backyard snakes

In most of Canada, our common back yard snake is the Garter snake. Often mistakenly called Garden snakes, these beautiful reptiles can be found in gardens, on lawns, in fields and forests, and almost every other habitat. They are harmless to humans, but definitely not harmless to their favourite food, which includes worms, frogs and toads. In turn, they might fall prey to hawks, raccoon or skunks, so they are an important link in food chains.

Cool Garter Snake facts:

They are so named because they resemble garter belts (which were used to hold up socks and stockings before elastic material was used instead).

Like all snakes, they smell with their tongues.

They (and some other Canadian snakes) are born live. Eggs are held within the mother’s body until they hatch. This is termed (big word of the day!) ovoviviparous reproduction.