Garter Snake Facts

Video Transcript

"This is the common garter snake. It's probably the most widely spread snake in North America, and is probably the most familiar snake to people because it is a diurnal species. It hunts during the day. Often seen in many habitats; forests, woodlands, especially near wetlands, but will readily visit residential yards and gardens. And it's primarily hunting earthworms and toads and invertebrates of other kind, though it will occasionally take salamanders and frogs. But it is definitely an earthworm lover. This species is thamnophis sirtalis and is an a live bearing species, so this snake gives birth to live young. It mates in late March to mid-May, and then gives birth to somewhere between ten and forty young from July to October, though there have been documented cases of close to eighty five babies being born at the same time. In its northern ranges the snake is known for the communal dens that they hibernate in together. Sometimes, over a thousand snakes will be seen together in these kind of rocky crags where they hibernate together for the winter, and then when they emerge in the spring, they mate and then disperse."