More Snake Facts and Pictures

Snake belly scales (scutes)

There are 2,267 species of snakes living in the world today (the ones we know about). Only one of the 14 families, the Colubridae, is represented in Nova Scotia.

The study of snakes (and turtles and lizards and frogs and salamanders) is called Herpetology. Someone who does this is a Herpetologist. The reptiles and amphibians of a place are called the Herpetofauna (as in, "Alex, clean up the Herpetofauna under your bed this instant!")

A Garter snake approaches a frog.

The first written report about Nova Scotia snakes was from about 1632. Nicholas Denys, one of the early French immigrants to settle in Nova Scotia, wrote this (translated from French): "There occur also throughout that country plenty of Snakes, of all colours, in the woods. Nevertheless they have never yet been known to injure Indians or French. Although they are stepped on they do no injury in that land."

Petroglyphs (rock drawings) of snakes have been found at Kejimkujik Lake in Queens County. It is easy to overestimate the length of a snake when it is moving, and to mistake normal snake motion for an "attack". Here's an 1865 account: "A man of some time ago informed me, that one of these snakes had chased him when we was a boy, the whole length of a field".

All Nova Scotia snakes hibernate for winter. Some go it alone, and some use a group site called a hibernaculum. From 1875: "Mr. Stayner, of Halifax, informed me that early in October, in passing an anthill, he pushed his cane into it and forced out a torpid snake. Returning to the spot, he turned out above sixty snakes of various sizes and species."

What eats snakes? Great Blue Herons, Red-tailed Haws, Rough-legged Hawks, foxes, raccoons and bears, but snakes are not a big part of their diet. The biggest predator of snakes now is the domestic cat - little kitty is a relentless hunter.

A Garter snake in alert hunting posture.

There's one report of a Robin seen along a roadside with a large Green snake wrapped around it. Who was hunting whom? They both released their grip, and separated. The snake started to cross the road, but the Robin kept attacking and pecking it, then flew off with the limp snake in its beak.

A large Garter snake attacks a frog.

The long forked tongue collects particles from the air and carries them back to a special smelling organ on the roof of the mouth. It's part of the senses, not a stinger. Snakes have no eyelids, but they can see well at short distances. They have no ear holes, but they can feel vibrations in the ground. Snakes swallow their food whole. Their jaws are made of separate sections joined only by stretchy ligaments, so they can open wide to swallow large food animals. Snakes eat a number of garden pests, such as slugs.

When a snake is growing, it sheds its skin as often as every 4 or 5 weeks. You can tell when a snake is ready to shed - its eyes look bluish-white and dull. The shed skin looks like thin clear plastic, with every detail of the scales still visible, even the eyeball cover.