Funny Dave (and Ken, of course). I would love to see it. :)