| 1 | Plains garter snake |
The most colourful of Canada’s 6 garter snake species, this occupies not just a border slither, but stretches deep into Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The signature way to identify this snake is an orange to yellow stripe running down the centre of its back. This contrasts vividly with the black on either side, and its flanks also have a yellow stripe apiece. Plains garter snakes measure 90cm, and have a black head, with a yellow chin that extends from a yellow belly.
This is a moisture loving species. It’s a flexible snake – you have to be to survive the Canadian winter – but it’s favourite spots are grassy meadows and estuaries. They can’t cope with bone dry habitats, and often hunt along the edges of streams. Their diet consists of 85% frogs and toads, two favourites being the wood frog and boreal chorus frog.
Plains garter snakes are one of Canada’s least endangered. Scientists have found that when living side by side with common garter snakes, plains garter snakes are superior at keeping a high body temperature.
| 2 | Eastern massasauga |
The only venomous snake eastern Canadians need to worry about. Canada has three rattlesnakes, but the prairie and Pacific rattlesnakes live further west. The massasauga occupies Ontario, in the peninsular bordered by the Great Lakes. They’re only 60-75cm, easy to miss on a weekend stomp through the countryside.
Their venom is mainly cytotoxic, attacking and dissolving skin cells. The venom is potent enough to partially digest mouse prey before even swallowing them. That said, the massasauga has only killed two people in Ontario. Both were over 40 years ago, and neither received antivenom. The main risk is hiking through tightly vegetated areas with poor visibility. Massasaugas have no wish to harm humans, but will quickly shift into an aggressive state if bushed past or stepped on.
For most of the year, massasaugas favour marshes, swamps, wet prairies and lakesides, but in the drier summer they move to grasslands adjacent to them. These habitats are being destroyed, and the massasauga is now listed as threatened by Ontario’s Endangered Species Act.
| 3 | Common garter snake |
The most widespread snake in Canada, with the Plains garter snake second. Things are confusing with this species, as the amount of subspecies is endless. There’s the eastern, red-sided, valley garter snake and more, but while superficially different, these are still technically common garter snakes. The plains garter snake and terrestrial garter snake, meanwhile, are separate species altogether.
The most common subspecies is the red-sided garter snake, which extends all the way to British Columbia. It has the lowest temperature tolerance of any North American snake, and there are even rumours of crossing over into Alaska. They dig their dens below the frost line, and hibernate in communal burrows with dozens of fellow species members, to preserve warmth. The record den contained 8000 snakes. Likewise, males will dogpile females when mating, forming breeding balls of up to 100 snakes.
The red-sided garter snake is one of the most fabulously patterned common garter subspecies. The red stands out vividly against the black and some have electric blue stripes. In Canada, common garter snakes live just about anywhere as long as moisture is nearby, including forests, shrublands, fields and wetlands.
| 4 | Smooth green snake |
An extremely green snake which lives in extremely green environments. Only someone with cyborg vision could spot this 30-60cm snake, unless it was on the move crossing a road. Smooth green snakes favour not just grassy areas, but moist, herbaceous grassy areas with an overload of vegetation. They sometimes appear on the edges of marshes too. Their range in Canada is quite wide, occupying southern Ontario and Quebec.
This snake has one of the most insect-rich diets – one study concluded 37% caterpillar, 32% spiders, and 20% grasshoppers. They’re non-venomous and incapable of hurting a human being. This is a lazy snake which moves an average of 10 metres per day. They live far further north than their relative the rough green snake, which doesn’t cross into Canada.
The smooth green snake hardly ever climbs trees. While widespread, they’re believed to be vulnerable to the march of agriculture. Insecticides are a grave danger, as they poison their main food supply. But hope remains, as in 2016, a survey was launched to rediscover them on Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada. Smooth green snakes were formerly one of three snakes there, also including common garter snakes and northern redbellies, but hadn’t been seen in 15 years. Thankfully, a rash of sightings came in from citizens, using an app called P.E.I. Nature Tracker.
| 5 | Sharp-tailed snake |
An ultra rare snake that lives solely in British Columbia. However, some believe that they’re more common than people realise. The crux is their shy personalities. Sharp-tailed snakes live on forest floors rich with mulch, debris and fallen leaves, where they burrow below and emerge to eat slugs. In Canada, they rely on one specific forest: coastal Douglas-fir forests, ever more of which is being cut down. Many of the remaining hotspots are no more than 3km wide. One of their bases was Vancouver Island, but this heavily populated island now has only 0.5% of its original Douglas-fir forest cover remaining.
In 2011 though, scientists were searching for rubber boas along a forested ridge near Pemberton, which had been targeted by builders for development. Instead, they came across 10 small sharp-tailed snakes. A new colony had been discovered, and this raised the question of how many more undiscovered colonies there are.
Sharp-tailed snakes are non-venomous, and thin like a pencil. Their maximum length is 47.5cm, with newborns a miniscule 6-7cm. Their signature sharp tail is designed for hunting, skewering slimy slugs like a kebab.
| 6 | Prairie rattlesnake |
The rattlesnake of southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta, prairie rattlesnakes inhabit a huge US range, but spill over the northern border. They prefer wide open, sweeping terrain like short grasslands and prairies (duh), usually avoiding forests.
