Garter Snake

1. Garter Snake By Jaimin and Mitchell

2. How it moves • The Garter Snake slithers by shifting its body left and right through the ground.

3. What it looks like • North American Garter Snakes grow as big as a man. Garter Snakes can get as big as five men and as short as a new pencil. Garter Snakes have tough, dry scales. They are born with black skin and get their scale color once they grow older. Their scales are their special body part because it helps them camouflage. The Garter Snake breathes air into its lungs through the nose.

4. What it eats • The Garter Snake eats frogs, mice, rats, other snakes and small birds. Instead of chewing its prey, the Garter Snake swallows it whole.

5. Rest/sleep • The Garter Snake sleeps out in the wild with its eyes open. The Garter Snake cannot close its eyes because it does not have any eyelids. However The Garter Snake has a special protein in its eyes so it does not hurt all the time.

6. Habitat (where it lives) • The Garter Snake lives in the grass, across North America. The Garter Snakes habitat is almost all across North America. In the winter The Garter Snake burrows underground and hibernates.

7. Family life • The newborn Garter Snake is hatched from an egg by its mother. Once hatched, the mother then abandons the baby Garter Snake to grow up on its own. As the Garter Snake grows older, it learns to hunt its prey on its own.

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY • http://www.arkive.org/common-garter-snake/thamnophis-sirtalis/image-G84617.html