I've personally seen a garter snake in the process of swallowing a slug. Perhaps you can visualize that. I think my #$%^ cats have been killing off my garter snakes and I am very sad. There are no poisonous snakes up here so any snake you might find is a good snake. They also eat a lots of rats and mice.

I love our garden snakes! I was cleaning my greenhouse the other day and this is what I found! I haven't seen it in a few days so it might have left, but they are sooo beneficial!

If you're in Zone 8 BC you must be on the rainy side. Otherwise, I think a person in BC could, in fact, have rattlesnakes - if their native range extends up into semiarid interior BC - which I think it does. I inadvertantly stepped over one on a mountain path near the North Cascades Highway (far northern Washington) once. Luckily I first noticed it by hearing it instead of feeling it. Mighty neighborly of it. Also appreciated that it did not kill my dog, although that was probably because she happened to be fairly well behind me at the time.

Wow, I didn't know that about BC. It's what I've been told about where I live. Good to know.

I googled ranges and this site says-
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Places and spaces

The Northern Pacific Rattlesnake is found only in the Thompson Okanagan region of B.C. Their known range extends from the Kootneys west to Lillooet, and north to Kamloops and Cache Creek. Within this area, Rattlesnakes can be found in Bunchgrass, Ponderosa Pine, Interior Douglas-fir, and in restricted portions of Montane Spruce and Engelmann Spruce-Subalpine Fir.
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The BC site says it is illegal to kill any snake there. The WA site says that the Western Rattlesnake is only found in eastern Washington-

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/living/snakes.htm

It also has tips for providing habitat for snakes. I don't know if I could sufficiently protect the snakes from my cats with some of these but it might be worth trying.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/living/snakes.htm#tips

This OR site has range maps that are helpful. OR has more snake species than WA.

http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~titus/herp/rangemaps.html

When I studied snakes I lived in Texas where there were several poisonous snakes, and also lots of non-poisonous ones. I miss the king snakes, they were my favorite. The WA site says there is a native boa here. I've never seen any snakes where I live but garter snakes but had some fence, skink and alligator lizards in my yard at one point. I used to put down old doors in my weed area and at one point lifted them to find 16 garter snakes underneath.:-) Hard to see any with the 2 cats my daughter finally badgered me to have, then she left home for college and I am stuck with them. They do keep down the voles but I hate it when they kill other animals.

Here is a link that might be useful: bcreptiles

Blanche,
To answer your question, there is a way to get over a fear of snakes. What you have is an irrational fear, or phobia. Go to a competent psychologist or employ the services of a good friend who is not afraid of snakes.

What you want to do is to gradually increase your exposure to snakes while practicing relaxation techniques. For instance, you would start out with snake pictures. If seeing a picture invokes the fear response, then you feel the fear, do the relaxation techniques until the fear is lessened and then view another picture. Then, as you learn to respond differently to the pictures, you create another safe environment to invoke the reponse, such as a snake in a jar clear across the room. Gradually you train yourself to get closer and use the techniques to control your response. Eventually, you will not be afraid anymore. This is a proven and effective technique for changing phobic behavior. The name of the procedure is "Exposure and Response Prevention"

Here is the trick, though. You have to be motivated to continue the treatment, even though you will be uncomfortable sometimes as you learn to relax. You have to provoke the fear response, which is uncomfortable, to be able to control it. Psychologists consider a phobia to be problematic when it adversly affects your life. I consider a fear of snakes that prevents you from enjoying you garden to be adversly affecting your life. But it is up to you if you want to change. Surprisingly, it often takes as little as 2 or 3 sessions to get relief. Email me if you want more information.

BTW, a fear of snakes has nothing to do with whether or not they are poisonous. Certainly their are lots of dangers out in the world, including poisonous snakes, but it sounds like you have an irrational fear, or phobia. I hope you can get help for it.
Kathy

I love snakes! Wish I had them in the yard.

Well, come and get them, you are close to me. .lolol I am working on my phobia and have even named my snake. Thanks for the pic Bamboo, it is a good start towards desensitizing.

Lots of garter snakes in this yard, lots of water and cottage stone walls to sun themselves, tons of slugs, eat more slugs, yummy slugs, yea snakes!

>The WA site says that the Western Rattlesnake is only found in eastern WashingtonI was east of the pass.

I always believe that it is coming across a snake unexpectedly that is the scary thing. They don't like to be around you either. What if you carried a long stick and rustled it around before you start working in that area? Any self-respecting snake would slither away happily. I've had them sunning themselves in my g/h pots lately. With our cold, nasty weather they've found themselves a good spot. My DH doesn't like snakes either and I always warn him that there is one in the area. It seems to help him. Actually, touching a snake is interesting. Their skin is not unpleasant to the touch -- it isn't cold and slimy at all.

