San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
No need to fear checkered garter snake.
Alan Johanningmeier loves looking at snakes, whether they’re slithering in the wild around his home in Schertz or in the Facebook posts of fellow snake enthusiasts in the private group Central Texas Snake ID.
But around a month ago, the wildlife-loving pharmaceutical researcher just had to get hands-on with a small nonvenomous snake for its own good.
While at a San Antonio golf course with his fatherin-law, Johanningmeier noticed one of their group members behind them combing the fairway with his club. Only instead of looking for a lost ball, he was poking at a foot-long checkered garter snake.
So Johanningmeier walked over, picked up the snake by its tail and carried it to some nearby trees.
“I’m not going to handle a snake unless there’s reason to,” Johanningmeier said. “They’re not there for our enjoyment. We built on top of their homes. We took away their habitat. Snakes get a bad rap, the whole Garden of Eden thing.”
No question snakes have been scapegoats for sin and villainy since a certain biblical serpent started hawking apples. But as common snakes in and around San Antonio go, the checkered garter snake hardly has a checkered past.
“I’d say they are laid back and calm. To get anthropomorphic, (they’re) an easy-going species,” said Alan Kardon, vice president of animal care and horticulture at the San Antonio Zoo. “They’re absolutely gorgeous.”
Here’s a closer look at the checkered garter snake off and on the greens.
They get their name for their looks.
The checkered garter snake (Thamnophis marcianus) is a subspecies of the garter snake and is found mostly in the southwestern United States fromCalifornia to Texas. They also inhabit Mexico and Central America.
Checkered garter snakes usually are greenish with a black checkered pattern and a yellowish stripe that runs down their back frombehind their head to the tip of their tail. They have similar stripes on the sides of their body,
hence the garter designation.
Not too big but not too small.
Checkered garters usually average around 1 ½ feet long, but can reach lengths of more than 3 feet. In the wild, a checkered garter snake will live for around 8 to 12 years, Kardon said.
They live near bodies of water.
Checkered garter snakes favor forests and grasslands, usually near a water source such as a river, stream or even a ditch. They’re good swimmers, but
Kardon noted checkered garter snakes also love big, empty lots — and apparently golf courses.
“Think of them as a terrestrial water snake,” Kardon said.
They love eating what lives near water.
Checkered garter snakes feed on frogs, toads, lizards, earthworms, fish, insects and even small rodents. They also eat other snakes.
Nonvenomous and mostly harmless. Like most Texas snakes, checkered garter snakes are nonvenomous. They still bite if cornered or threatened, Kardon said, but you can treat that bite with simple soap and water.
“You’re not going to require stitches or anything like that,” Kardon said.
But why bite when you can excrete? Another good reason to leave checkered garter snakes alone: They discharge a stinky musk from their cloaca, the posterior orifice in snakes, to ward off predators. That also can be treated with
soap and water.
“I’ve had the wonderful experience of handling their signature sign-off,” Kardon said. “It’s nothing like a skunk, but it does stay with you for a bit.”
Checkered garter snakes don’t hatch.
Many snakes lay eggs. Garter snakes bear their young live. Checkered garters usually give birth to six to 12 offspring, Kardon said.
Blink and youmay miss them.
Kardon has never clocked a checkered garter snake, but said they’re fairly quick when startled and more likely to jet away from you in a colorful blur.
Keep them out with a clean lawn.
Johanningmeier’s advice for keeping checkered garters away is just what snake experts recommend: keep your yard tidy and mowed and remove any wood piles or other junk that snakes can hide under. Also remove food and water bowls. And never try to poison a snake with mothballs or other chemicals.
A few good snakes in pop culture.
Most snakes in books and movies are portrayed as villains, but at least one serpent rises to the level of pop culture hero. That would be Viper, the noble fighter from the “Kung Fu Panda” franchise.
Other friendly fictional snakes include the sweet pet snake Juju fromDisney’s “The Princess and the Frog” and the chatty drunken snake Snavely from the comic strip “Pogo.”