Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson XLIX · Topic 5: Reptile study
49. The garter, or garden, snake
Goal: Your child can describe the garter snake's stripes, flicking tongue and way of moving, and tell some of the false beliefs about snakes from the facts.
You'll need
- Binoculars
- A sunny garden edge, stone wall, field edge or park path in spring or fall
- A field guide or app for your area's snakes
- Nature notebook
What's in the book
An introduction to reptile study (many beliefs about snakes are false: most are harmless, they are dry not slimy, the tongue is a sense organ), then the leading thought, the method (begin with snakes in their native haunts) and eight questions about its colors, eyes, ears, nostrils and mouth, how it acts and uses its tongue, how it moves on its belly plates, what it eats, winter, its young, and its enemies. A poem by Bret Harte about a rattlesnake follows.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Spring through fall, on warm sunny days. Garter snakes are the most common snakes in North America, in yards, gardens, meadows and pond edges. In spring they bask on stone walls and south-facing slopes.
Safety: never pick up or touch a wild snake, even one you think is harmless; watch from at least two big steps away and let it go on its way. Before you go out, learn which venomous snakes live where you live (rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths or coral snakes in parts of the United States), and look before you put hands or feet under logs, rocks or into tall grass.
Keep the big idea in mind
Read this to yourself:
The garter snake is a common and harmless little creature and has many interesting habits which are worth studying.
Comstock's classes caught snakes and kept them in glass-covered boxes for study. Today the guides keep the study outdoors, at a safe distance, with binoculars and pictures; a nature center or zoo where an educator shows a snake up close is a good extra.
Old beliefs
Comstock's introduction lists beliefs about snakes that are "far from true." Read this one aloud:
Nor are snakes slimy, quite to the contrary, they are covered with perfectly dry scales.
Ask your child what they have heard about snakes, and sort them: true or not true?
Look at a garter snake
When you find one, stop and watch quietly.
What are the colors and markings of your garter snake? Do the stripes extend along the head as well as the body? How long is it?
Guess its length from a distance, using your own feet as a measure.
The tongue
If you disturb it how does it act? Why does it thrust its tongue out? What shape is its tongue?
Comstock explains that the tongue is a sense organ, used the way an insect uses its feelers. It is not a threat.
How it moves
In what position is the snake when it rests? Can you see how it moves?
Comstock describes the crosswise plates on a snake's underside that grip the ground as the ribs move. Look at a picture of a snake's belly, or a shed snakeskin if you find one; wash hands after touching a shed skin.
Food and enemies
What does the garter snake eat? Did you ever see one swallow a toad? A frog? Did it take it head first or tail first?
What enemies has the garter snake?
Comstock also asks if young snakes run down the mother's throat for safety. That is an old belief; scientists have found no proof of it.
Nature notebook
Draw the garter snake with its three light stripes. Write one false belief about snakes and the truth beside it. Ask your child to tell you the leading thought in their own words, then share Comstock's.
Afterwards
On warm spring days, check a sunny stone wall or rock pile from a distance for basking snakes.
Tip
If a garter snake is grabbed it gives off a smelly musk and may bite. One more good reason to just watch.