We don’t have any poisonous snakes here on Cape Cod but we do have snakes of various sizes and kinds, including the garter snake, ribbon snake, black racer, hog nosed snake and ring necked snake to name some of them.

Late summer is the time to see baby snakes and right now they are everywhere. You have to look fast and in the right places because these little guys know how to move it and how to hide.

Ring necked snakes are small even as adults but the babies are just teensy. Check out this little guy in a hand. Ring necked snakes like to hide under old boards and in rock walls and grow to be a little over a foot long.

Baby black racers don’t look like the adults though they still have the white chin. They are more mottled looking. These hatch from eggs in late August and can be found in fields, gardens or woodland areas. They are super fast.

Baby garter snakes are born live and can be seen in gardens, around ponds, stone walls and other places where they can feed on insects and worms. This little snake is of the maritime species, quite common here on the Cape. Note that it does not have the stripes often associated with garter snakes.Check out this hyper little guy trying to get out of the bucket. If left unwatched it would have succeeded, too! All these snakes were caught by naturalists who knew what they were doing and how to handle them. They were shown to children and discussed and then let go.

Please leave baby snakes where you find them. They are difficult to feed and care for correctly and they belong in the wild.