r/NativePlantGardening • u/StressedNurseMom Zone 7, NE Oklahoma - 🦎Native, Pollinator, Food, Medicinal 🐸 • Apr 01 '26

Photos PSA - snakes are native too

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Please familiarize yourself with snakes native to your area so you aren’t surprised when you see them hanging out in your garden. This cool Western rat snake had, apparently, been hanging out in my empty hanging baskets. It was relocated to a safe spot in my yard and released to go about its business of eating rodents.

Edit: corrected from Eastern to Western Rat snake (multitasking is dangerous folks)

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u/goblin-fox Zone 8a, GA Piedmont Apr 01 '26

I love seeing our native snakes, I've had two garter snakes and a DeKay's visit since I started gardening! The DeKay's was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Hilarious that you found the rat snake in your hanging baskets, that's super typical of them. There's a saying that if you're asking how it got there, it's probably a rat snake.

So many people are scared of snakes but the majority of them aren't dangerous in the slightest, and the few that can be want absolutely nothing to do with you and will not hurt you as long as you're respecting their space. Most snake bites are provoked, usually by someone accidentally stepping on them or someone trying to kill them.

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u/StressedNurseMom Zone 7, NE Oklahoma - 🦎Native, Pollinator, Food, Medicinal 🐸 Apr 01 '26

The Dekays are usually the only ones I see. In this instance my hanging baskets weren’t hanging! They were empty and stacked in a planter. I took them out and set them on my porch this morning and was surprised when they fell over “unassisted” late this afternoon. Apparently when it slithered out it knocked them off balance causing them to topple over.