Garter Snake: Garbage Can Guardian

A garter snake has taken up residence under our garbage can and is startled when I wheel it away:

This week it was curled into a compact bundle:

The blue eyes indicate it’s in the process of shedding its skin, so next week we’ll have an even bigger and shinier guardian.

Shedding one’s skin apparently requires a great deal of thought, as it remained in that pose while I fetched Mary, then moved deliberately off into the leaf litter behind the can.

The small rodent population around here has definitely declined: garter snakes are murder on field mice and the hawks are taking out the chipmunks.

Go, snake, go!