Critters of North Idaho: Garter Snake
Creepy. Solitary. Cold-blooded. These are undoubtedly the most common words that come to mind when you hear the word “snake.” As it turns out, though, the reputation of these reptiles is rather undeserved. Snakes are fascinating and helpful creatures. If you don’t believe me, then meet the garter snake!
Dozens of species of garter snakes are known to science. One of the most common and widespread is the appropriately named common garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis). Thirty-four inches long on average, these reptiles vary in coloration. Their primary color may be gray, olive, black, or brown, and this is usually overlain with blue, brown, green, white, or yellow stripes running along the back.
They owe their distribution to their adaptable nature. They thrive all across North America, from Alaska to Mexico. While the common garter snake is most at home in moist grassy habitats with nearby bodies of water, they are just as happy in swamps, forests and urban areas. So long as there is a steady supply of earthworms, small fish, amphibians, leeches, insects, slugs, snails, crayfish and perhaps smaller snakes, these serpents are content.
Garter snakes are good to have around because they help keep down the number of pesky insects. As an added bonus, they do not possess a venomous bite that is fatal to humans.
If you’re living in North Idaho, you’ve probably noticed the recent drop in temperature as autumn transitions to winter. As reptiles, snakes are often described as cold-blooded, but this isn’t technically accurate. It is better to say that they are ectothermic. This means that the snakes cannot control their body temperature. When the outside temperature is cold, their blood truly does run cold. When the outside temperature is warm, so is their blood. Winters of the northern United States are too frigid for the garter snakes to survive out in the open. Instead of battling it out, they gather in large numbers to hibernate in a den. Huddling together helps them retain body heat longer than they would if hibernating alone. There can be hundreds of snakes in one den, so it’s easy to imagine just how toasty it gets!
Once the snow thaws and spring returns, male garter snakes awake themselves to begin their annual mating ritual. They slither out of the den and await the females, producing special pheromones to attract them as soon as they come outside. Gestation lasts between two and three months before the mother snake produces, not eggs as in most reptiles, but live young! A single mother can give birth to dozens of offspring at a time, up to 80 in rare instances. Birthing usually occurs during late July and October in the northern United States and Canada, after which the offspring are on their own.
Common garter snakes are not an endangered species, but that doesn’t mean they still can’t use a little help to survive. These serpents are commonly targeted and killed by people who don’t realize the snakes are harmless and help maintain pesky insect populations. We can also help them by not over-harvesting resources from their natural habitat, or polluting it with our litter and waste.
Many people like to take wild garter snakes and keep them as pets. This is inadvisable because healthy populations of wild garter snakes must be maintained. If you would like a pet snake, visit your local pet store instead! We must remember how important these snakes are to the welfare of their ecosystem.
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