On Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge I stumbled upon a pair of Eastern Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis). Their bodies were intertwined and were undulating. Now I do not know much about the mating practices of snakes, but I assume that was what they were doing.
I got down really low to take the first shot, which gives a close-up view of the head of one of the snakes that appears to be smiling—I believe that this one, which is clearly the smaller of the two, is the male snake.
According to an article by Sue Pike, “Garter snakes bear live young instead of laying eggs. In fact, in most live-bearing snakes, the females are considerably larger than the males. Since a larger female can carry more babies, and larger litter size mean a greater chance of survival for some of the offspring; natural selection will favor larger females. Females also tend to be more bulky and less active than males since they need to conserve their energy for reproduction. Males tend to be skinnier, more active and smaller than the females because, in the wild, their excess energy is used to chase females.”
The second shot shows the bodies of the two snakes when I came upon them—they look almost like they were braided together. I encourage you to click on the image to get a closer look at the beautiful patterns on the bodies of these snakes.
As I was making a little video of the two snakes, they were joined by a third garter snake. This snake, which I think is another male, slithered along the entire length of the intertwined bodies, looking for an opening. Somehow I thought the new snake would be more aggressive, but he was actually quite gentle. He ended up with his body stretched out as part of the intricate braid.
I have embedded the one-minute-long YouTube video at the end of this posting. In the video you can see the undulating bodies of the two snakes and the arrival and subsequent actions of the third snake. If you cannot see the embedded video, you can use this link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgKIKLVeOVg) to access it directly on YouTube.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Truly amazing!! And lucky you to happen upon such a fascinating event. The video is a wonderful addition to the still photos. I love garter snakes and we welcome them to our property. And I’m so happy to see you refer to a piece by Susan Pike. She writes a nature piece for the Portsmouth Herald here on the NH Seacoast where I live. I always learn something interesting from her column.
Thanks, Ann. I am glad you recognized the author of the piece that I cited. Sue Pike provided an easy-to-understand description of why female garter snakes were bigger–I wanted to avoid overly scientific explanations. Apparently spring is the most frequent time for garters to mate and I have seen photos of a “snake ball” where you have a whole cluster of intertwined snakes. I never know what I am going to see, so I try to stay alert and manage to stumble on some really cool things, like this snake encounter.
Wow! Very cool interaction between all the snakes. The video especially is very interesting.
Thanks. It was fascinating to watch. I really thought that there would be more competition between the males, but apparently in the spring there are entire balls of garter snakes that form as the males desperately are trying to mate with receptive females after a long winter hibernation.
I have heard about those, but never been lucky enough to see it. Like you, I wouldn’t have been surprised by aggression between the two males, but the whole encounter did seem pretty peaceful. I’m so glad you thought to video it.
Eventually I will learn how to do video with my camera, but for the moment I am using my iPhone. Gradually I am starting to think about making videos to capture some of the action that I see. Still photos are still my primary focus, but I realize that videos can really supplement the photos and add some different perspectives that I could never capture in a single image.
Like you, photos are my primary focus, and honestly, at first video totally scared me. But there are some things like this where a video tells the story better. Sometimes video is better with quickly moving things or intermittent things, too. I wish I had thought to video the Dall’s porpoises that road our boat wake in Alaska. Their movement in and out of the water was so fast that I had missed them by the time I clicked the shutter, but a video would have been perfect.
What a neat encounter!
I love the patterns of Garter Snakes. Many of our local species are bluish rather than green.
Thank you for sharing this, Mike!
A great find, and shots. Snakes can have multiple partners in a ‘pile o snake’ or whatever it’s called. Rattle Snakes can be found entwined under rocks, with huge numbers of participants.
Gorgeous photos and the video was fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Laura. I suspected that you and your boys would enjoy the video, without feeling any of the creepiness that some folks experience when they see snakes.
Despite having multiple garter snakes in the wood pile for many years, I’ve never been fortunate enough to see this behavior. Lucky you to capture their mating.
I am amazed, Steve, by the number of really cool things that I stumble upon by merely walking about with my senses alert and my camera on the ready. I certainly had no idea at the start of an early October day that I would end up seeing some mating snakes.
Wow, what a treat to see, Mike! Amazing that they were right out in the open, where I would think they might be more vulnerable as prey while they were otherwise occupied. You just never know what you are going to see.
They definitely were out in the open, right on the gravel trail. I guess that their bodies were so focused on sex that their minds did not register that they might be vulnerable. 🙂
Thanks for writing this. I just came across two garter snakes mating on my deck steps and didn’t know if it was a mommy with a baby or husband and wife :-). Apparently the latter. They were not happy with me disturbing them but I took a couple photos myself. It looks exactly like yours.
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