Garter snakes are very common snakes on most of Cape Cod but especially in the Upper Cape and Mid Cape areas. Many people refer to garter snakes as garden snakes or even gardener snakes. They may be found in your garden but they love to live near water where they can prey on small frogs and fish. 

Garter snakes give birth to live young. We had several new born garter snakes at a nature center I worked for several years ago and we fed them earthworms at first. They may have been tiny snakes but there was nothing tiny about the way they hunted and attacked those worms. They were efficient and effective predators even then.

This garter snake was taking in the sun and watching the water’s edge while I was photographing the baby swans.

There are no poisonous snakes on Cape Cod although some might give you a good bite if you grab them the wrong way.