Butler's Garter Snake

Fascinating facts about the Butler's Garter Snake

• When excited, Butler's garter snake expends effort thrashing in place rather than fleeing.
• The snake’s side stripes sit exactly on the third scale row above the belly, spilling over the second and fourth rows – a pattern no other garter snake shares. That precise stripe placement gives herpetologists a reliable field marker despite its otherwise bland olive-brown to black backdrop.
• At 38–51 cm (15–20 in) long, Butler's garter snake can produce litters of four to 14 live young each June or July; the newborns are 13–18 cm (5.1–7.1 in) long.
• Communal hibernation sees these snakes sharing underground shelters with other garter species throughout the cold months.
• Endangered listings in Indiana and Ontario, and a special-concern status in Wisconsin, correspond to its range from northwestern Ohio to a disjunct population in southeastern Wisconsin.

At a glance

About the Butler's Garter Snake

Butler's garter snake (Thamnophis butleri) slips through the moist, grassy mosaics of the Great Lakes region with a sleek, slender body that rarely exceeds 51 cm (20 in). Its olive-brown to black canvas is bisected by three vivid yellow-orange stripes, while a pair of dark spots flanks each side. The true hallmark, however, lies in the precise placement of the lateral stripes: they sit centered on the third scale row above the ventrals, spilling over the second and fourth rows, a pattern no other garter snake shares. A disproportionately small head and a habit of thrashing in place when startled give the species a nervous, almost theatrical demeanor that belies its otherwise modest size. In the spring, these snakes emerge from communal hibernacula, often sharing burrows with other garters, to hunt earthworms, leeches, salamanders, and frogs, favoring the damp under-logs, rocks, and even discarded boards of open-canopy meadows, wet prairies, marshes, savannas, and suburban vacant lots. By their second spring, they are sexually mature, and in late March to early April, mating commences; litters of four to fourteen neonates, 13–18 cm long, arrive in June or July, ready to join the bustling understory. A surprising trait is their communal hibernation, a social pause that contrasts sharply with the solitary, swift escape displays they perform when disturbed, pulling the observer deeper into their quietly complex world

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