10/20/2026
💚The Not-So-Scary Side of Garter Snakes!🐍
Wetlands provide garter snakes with valuable summer habitat and access to prey with frogs serving as one of the most common food sources!
The relationship works both ways. Garter snakes feed on amphibians and other small animals, while also providing food for birds and mammals, like skunks, hawks, raccoons, and even little weasels. This makes them an important link in wetland food webs!
Manitoba's red-sided garter snake dens are world famous for being the largest concentration of snakes in the world. During the spring mating and the fall pre-denning periods in excess of 50,000 snakes congregate at the dens in the Narcisse Wildlife Management Area (WMA).
Plus, garter snakes in Manitoba birth live young, they do not lay eggs!
This fall, let’s show some appreciation for these slithery friends. Protecting wetlands means protecting the many creatures that depend on them, scales and all! 🐍🎃
