CHARLES BURY
Based on whatever forgotten reasons of ancient mythology and no-so-ancient tradition, most people consider the snake to be lowest of the low. Maybe it's because they live flat on the ground and, unlike most of God's creatures, they have no arms and legs.
Symptoms of this reptile repulsion include the creeps, the shivers, the shakes, nausea, faintness and the urge to flee. And I reckon a pile of people have got it, at least to some extent.
Why? Well, for one thing, people need something to hate.
They say, for example, that Saint Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. And in the absence of suitable reptiles, the Irish have been fighting their neighbours ever since.
Another thing we need is something to fear. Even the harmless garter snake can fill that bill.
The Eastern Garter Snake, or 'grass snake' to use its unofficial local name, is actually a valuable asset to the rural community, devouring all kinds of critters that can run rampant in the garden.
According to the book Wildlife in Your Garden by Gene Logsdon, there's nothing like a garter snake to keep the serious pests away.
"Although they eat small toads, they make up for it by eating many slugs and insects. Garter snakes should be encouraged to live in the garden."
The best way to do this, says Logsdon, is to make them feel at home.
"A good way to do this is by mulching parts of the garden with a light straw or hay, something the snake can crawl under during the day. A few piles of fluffed-up lawn clippings on top of tall grass also make ideal shelters for them."
Same thing on the farm.
Garter snakes "love to crawl under hay windrows in the field during the heat of the day."
As any experienced farm hand can tell you, sometimes the snakes end up inside the bales. That can make life interesting for barn cats, but shouldn't really bother the cows.
If there's no local garden to protect, says the Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, the garter snake's natural diet includes mainly "frogs, toads, salamanders, fish, tadpoles and earthworms, but other items, including leeches, small mammals, birds, and carrion, are eaten occasionally."
To the delight of children but not their mothers, Peterson adds that captive garter snakes usually learn to eat chopped fresh fish, but "be sure to include the entrails."
The babies are born live, not hatched from eggs as are most reptiles. The adult Eastern Garter Snake, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis, generally grows to a length of 18-26 inches (46-66 cm), but the longest ever found was just over four feet long (48-3/4 inches, or 123.8 cm). They can be green or brown and usually have lengthwise stripes along their flanks, but patterns vary widely and they may have spots instead.
At one time we had an outhouse out at the Bunker Hill Stump Ranch. The local garter snakes would sometimes find themselves a home down the hole. Then the darned thing fell down. The rest of our little lumber palace eventually rotted away, but the tin roof just lay there in the grass for several years.
Whenever I wanted to give the kids a thrill, I would lift up the tin, and underneath were sure to be several garter snakes basking semi-conscious in the dark. Like most reptiles they are cold-blooded, and used the tin as a solar heater.
In early summer we would see their babies, too. As soon as they realized what was happening, they would slither away into the long grass. Lifting up the sheet of tin also had the desired effect whenever we had a visitor who stayed too long. A quick look and they were gone. Charlie Bury is a freelance writer based in Birchton, Quebec.
Copyright © 1999 Charles Bury/Log Cabin Chronicles/7.99 |
