Do snakes eat fish?

[GBBUDD]

Everyday my moss is tossed around from the damn thing looking for food. I love my moss . Wood chuck only comes by early early morning we need see him . Frog population is a bit low as well maybe 8 left .

 

[zinjy]

So I found this sucker down by the road today
And it tried to bite me then fled into the bushes.
So they are definitely around

This picture is a different kind of snake than a garter snake. They have a stripe all the way down their back, and they are non-aggressive. They will generally not try bite a person, only if extremely provoked. I've only ever been bitten once (while handling the snake - the bite is not harmful to people) and I used to pick them up and carry them around all the time as a kid. I have had extra-large garter snakes go after fish in the pond (caught them in the act), however, whether the snake can eat your fish depends on the size of the snake and the fish. Garter snakes like to swim in water anyway sometimes, even if they are not eating fish. You can't snake proof your pond, but aerial predators are more common. How big are your fish?

 

[GBBUDD]

cool shot ........ great shot to give some nightmares . magnificent creature

 

[rubyduby]

4 to 6 inches i have see a groundhog munching on one years ago... but i have to admit i love watching them eat apples

They are so cute chewing! (not on koi though

 

[MrsSunflower]

cool shot ........ great shot to give some nightmares . magnificent creature

Its beautiful but now I'm paranoid everytime I go to the mailbox

 

[GBBUDD]

They are more afraid of us then we are of them believe it or not why do you think they come off so nasty so quick. That have little other options

 

[lakeridge1983]

We got 2 goldfish for the pond and overnight 1 totally disappeared. The pond is in the garden and it's completely fenced in. Could possibly be aerial predator but then I was reading that garter snakes could possibly eat fish. Does anyone have any insight?

I have a farm pond with lots of goldfish. One day I saw one at the edge and thought it was feeding but then saw a large water snake had it in it's mouth. I startled it and it let it go. The fish seemed ok and eventually swam away. A few days later it was sunning itself on one of my fake alligators and it's now no longer with us thanks to my husband being an excellent shot. I know they have to eat too but NOT MY FISH.

 

[ScampersSharon]

We got 2 goldfish for the pond and overnight 1 totally disappeared. The pond is in the garden and it's completely fenced in. Could possibly be aerial predator but then I was reading that garter snakes could possibly eat fish. Does anyone have any insight?

I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes, but YES! I walked across my lawn about 6' away from the pond and interrupted a garter snake about 4' long preparing to wrap its mouth around the head of an 8" goldfish. My grandson came rushing in and captured the snake and I managed to get the fish back in the pond where it recovered completely except for a bit of a bend in its tail

 

[SarahT]

I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes, but YES! I walked across my lawn about 6' away from the pond and interrupted a garter snake about 4' long preparing to wrap its mouth around the head of an 8" goldfish. My grandson came rushing in and captured the snake and I managed to get the fish back in the pond where it recovered completely except for a bit of a bend in its tail

And the fish has a story it can "dine out on" for years.

 

[Clay Guilderson]

We got 2 goldfish for the pond and overnight 1 totally disappeared. The pond is in the garden and it's completely fenced in. Could possibly be aerial predator but then I was reading that garter snakes could possibly eat fish. Does anyone have any insight?

Yes, garter snakes absolutely eat gold fish, koi and any other aquatic animal that they can manage to fit in their mouths. I lost one koi due to infection after being bitten by a Garter - he was too big to drag out of the pond to eat.

 

[handymankiley]

We got 2 goldfish for the pond and overnight 1 totally disappeared. The pond is in the garden and it's completely fenced in. Could possibly be aerial predator but then I was reading that garter snakes could possibly eat fish. Does anyone have any

 

[handymankiley]

Garter snakes as well as a large percentage of other snakes are great fishermen. If they are small enough and slow enough they will clean you out... One thing that will help is giving the small ones places to hide from predators.

 

[j.w]

I saw a pretty good sized garter snake by my pond the other day and then the next day I found this:

You can even see where his eyeballs were:

Hope he doesn't go after my fish as I enjoy seeing it around but I enjoy my fish more!

 

[DanielleB]

I've been putting a cage on top over night and when I'm not around and I just came out to check the pond and Saw this!!!

I couldn't catch it, it's a fast little thing.

That's a true garter. Fish is one of their primary food sources. Most people in the PA typically call DeKays garter snakes.

 

[Judy63]

We got 2 goldfish for the pond and overnight 1 totally disappeared. The pond is in the garden and it's completely fenced in. Could possibly be aerial predator but then I was reading that garter snakes could possibly eat fish. Does anyone have any insight?

I thought we'd lost 2 small fish last year, didn't even see them when we 75% emptied, cleaned and refilled pond. Sure enough few weeks later there they were!