I think I've already said this before, as long as I see them first I'm o.k. but if I don't I jump sky high. They are wonderful in the garden but when they slither into the goldfish pool they eat the fish. If DH isn't around I have to deal with the situation, which by the way must be hilarious for anyone watching. I couldn't bear to pick them up by the tail like DH does, oh yuck, I run for the big trout net, scoop them up, run like hell, hit the gate at a gallop (6' high), yelling out of the way I'm coming through. I am still smart enough to look both ways before crossing the road. I then release said snake into the bush. Is it true that only the male garter snake lifts his head up and sticks his tongue out when cornered?

A......

That would be fun to watch, AM. When I lived in San Diego we had rattlesnakes that migrated up over the ridge where I lived every spring. There were two rows of houses and a street with canyons on both sides. We built a brick block fence around our backyard; we had a rattler before but not after putting in the fence, but other neighbors did. Once I heard a commotion across the street and got there in time to rescue one of a pair of non-poisonous long black snakes- they had already killed one. I picked it up and it didn't even try to bite me, poor baby. I wish everyone could overcome their snake fears, they are so useful (except when eating your fish, LOL). I had a phobia about dogs from being an infant in a Mexican village with half-wild dogs running around, and I have largely learned to overcome the fear response so they treat me better now, but they used to pick up on my fear and bark viciously. Best wishes in overcoming your phobia. Fortunately I like snakes.:-)

You really can't count on keeping goldfish in open pools anyway, they are vulnerable to herons and raccoons even if not attacked by snakes. Years ago a neighbor had a problem with losing goldfish to a heron or two coming to his tiny, hidden pool. It was quite obscured from the sky by trees and shrubs, in a small suburban back yard with a neighboring swimming pool terrace looming overhead, from which I could peer down at it an angle, when visiting the friend with the pool. Yet the bird(s) spotted it at one point and went at it, with houses etc. all around and close by.

So far we've been lucky, too thin pickings for the heron,kingfishers and racoons. We live across the road from an estuary, I guess it's easier for them to dine out over there.

A......

I have plenty of extra goldfish but I enclose my big pond with an electric fence because the raccoons make such a darn mess. They trash my plants and they eat my favorite fish not all the culls. A garter snake could get through the fence and would be welcome to any fry he could grab but I've never seen one in our yard in twelve years.

Herons fly over but have never been a problem but a Belted Kingfisher was a big problem until I added a styrofoam floating island planter that the fish hide under when there aren't any floating plants in winter.

Darn it buyorsell, I thought I had come up with an original idea, I was just talking to DH about making a strofoam floating island planter. I have a bit too much shade for the waterlilies to bloom so took them to our garden club plant sale last year. Our pools are small and when the fish spawn they eat most of the eggs so we don't end up with a lot of fry, maybe 3 or 4. What does your planter look like and what have you got planted in it, I'm looking for ideas for mine.

A......

I just mentioned to my DH the other day that I haven't seen a snake in years. We live in rural Enumclaw, Washington on acreage. There are a number of outdoor cats so I wonder if that's the reason.

Our dear kitty brought the tiniest little snake into the den the other evening. DH freaked and I ran for the kitchen tongs to remove it. When I came back, it was really hard to find. It had coiled itself up and looked like part of the design on the carpet. We'll keep the glass door closed from now on...

My cats have never brought me a snake. I've never found a dead snake in the yard. Lots of mice and a few rats though.....I wish I could train them to get the dang starlings.....

I returned home once last year to find a cat-damaged snake trembling on my driveway. I took it off and let it go and hope it recovered. I had about given up on still having any snakes left but found a baby under some newspaper mulch this spring.:')

A friend has a pond and puts those ~18" cube stacking plastic crates with latticed open sides upside-down in the bottom of her pond to put pots on. The lattices allow smaller fish to go inside and escape predators, but maybe the fish eating the spawn could still get in. Something with small enough holes could protect the spawn, though.
I decided you have to be a lover of wildlife to have a water feature, though, as they seem to pull in wildlife from all over. I mainly like to grow edible stuff, fruits and vegetables, so pass on the pond even though they are pretty and interesting in the garden.

We keep a little wading pool in our yard, and whenever we lift it for cleaning there are several snakes under it. I like them, but the dog thinks they're toys, so it's good to have a place for them to hide.

Both male and female snakes will lift their heads and "stick their tongues out" when cornered. It is because they don't have any sense of smell. When they do this, they are actually tasting the air to try to identify you - like another animal would sniff to get your scent. Haven't seen any snakes in our garden but having three large dogs and two cats might have something to do with it. I can sympathize with your fear of snakes, though. They don't bother me but I can't bear to have a spider anywhere near me. Just as logical - and just as frightening.