Natural History:
Fitch and Maslin (1961) and Fitch (1965) studied this snake on the Great Plains, and much of the information from Kansas is based on their observations.
The Common Gartersnake is found in a wide variety of habitats, including marshes and wet meadows, margins of ponds, woodland and woodland edge, floodplains, and cultivated fields. It generally prefers areas with moderately moist vegetation. Platt (1985) found this reptile more common in the sand prairie habitat of western Harvey County than in the eastern part which lacked this habitat.
This hardy species is active from March to November at air temperatures ranging from 55° to 100°F. During warm periods from December to February, it frequently emerges from its underground winter retreats. Although this snake is active over a wide range of time and air temperatures, it appears to prefer air temperatures around 85°F.
Common Gartersnakes are active during the day and have a home range of 22- 35 acres. Estimates indicate a population density as high as three of these snakes per acre in northeastern Kansas (Fitch, 1982).
This snake mates during early spring and occasionally in the fall. On the first warm spring days, males search actively for females, locating them by scent. Several males may court the same female. The males lie alongside the female, their bodies rhythmically writhing. A successful male curls his tail beneath that of the passive female until his cloaca meets hers. Copulation occurs, and the female may drag the male along as she crawls.
Females give birth to young in late summer or fall. Litters are quite large in this species; the number of young per litter varies from four to 85 (Fitch, 1985), with an average of twenty. Collins (1974) recorded three females from Douglas County giving birth to 33, 35, and 35 young, respectively, during late July and August, the normal time of birth.
The Common Gartersnake feeds chiefly on frogs and earthworms but will also occasionally eat toads, small mice, and other small snakes. Henderson (1974) reported that examples of this snake from Douglas and Harvey counties fed almost exclusively on frogs.
Predators of this snake include hawks, large snakes, and mammals. Burt (1949) reported a young Common Gartersnake trapped and eaten by a large garden spider. Fitch (2001) reported the following prey items in decreasing abundance for northeast Kansas snakes: Allolbophora caliginosa (an earthworm), Lithobates blairi, Lithobates catesbeianus, Anaxyrus americanus, Anaxyrus woodhousii, Hyla chrysoscelis/versicolor, Acris crepitans, Pseudacris maculata, and three mammals (Microtus ochrogaster, Peromyscus leucopus, and Reithrodontomys megalotis).
Capron (1985) recorded 33 of these snakes killed by swathing (mowing) machines during agricultural harvests from May to mid-July in southern Kansas. Dillenbeck (1986) discovered nine of these harmless reptiles, all deliberately killed, along the Ninnescah River in southcentral Kansas.