Natural gardner - the cat

My cat seems to be doing a pretty good job of keeping the garden free of pests this year. Normally he's pretty oblivious and attacks things that I WANT in the yard - this year he's going after mice, moles, squirrels, and racoons. The only thing he is going after that I wish he wouldn't is garter snakes. I love snakes in my garden - eat all the sluggies and bugs that the birds leave behind. I was actually hoping to have a nice bumper crop of strawberries this year - the bushes are producing prodigiously, but the cat is hunting all the damn snakes. Who's gonna eat the slugs when the snakes are driven away?

Do you suppose eventually the snakes will give my cat a mouthful of bad smell and put an end to his games(I thought garter snakes released a stinky cloud from their anal glands to deter predators)?

Reply to
Eigenvector
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Does the cat kill the snakes or just play with them? Most cats seem to think that snakes are some superior form of pulled string.

Reply to
J. Clarke

Well I've never actually seen a corpse and I don't believe he eating them whole. Still, getting batted around, stepped on, and swatted can't do much for your health.

Reply to
Eigenvector

Snakes are remarkably resilient--once ran over a big king snake on a dirt road with all four wheels of a '76 Lincoln Town Car (didn't mean too, but couldn't stop in time to miss him). I figured him for a dead snake, but no, he coiled up and stuck his tongue out at me and after a while he crawled off, didn't seem to be any the worse for wear.

Reply to
J. Clarke

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