We’ve been away from the blog for a while, Scooter and I, distracted, while I wrote a book. Scooter wants you to know that we recognized that yes, we are still wearing raincoats and pullover sweaters, but spring has sprung. When we met a garter snake, we knew it’s true.
Garter is the common name for small snakes belonging to the genus Thamnophis in the family Colubridae.
Here’s who Scooter and I met on the pond path Friday last.
Puget Sound Garter Snake - 2025
Once Scooter’s startled feet returned to the ground and he rested on all four, I secured his leash under my foot so I could snap the picture, and he could do his sniff research from a distance guaranteed to cause no harm. It wasn’t quite warm enough for snake to be highly alert, but it was alive, and it was talking.
“Talking snake?” asked Scooter.
“I’ve heard this happened once before,” I said
“I remember first meeting a snake,” said Scooter, citing #68PUPPY blog, A Wiggling Pencil. “That one wasn’t talking.”
It’s likely we were meeting the mostly harmless T.s. pickeringli, Puget Sound garter snake, a name that sounds like a game, one Scooter would like to create. They do carry a mild venom, but even more bothersome to humans, they can aim a noxious smelling fluid secreted from postanal glands. If you are going to handle a pickeringli, a tiny nip might be preferred to the fragrance.
“Your name is, Pickleball?” Scooter asked.
“Pickeringli. Pickeringli Thamnophis, thank you. My family’s a part of the Colubridae family here in Western Washington.
"Columbus Day, you say?”
“Colubridae. And it’s THAM-nophis, not Damn-offense. Where are you getting your information? AI?”
Clearly, it isn’t easy carrying such nomenclature on such thin skin. I must have said that out loud because Snake said,
“I am not thin-skinned. I’m covered with scales made of keratin, like your fingernails, like the toenails of your trapped dog, tough and protective.” Scooter scowled.
“Touchy?” Scooter added that question.
“Our cousins, the Thamnophis Sirtalis, are the touchy ones. Imagine the ribbing Sirtalis’ take when their cousins call them shirttail-less. You know, it’s hard enough carrying the family name, Colubridae, then you add Sirtalis. And speaking of ribbings, you might remember that I have 200 or so highly flexible ribs and vertebrae, and layers of mighty muscles under just under my skin that contract and relax alternatively to create my stunning slither. I’d show you if I were warmer.
But we aren’t here for yet another basic lesson about garter snakes. Unless you are interested in the fact that the female carries her developing young in individual birth sacks, up to forty at once, in the middle of her body. In late summer, they will be muscle moved to the tip of her tail where they are born. Like puppies. Only, they are immediately on their own.
“Not dependent, like you,” I said to Scooter.
“What’s dog’s name asked snake, as Scooter and I began to walk away.
“Scooter. Scooter Sublime,” said proud dog.
“Oh, ha ha ha!” Snake’s tiny jaws guffawed wide enough for Scooter to see two small teeth at the back of its moist, pink mouth.
“Mom, did you see that? Did you see those tiny teeth? Are those baby teeth?” Scooter turned back toward the snake, lifted his upper lips, tipped his head so his massive canines caught the glint of the sun, gave a little snarl, and said, “Good you have a large name. Nothing else about you seems . . .”
“Scooter!” I said. “Walk.”
