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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>Karen Neilson</span> Wed, 06/26/2013 - 16:44
snakes are ok if their not to close to your house we live on a farm and behind my green-house we found hundreds of them down gopher holes that is way to close to our living quarters we took some away but had to kill alot of them ,we were afraid they would envade our house
<span>Marla Cilley</span> Wed, 06/26/2013 - 16:32
Thanks for a great article!
<span>Kaytlinn Bruin</span> Mon, 06/24/2013 - 11:27
this snake is so nasty and very ugly!!! Why would you take a picture of it??? yuck!!!
<span>Aaron G.</span> Fri, 04/17/2015 - 20:37
Ignorance breeds fear; education takes care of that.
<span>Penelope L. Pe…</span> Fri, 04/17/2015 - 16:36
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.....this is actually a very beautiful specimen of a garter snake. I do everything I can to protect hem, they eat tons of bugs, mice and voles. I don't even kill rattlesnakes, they eat a lot of mice and voles. Snakes don't attack you unless they are threatened, if you come across a garter snake just stomp your foot, they move away. They are harmless to humans.
<span>Michael Puntillo</span> Wed, 06/26/2013 - 16:34
Did you not read the article, they're helpful and have a purpose here. Did you ever think that the garter snake thinks that you're the ugliest thing it has ever seen. What an ignorant and idiotic comment.