The Nature of Things

One of the fairly anonymous but very useful residents of my backyard is an adult Texas Garter Snake. The snake is seldom seen. I discovered him earlier this year when I was standing near one of my flower beds and looked down to see this seemingly large and very well-fed snake about to slither its way past my feet. Was I startled? You bet! But I managed to stand my ground without jumping out of my skin and indeed the snake did slither past and continued on toward the woodpile at the back of the garden. I suspect that is where he spends most of his time. Image of Texas Garter Snake courtesy of the Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research. These snakes generally range in size from 18 - 25 inches but can grow up to 42 inches long. My snake is definitely longer than 25 inches. I estimated it at about three feet long and, as I mentioned above, it appeared to be a well-fed animal. The natural food of garter snakes includes frogs, toads, salamanders, fish, tadpoles and earthworms. They ...