I have several garter snakes living in the rocks that make up the pond. Well I caught one in the pond the other day. They don't appear to be bothering the fish as far as I can tell. Anything I should worry about? I'm actually surprised that my Koi haven't tried to eat them.

I don't think garters pose much of a threat, they mostly eat bugs and stuff like that, and they're not big snakes, just kinda annoying when you come across one and FREEEEAK out and say "AHHGHHHHH!!!!" and jump around and flap your arms. (K, maybe that's just me) But they're a peaceful snake. I wouldn't want them in my pond exactly though, mostly because I'd be worried about one suprising me. Do you have any SMALL fish in there (I don't think you do?)

They would only be a threat to very small fish, and I think they would have trouble catching the fish in a large pond anyway. At the pet store the reptile guys used to put feeder minnows in their bowls and they would eat those.

I hate snakes! Sorry,I just do.Although I can see their beauty,I still don't like them. A neighbor of mine tore her little stone wall down a few years ago. It wasn't that big of a wall,but let me tell you that you just don't realize just how many snakes there can be. It gave me the willies! And you'd be surprised at how big some of them Garter's are.I never knew that they could get as big as I saw.

I do have some small fish (fry from last year). The smallest one is probably 3 inches. Most of them are in the shallow side and I've only seen a snake in the deeper side (closer to where I've seen their shedded skin).

I actually don't mind snakes but when I'm cleaning out the pond and almost grab one it tends to be a bit of a shock.





I don't have any real small fish so they should all be okay. If I were the snake I'd be worried about my larger Koi taking a chunk out of them. You ought to see how fast they eat worms that are dropped in by the birds.

Snakes don't bother me much. We do have a couple of rather large garter's. We have about 5 that hang out in my yard (2 around the pond). I do not like finding their skin after they've shed it. Something about that just gives me the heebie jeebies.

We think a snake took my dear fish Gullet... She was big!

I've had a garter snake strike at a small moor that was in my pond, who liked to scavange in the shallow water along the edge. The snake took her eye out and she died but her body was not eaten (too big at 2", perhaps)

My sister in-law claims that a garter snake had a 3" comet in it's mouth. dragging it backwards out of the pond! Her husband grabbed the snake and was able to save the fish. That being said, their pond is very small and choked with plants, where the fish have little room to swim openly to escape an attack.

All in all, I think the snakes are not too much of a threat to fast swimming fish (comets and fantails) maybe 2" or over in a good size pond with plenty of swimming room, but I still catch them and relocate them far away whenever I can!!!

we have a small pond with no fish put frogs go in there sometimes and onetime a frog was swimming i was up by the house and saw a whole bunch of splashing so i went down to "investigate" and a gardner snake was crawling out with a huge frog in its mouth the snake was maybe 2 or 3 feet and the head was maybe the size of a quarter and it had a frog the size of a baseball in its mouth i didnt think it could swallow it but i didnt give it the chance. i started hitting it with a stick(but not hard so i wasnt hurting it) it finally let go. i didnt want to watch a frog get eaten. so a small fish would probably be able to get cought in a small pond (ours holds about 60-70 gallons so it isnt very big)

Snake Update!!!

- Started with 9 fantails - 7 were 2 to2 1/2", 2 of them were over 3"

- Put up an electric pond fence kit to keep out racoons, otters and herons.

- Strung fishing line zigzaged across whole pond to keep out kingfishers.

- Caught 8 garter snakes by hand- some bigish, some little, some in the water, some nearby.

- Within two weeks 6 fish dissappeared, until finally I saw a snake pull one out of the water with my own eyes!

The remaining 3 are in a tank in the house now.

How does anyone keep fish in a pond???!!!??? This is so frustrating!! I can hardly believe snakes can eat fish of this size - they were not incredibly big garter snakes! Garter snakes are the only kind we have around here, so I know it wasn't something else.

All I could find as far as a solution is snake traps using sticky glue (you can release the snake using vegetable oil) Repellents don't seem to work well. So I have some traps laid out there now, and am going to overwinter the fish indoors and grow them up as much as I can, and try again next year.

I'm really mad because my biological filter was all cycled nicely and now there are no fish in the pond to keep it going!
Thanks for listening.