Was at work today and found this little guy slithering around in the grass. I've seen a lot of snakes around these parts, but never one that looked like this little guy. Just wondering if any of you know a thing or two about snakes.

I am from south east South Dakota, this little guy was out in the country on a customers property.

He was about 3 1/2 feet long and terrified of us lol.

Image
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Plains Garter Snake?
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It would seem it is certainly some sort of Garter Snake, they are all over up here. However, i have never seen one with red checkered markings on it's back. Hence why i'm curious what exactly it is.

I looked at the game fish and parks website for list of native snakes and none of them have the markings this snake does.
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Close, but don't know about the yellow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garter_snake

Definitely a garter snake. Not poisonous and actually do a lot of good.
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Call the county extension service and ask for a herpetologist contact. Email pic to them. Profit.
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That is definitely a garter snake. They eat minnows, slugs, crickets, snails, lizard, mice, etc. On balance, definitely worth
keeping around, and in NO WAY is it deemed aggressive or unsafe to anyone. