Such ages might be exceptional for wild snakes, but little is known on this subject.įigure 2. Garter snakes have lived as long as 18 years in captivity.Near human habitation, humans, domestic cats and dogs, lawn mowers, weed-whackers, and vehicles fatally wound or kill snakes.Snakes are preyed upon by badgers, coyotes, foxes, opossums, raccoons, skunks, weasels, great blue herons, hawks, eagles, and owls.Young snakes grow rapidly, and reach sexual maturity in two or three years.Young are born from July through September, and fend for themselves after hatching.All other Washington snakes lay eggs in protected areas where the eggs receive enough external heat to hatch.

Garter snakes, rubber boas, and Western rattlesnakes bear live young from eggs retained in the body until hatching.Courtship and mating occurs shortly after snakes emerge from hibernation.Snakes may temporarily emerge from hibernation to feed and bask during warm periods in mild areas. Emergence from hibernation can begin as early as March, depending on the species and location.Snakes will use the same hibernaculum year after year several hundred snakes and different species may occupy the same hibernaculum.Hibernation sites must remain warm enough to prevent death by freezing, they must be neither too dry nor too wet, and they must be adequately ventilated.Hibernation sites (snake dens) are also used for shelter at other times, and include rodent burrows, spaces under logs and tree stumps, rock crevices, and lumber and rock piles.Snakes in Washington hibernate during winter, either alone or in a group site called a hibernaculum.Snakes store food as fat, and can live off their fat reserve for extended periods of time.Snakes have forked tongues that deposit air molecules on receptors in the mouth thus, snakes “taste” the air, which helps them locate prey and sense their way in the dark.Even so, what a snake eats depends on its size generally, larger snakes eat larger food items. Snakes have hinged jaws that allow them to consume food that is wider than their bodies.Other prey items include insects, bird eggs and nestlings, fish, frogs, and lizards. Snakes are predators and eat many animals thought to be pests-mice, voles, snails, and slugs.Besides their ecological value, snakes offer the careful wildlife viewer a chance to watch one of nature’s most efficient predators. Don’t attempt to capture them, and don’t keep wild ones as pets.Īll snakes are an important part of the natural food chain, eating a variety of prey-from mice and birds to frogs and insects.

Observe snakes, like all wild animals, from a respectful distance. Snakes should be left alone, and except for a rattlesnake that poses an immediate danger to people or pets, no snake should ever be killed. Of the dozen or so species of snakes found in Washington, only the Western rattlesnake is capable of inflicting a venomous bite, which it seldom does. As a result, many harmless, beneficial snakes have met untimely deaths at the hands of shovel-wielding humans. Snakes are among the most misunderstood of all animals. In Washington it is found from coastal and mountain forests to sagebrush deserts, usually close to water or wet meadows-or your garden. The common garter snake is the most wide-ranging reptile in North America.

Monofilament recovery and recycling program.

Boa constrictor snake types