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4 Creepy Creatures You Actually Want in Your Garden

Image Credit:
Rudmer Zwerver/Shutterstock
Written By: Christopher Burnett Garden Writer

Bats, spiders, and toads—oh, my! It turns out that there are some garden “pests” that we can welcome with open arms. These creepy creatures can be great garden helpers. So, you may want to think again before sending ill will towards them!

4 Creepy Creatures You WANT in the Garden

1. Snakes

  • Garter snakes are most common in North America and are no threat at all to humans, though they will bite if they feel threatened.
  • Their backyard prey include slugs, grasshoppers, and small rodents, including the voles that chew bark off your fruit trees.
  • They also eat bullfrog tadpoles. But, in a twist of irony, adult bullfrogs can devour garter snakes—so many, in fact, that garter snake populations have declined in some areas.

garter snakes

2. Toads

  • When the Sun goes down, these amphibians go to work looking for mosquitoes, slugs, sow bugs, flies, beetles, cutworms, and caterpillars to eat.
  • Worried about warts? Don’t be! Toads have gotten a bad rap as the supposed cause of warts, which are actually brought on by a human virus. The worst thing a toad can do to you is pee on your hand when you pick it up!

toad in a garden planter

3. Bats

  • Without bats, we would be up to our necks in bugs. From dusk ‘til dawn, bats skim the skies with open mouths, devouring mosquitoes, wasps, flies, gnats, midges, moths, and beetles.
  • Bats are in deadly danger, however. Millions have been killed by a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome. Insects may be celebrating, but gardeners and farmers are not.

bat

4. Spiders

  • Spiders eat lots and lots of insects. Most of these super-predators spin webs to help catch their prey. Hummingbirds even use their webs to glue their nests together.
  • Even the house or “cellar” spiders are helpful. These creepy crawlies create cobwebs that capture insects such as ants, roaches, and even other spiders. They’re harmless to humans, so maybe cobwebs in the cellar aren’t so terrible!
  • Did you know? Spider silk reflects UV light, which warns away birds but attracts bugs.

jumping spider

→ Read more about beneficial insects in the garden!

Garden Pests

About The Author

Christopher Burnett

Christopher Burnett

Garden Writer

Having grown up in rural New Hampshire, Chris has a great appreciation for all things outdoors, especially when it comes to native flora and fauna.Chris is an avid gardener, maintaining a small vegeta...

Read more from Christopher Burnett

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Comments

<span>Colleen</span> Fri, 11/10/2017 - 08:28
I love snakes, bats, toads etc. My friend once ran over an already dead snake in the road and she almost killed us and her two young children by panicking, swerving and screaming. I must have watched too much Crocodile Hunter (Steve Irwin) and used to pick up huge snakes by their tail. Toads I check my window well daily in the summer to scoop out any that fell in. Bats I haven't seen one in over a year so maybe they are extinct or on the way.
<span>Yasmine Hobarth</span> Fri, 06/27/2025 - 07:36
Two words Talcom powder
<span>Sandy</span> Mon, 07/17/2017 - 21:26
For those who want more active bats in their yard, place those little solar lights randomly through out your yard. There is just enough light to attract bugs, and feed the bats.
<span>Candace Burke</span> Sat, 10/15/2016 - 13:54
Mostly Gothic Lit (not to be confused with Goth culture) relies heavily on a full moon. But does other literature relyo on other phases of the moon? Do different seasonal moons create different folklore (recorded in literature - fiction - novels, short stories)? If yes, how - in what ways?
<span>Timothy Green</span> Sat, 04/18/2015 - 00:18
Along our bike path in Hillside Ill. There was a massive Garter snake ball ,you could smell it 20 ft. away there must have been 2000 snakes doing that MIRACLE thing called the circle of life. SPRING !
<span>Willadean</span> Wed, 06/26/2013 - 21:49
We've had a black snake around our house for over 30 years. Not the same one obviously. We don't bother them and they haven't bothered us. We've had garter snakes as well as bats. The garden spiders and orb spiders are left alone as well. We live in the country and they are a part of the country living.
<span>Darlene Poppe</span> Wed, 06/26/2013 - 19:08
We live on the central coast of CA. I have not seen garter snakes here but we did have them in MN. We do have gopher snakes and they are also a help in keeping down on mice and such. I think they also help keep down rattle snakes...
<span>Ray Lewis</span> Tue, 07/23/2019 - 18:22
I know you have King Snakes in your area, they are great for rattle snake control.
<span>Darlene Poppe</span> Wed, 06/26/2013 - 19:05
We live on the central coast of CA. I have not seen garter snakes here but we did have them in MN. We do have gopher snakes and they are also a help in keeping down on mice and such. I think they also help keep down rattle snakes...
<span>Kimmie Lowe-Munoz</span> Wed, 06/26/2013 - 18:18
I live next to a creek and have LOTS of Garter's. They are my buddies and I try really hard to avoid them with the mower, I even leave the grass a little higher to help them survive. Some of the neighborhood boys think that I am crazy when I tell them that I will skin THEM if I catch them messing with my snakes! I have even caught them in my house and caught them and put them back outside. I am a bat-lover as well.