Category Archives: garter snakes

A snake in the grass!

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My neighbor called me all in a buzz because there was a huge snake in the yard and it was heading for my house! I was so excited I grabbed my camera and ran outside. Living smack dab in the middle of Hyannis a snake in the grass is not an every day occurrence. This is what I saw….

What? That little thing? Actually it was about 18″ long but it was a harmless, docile garter snake, perhaps one of the most common snakes on the Cape and in the country, I think, too.

It allowed me to get quite close to get a good look….

I decided it was probably a she since this snake appeared quite pregnant….

Her mid section was almost twice as wide as the rest of her and for about a foot of her body length so I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just her last meal sitting there….

My neighbor is not very fond of snakes so when it headed to the old wall between our yards she was very relieved to see it….

slip between the rocks into the leaves on the other side of the wall…in my yard!

If you see a garter snake, or any snake for that matter here on the Cape, please remember they do way more good than harm. We have no poisonous snakes here and no snake is going to come after you and bite you. They are going to try and do exactly what this snake did….get away safely!

Snake in the Grass

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Some days you can look for a snake all day and not see one and others you can be thinking of anything but a snake and it will appear right in front of you like this one.

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.