You’re out weeding the garden or maybe just grabbing the mail when something small, striped, and lightning-fast zips through the grass. If you live in North America, you probably just saw a garter snake or a ribbon snake. Most people use the names interchangeably. They shouldn't. While they’re cousins—both belonging to the genus Thamnophis—they are about as different as a rugged off-road Jeep and a sleek Italian sports car.
It’s easy to get confused. They both have those iconic longitudinal stripes. They both musk on you if you try to pick them up. Honestly, even seasoned hikers sometimes mix them up when a snake is disappearing into a bush at ten miles per hour. But if you look closer, the differences are everywhere.
The Anatomy of a Ribbon Snake vs a Garter Snake
The biggest giveaway is the body shape. Garter snakes are built for the long haul. They’re chunky. Even a small one feels somewhat substantial in your hand, with a head that’s noticeably wider than its neck. Think of them as the "generalists" of the snake world. They aren't picky. They’ll eat a toad, an earthworm, or a minnow without a second thought. Because they have a more varied diet and live in more diverse habitats, their bodies are evolved to be sturdy.
Ribbon snakes (Thamnophis saurita and Thamnophis proximus) are the supermodels of the genus. They are impossibly thin. A ribbon snake can be two feet long and still barely be thicker than a pencil. Their tails are also much longer relative to their body size compared to their garter cousins. If the snake you’re looking at has a tail that makes up about a third of its total length, you’re almost certainly looking at a ribbon snake.
Look at the face. This is where the real "expert" identification happens. Ribbon snakes have a very clean, white scale right in front of the eye (the preocular scale). It looks like a bright white dot. They also have pristine white scales around their "lips" (labial scales) without any dark markings. Garter snakes usually have dark vertical bars or "stitching" on those lip scales. If the snake looks like it has a messy mustache, it’s a garter. If its face looks clean and bright, it’s a ribbon.
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Where They Hang Out Matters
Habitat is the next big clue. While you might find a garter snake almost anywhere—forests, fields, suburban lawns, or even city parks—ribbon snakes are much more particular. They are semi-aquatic. You’ll rarely find a ribbon snake more than a few yards away from water. They love the edges of ponds, marshes, and slow-moving streams.
If you see a striped snake basking on a lily pad or a branch overhanging a creek, it’s probably a ribbon snake. They are incredible swimmers and will dive into the water the second they feel threatened. Garter snakes swim too, sure, but they’re more likely to head for a thicket of tall grass or a hole in the ground when startled.
Diet and Survival Strategies
It’s about what’s for dinner. Garter snakes are famous for eating earthworms. In fact, many hobbyists who keep them as pets rely on worms as a staple. They also have a fascinating physiological quirk: they are one of the few animals that can eat toxic rough-skinned newts. Research by Dr. Edmund Brodie III has shown that some garter snake populations have evolved a resistance to tetrodotoxin, the same deadly nerve poison found in pufferfish.
Ribbon snakes? They hate worms. They won't touch them. They are specialists that hunt small fish, tadpoles, and frogs. This specialization makes them a bit more "delicate" in terms of where they can survive. If a pond dries up, the ribbon snakes have to move or they’ll starve. The garter snake will just switch to eating slugs and bugs.
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The Mystery of the "Garter" Name
Ever wonder why they’re called "garter" snakes? It has nothing to do with gardens, though "garden snake" is the most common misnomer in the US. The name actually comes from old-fashioned striped garters that men used to wear to hold up their socks. The stripes on the snake reminded early settlers of those clothing accessories.
There are about 35 different species of garter snakes, and they vary wildly. The San Francisco Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia) is arguably the most beautiful snake in North America, with neon orange, blue, and black stripes. It’s also critically endangered. On the other end of the spectrum, the Common Garter Snake can be found in almost every state and even up into Canada. They are incredibly resilient. They are often the first snakes to emerge in the spring, sometimes even crawling over patches of melting snow to find a spot to bask.
Are They Dangerous?
This is what everyone actually wants to know. The short answer: No. The long answer: It’s complicated.
For decades, we thought garter snakes were completely non-venomous. Technically, we now know they possess a very mild neurotoxic venom produced in the Duvernoy's gland. But don't panic. They don't have fangs like a rattlesnake. They have to chew the venom into their prey (usually small amphibians). For a human, a garter snake bite might cause some slight swelling or itching, but it’s less harmful than a bee sting for 99% of people.
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Their real weapon is "musking." If you pick one up, it will void its cloaca on you. It’s a mix of feces and a foul-smelling secretion that lingers for hours. It’s gross. It’s meant to make a predator (or a curious human) drop them in disgust. It works.
How to Help Them Thrive
If you have these snakes in your yard, consider yourself lucky. They are free pest control. They eat the slugs that ruin your hostas and the crickets that get into your basement.
To make your yard "snake-friendly," stop using heavy pesticides. If you kill the bugs and the worms, you kill the snakes' food source. Leaving a small "wild" corner of your yard with some tall grass and a few flat rocks or a woodpile provides them with the cover they need to hide from hawks and neighborhood cats.
Actionable Steps for Identification
- Check the lips: Dark lines? Garter snake. Clean white? Ribbon snake.
- Look at the tail: Is it nearly half the length of the body? That's a ribbon.
- Note the location: Deep in a dry field? Likely a garter. Edge of a marsh? Probably a ribbon.
- Observe the stripe placement: On a ribbon snake, the side stripes are usually on the 3rd and 4th scale rows. On most garter snakes, they are on the 2nd and 3rd. (You’ll need a photo or a very still snake to count those!)
Next time you see a flash of yellow stripes in the grass, don't just walk away. Stay still. See if you can spot that white dot in front of the eye or the dark bars on the lips. Understanding these small differences makes the natural world feel a lot more like a community you're a part of, rather than just a backdrop to your commute. Grab a field guide or use a high-zoom camera to document what you find—citizen science starts in the backyard.