Garter Snakes

Hiking with a friend today (thanks for the hike Q, it was fun!), after talking about boys, we got to talking about snakes. She mentioned she had seen a pretty little snake with vivid red and yellow with sort of a checkerboard look to it. She wondered if I knew what it was and if it was venomous. I could tell her for sure it wasn't venomous since the Timber Rattlers are the only venomous snakes we have in this area and they never have red and yellow on them. I am pretty sure it was a garter snake. Garters are diverse in coloration; with browns, greens, grays, yellows and reds. They can be striped or have the checkerboard pattern my friend saw. They don't reach much more than three feet long and are fairly narrow. Garter snakes are very common in our area as they are found in many habitats and seek varied prey. They eat aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, young birds, amphibians and mammals.

Garters have a few interesting life history traits; they give off a musk when disturbed (and it STINKS) and they bear live young, which is somewhat less common in the reptile world. We had a pair of garters on display at Tanglewood that apparently were male and female as one day 10 little garters appeared in the tank with the parents. This is the time of year for baby Garters; they usually bear their young in August or September, sometimes into October. I know lots of kids have handled Garter snakes, but I try and avoid them because of their musk but also because they tend to bite. Small, non-venomous snake bites don't hurt all that much, but I try to avoid them if I can. Enjoy these common inhabitants of New York and let them live and help control our pest insect and rodent populations.