Garter snakes – nature’s meteorologists

“If you see garter snakes, unpack those shorts and T-shirts, because garter snakes are cold-blooded, they don’t venture out of the hibernacula until they are certain that the temperatures and directness of the sun are sufficient for survival. They can’t afford a mistake,” said Long Lake Conservation Center Manager Dave McMillan.

Spring is here. It is the time of year when things begin to awaken and blossom. This includes snakes.

Palisade’s Long Lake Conservation Center (LLCC) Manager Dave McMillan said, “Long Lake Conservation Center has spotted individual garter snakes out and about during the last couple of weeks, but Monday was the first day that numbers of snakes emerged from the hibernacula to sun themselves. This is a sure sign that spring weather is on its way.”

McMillan continued, “In Minnesota, we view the arrival of robins as the first true sign of spring. It’s a great joy when they return to our forests and feeders. As a whole, the robin’s weather forecasting ability is right most of the time, but if you’re in search of a more accurate meteorologist, look down. If you see garter snakes, unpack those shorts and T-shirts, because garter snakes are cold-blooded; they don’t venture out of the hibernacula until they are certain that the temperatures and directness of the sun are sufficient for survival. They can’t afford a mistake.”

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website said that the majority of Minnesota’s 17 snake species are harmless. There are two venomous snakes found in the southeastern area of the state, the timber rattlesnake and the eastern massasauga.

Spring is the time when garter snakes wake up from their hibernation below the frost line in their winter dens. “Though garter snakes are typically solitary creatures, they hibernate together in a hibernacula, forming tight coils to stay warm to ensure that they maintain a minimum body temperature for survival,” said McMillan.

Garter snakes are also harmless to people (unless sheer terror counts as dangerous) and they are not venomous. There are two types of garter snakes, the common garter and the plains garter. The medium-sized serpents reach up to 3-feet in length. The DNR describes their appearance as black with three, yellow lengthwise stripes on their backs and sides.

Living by a swampy area, a river and with a yard typically overgrown with long grass in the summer months, I am no stranger to garter snakes. The babies are generally born in late summer and are on their own from birth. The DNR said that more than half of the baby snakes die before they reach 1 year old. The snakes eat frogs, insects and small mammals such as mice among other things.

These snakes can be found throughout Minnesota and are “hunted” by birds like crows, ravens, hawks and owls. Other predators of the garter snake include weasels, mink, raccoons, fox, ground squirrels, skunks and my beagle, Milo. It appears that Milo simply wants to play with the “sticks that move,” but he does get bit in the nose by the garter snakes. The DNR website also said that when the snakes are handled, they may defecate which releases “a foul-smelling odor.”

All summer long I can watch the snakes emerge from their den each morning and head out to the swampy field to hunt. I don’t see them return until just before dusk to rest up before the next day’s adventures.

The DNR asks those who see snakes sunning on the blacktop roads to “please brake for snakes.”

A snakes and lizards of Minnesota 72-page PDF file from the DNR website said, “Snakes and lizards play a beneficial role in our environment by consuming large numbers of insects and small mammals.” The report went on to say, “Human persecution of snakes is one of the largest threats to these animals.” Did you know that if you trap a snake in your house in the winter, it cannot be released outside, it will die. In these situations you should contact a DNR Nongame Wildlife Specialist at 888-646-6367.

So, whether garter snakes strike fear throughout your body or not, we can all admit that they are beneficial to us and we should do our best to learn to live with them. If that is not possible, there are humane ways to rid your area of garter snakes.