The venom is middling for a rattlesnake, but significantly stronger than the massasauga. Prairie rattlesnake venom changes with age; youngsters possess more metalloproteases, but adults accumulate more muscle-attacking myotoxins. This is one of the paler rattlesnakes, and the longest ever measured 151.1cm.
There’s estimated to be 22,300 prairie rattlesnakes living in Canada today. Nevertheless, their habitat is shrinking, particularly open sandy prairies. A problem is that prairie rattlesnakes like to make long migrations away from their winter dens, to summer feeding grounds, which means that they need plenty of open space. Prairie rattlesnakes have the cool feature of returning to the same winter dens for decades.
Over the last 3 decades, there have been less than 10 prairie rattlesnake bites in Alberta. However, a girl was sent to hospital in 2015, after being bitten in the rugged Alberta badlands, a hotbed of dinosaur fossils. All she was doing was walking through a campsite.
| 7 | Eastern milksnake |
A subspecies of the milksnake common across the United States. This is a harmless snake which begins life with red and black bands and gradually becomes duller with age. Eastern milksnakes are most common in areas with abundant forests, but grassy meadows and clearings which they can move to to control their body temperature. They cope fairly well with human buildings, and sometimes appear in crumbling foundations or basements. Away from forests, they require cover objects to thrive, such as rotting logs or sheet metal.
The eastern milksnake is under some pressure from habitat loss, particularly in southwest Ontario, where 90% of original forest cover has been converted to heavy agriculture, and 72% of wetland. Nevertheless, there’s still estimated to be 10,000 eastern milk snakes inhabiting Canada. Their main realm is Ontario and southern Quebec, but it may be further north than people realise; there are scattered, mysterious records from the north shores of Lake Heron and Lake Nipissing. The main limit to northward migration is their eggs, which require incubation at 24C for 50-70 days.
| 8 | Terrestrial garter snake |
Another fully independent garter snake species. This snake is difficult to identify, as its base colour varies from nearly black to beige-grey, sometimes with red patches between. However, a consistent feature is a bright yellow line running down its back.
This garter snake is common on Vancouver Island, as well as western regions like British Columbia and Alberta. Terrestrial garter snakes are immune to the troubles of high altitude; they just slither higher and higher until they reach as high as 3900 metres. It’s not surprising that another of its names is the wandering garter snake. That said, this species extends less further north compared to the plains and common garter snake.
This Canadian serpent is a rare garter snake to constrict its prey, and often takes to pond and streams to hunt down fish. In one study, their favourite was crayfish, making up 56.2% of prey. They’re also keen on slugs and the Townsend’s vole. Like all garter snakes, it lacks traditional front fang venom, and cannot kill a human. However, Thamnophis elegans does possess a mildly venomous saliva, with myotoxins that wreak havoc on the muscles of mice.
| 9 | Western hognose snake |
Another endangered Canadian snake. The western hognose snake likes short grasslands and prairies, and particularly inland sandy areas. The Spirit Sands 118 miles west of Winnipeg are one of their Canadian capitals. Western hognose snakes average at 50cm and are named for their upturned snout, used for digging sand. This snake has a mild venom, only capable of swelling a finger at worst. One of their freaky abilities is diet-adapted adrenal glands; when they swallow bufotoxins from American toads, they release a burst of adrenaline to counteract the decreased heart rate.
On most maps, western hognose snakes occupy a decent chunk of western Canada, primarily in Alberta and Saskwatchan. The problem is that the range is discontinuous, divided into several subpopulations which don’t interact and replenish each other. One hotspot lies in Grasslands National Park; this is 190km from the western Saskatchewan subpopulation. In Alberta, the northern and southern subpopulations are separated by 60km. Again, the erosion of its wide, sweeping natural habitat is to blame.
| 10 | Bull snake |
The range of bullsnakes stretches from the southern tip of Texas, to a decent way into Alberta and Saskatchewan. This is one of 7 subspecies (Pituophis catenifer sayi) of the gopher snake, and the one with the most massive range. They’re thinner then the main gopher snake, but more aggressive, and have brighter colours.
With a max length of 2.5 metres, the bull snake is the longest snake in western Canada. Bull snakes are excellent constrictors, and most of their prey is rodents. Like the main gopher snake subspecies, local farmlands act as magnets which draw in bullsnakes far and wide. Some Alberta farmers are known to pick up bullsnakes and relocate them to particular rodent hotspots. The bull snake is non-venomous, and its first move when threatened is to stay absolutely still, not bite.
The Red Deer river area is one of this snake’s Alberta hotspots, and in Saskatchewan, the south Saskatchewan river is their northern limit. Bull snakes look vaguely similar to rattlesnakes, and are believed to be imitating them in a survival strategy. The rattling is one difference, as rattlesnakes raise their tail into the air, while bull snakes keep their tail low and vibrate against leaves to create a fake rattle.