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["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

My son Chris is an expert on snakes so I asked  him.  Here's what he said:

"Given the size of his snake and timing of the sighting, it's probably a gravid female. They often climb or crawl onto perches from which they can get the most sun, in order to incubate their babies. Remember, they give live birth. This time of year, garter snakes across all but the southern states are gravid, and close to giving birth. The well-developed embryos greatly reduce their mobility, and they are in a hurry to get the babies out!

The other thing is that, in addition to slugs and earthworms, garter snakes will eat frogs (e.g., tree frogs), lizards, mice, and selected insects. So it may have been chasing a prey you didn't see. 

My $.02! :) "

-Lon Rombough
NEW grape pruning video: http://www.bunchgrapes.com/dvd.html View a short, low resolution clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q58zFY0B1M
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003. 
A video about The Grape Grower : http://cookingupastory.com/index.php/2008/04/18/the-grape-grower/
On Jun 26, 2009, at 7:58 AM, William C. Garthright wrote:

This is only slightly on topic - and it's not very important, at that - 
but can anyone tell me what the garter snakes are doing climbing my 
black raspberry canes? I doubt if they're eating the raspberries. :-)

I've got LOTS of garter snakes in the yard, and I'm always glad to see 
them. But seeing a big (for a garter snake) snake three feet off the 
ground in the raspberry patch yesterday was kind of surprising. What was 
it doing? I thought they mostly ate earthworms, but the other day, 
someone here mentioned slugs, so maybe that's what it was looking for. I 
never see slugs when I'm picking raspberries (though I haven't been 
looking), but I don't know what else the snake could catch there.

Just wondering - though, I guess, not enough to spend time searching 
online. As I say, it's not very important, but does anyone know? I've 
seen snakes climbing bushes and vines often enough, but this is the 
first time I've seen one climb raspberries. I assume that they're 
hunting something, though maybe it's just safer than staying on the ground?

OK, time to go pick raspberries again, if the snakes - or, more likely, 
the birds - haven't gotten there first. :-)

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

-- 
Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed. - 
Bertrand Russell

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