Slugging It Out

Recently I was out on the lawn and espied a garter snake with a slug in its mouth. I observed it for a few moments and went back into the house to get my camera. It was still there when I returned.

I do not know much about snakes. I have seen and handled garter snakes since I was a child. I am not a snake lover, although I see no sense in exterminating them just because others may be squeamish around them. I find them particularly odious when stepping on them unexpectedly in my bare feet.

I know from experience that rattlesnakes taste good when properly prepared. I also know they are poisonous and dangerous. Once, when living in the mountains of far northern California, I came upon a rattlesnake crawling up the middle of the road. Being on foot, I followed it for some distance. It made no move of aggressiveness toward me. I prodded it with a large stick I had found and couldn't get it to respond in any way.

My high school freshman son once stepped on the head of a coiled rattlesnake as he was running. He had disembarked from a school bus and had taken up at full gallop and didn't even see the serpent. His older brother dispatched the 25”-long rattler with a large rock. It had five rattles.

But back to my garter snake. I had never seen a garter snake do anything but try to escape and get out of my way. This one was just lying there with a slug in its mouth. Was he going to eat it? Was he sucking the juices out of it? Would he carry it off to his den for an after-dinner snack?

I watched it for a few minutes and eventually the snake released the slug. Having done so the beribboned reptile slithered off and the slug continued on its merry way, apparently none-the-worse for its experience.