Garter Snakes

No matter where you live in North America, you are likely to come into contact with a Garter Snake, Thamnophis sirtalis. While their appearance can vary, and there are many different subspecies depending on your location, most Garter snakes share a striped and checkered appearance. They can often be found near water, and dine on a variety of things including frogs, fish, slugs, and salamanders.

Garter Snakes are not venomous, and if you've ever tried to grab one of these you find out pretty quickly that the head isn't the most dangerous end of this snake. When threatened, Garter Snakes release a strong foul smelling liquid from their vent. The smell is hard to wash off, if musked you will probably be smelling it the rest of the day.

I find one of the best times to find Garter snakes is early spring, when it is just starting to warm up but the vegetation hasn't yet taken over the ground. It's around this time that Garter snakes make their way out of their communal wintering dens. The males come out first, and then lie in wait for the fertile females to emerge. When they do come out, females are often pursued by multiple males, who can identify and track them if necessary due to a pheromone in their skin. Males can pile up around a female, until one is eventually successful at mating with her. This male leaves a hard pheromone filled "plug" behind that makes the female less attractive to other males and physically prevents them from mating for a few days. Even so, many garter snake litters are found to have multiple fathers. Garter snakes give live birth and can have upwards of 50 young per litter. Once born, the babies are on their own.

Some male Garter snakes appear to have come up with a slick way of getting to a female. They give off female hormones. It is thought that males then pursue the sneaky snakes, thus lessening the competition for nearby females.

Regardless of one's feeling about snakes, Garter Snakes are definitely more than meets the eye!