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It started like any other quiet afternoon.
My daughter had been outside playing in the backyard while I finished a few chores inside the house. Everything seemed perfectly normal until I suddenly heard the back door slam shut.
She came running inside, tears streaming down her face, breathing so hard she couldn’t even get the words out. At first, I thought she’d fallen or gotten stung by a bee. I knelt beside her, trying to calm her down enough to tell me what had happened.
Finally, she managed to point toward the backyard.
“There’s… a snake!”
I grabbed a pair of shoes and carefully walked outside, expecting to find a tiny garter snake disappearing into the grass.
Instead, I spotted a much larger one stretched out near the edge of the lawn.
For a second, my heart skipped a beat.
It wasn’t acting aggressively. In fact, it seemed just as interested in getting away from me as I was in keeping my distance. Still, seeing a snake that size only a short distance from where my daughter had been playing was enough to make anyone nervous.
What surprised me even more was that this wasn’t the first time.
Just a few weeks earlier, we’d seen another one in nearly the same area of the yard. That got me wondering whether something around our property was attracting them.
After taking a few photos from a safe distance, I started researching.
The snake in the picture appears to be a common garter snake, one of the most widespread snakes in North America. They’re usually recognized by the three light-colored stripes running the length of their bodies. Although they can look intimidating—especially when fully grown—they’re generally considered nonvenomous to people and are known for avoiding human contact whenever possible.
Like most wild animals, garter snakes aren’t interested in chasing people or causing trouble. If they feel threatened, they’ll usually try to escape first. Occasionally, they may defend themselves by striking or releasing a strong-smelling musk, but serious injuries from bites are uncommon.
So why would they keep showing up?
The answer is often surprisingly simple.
Snakes go wherever they can find food, water, shelter, and warmth.
If your yard has tall grass, thick landscaping, woodpiles, rock walls, compost piles, bird feeders that attract rodents, or areas where frogs and insects gather, it may unintentionally become an attractive habitat.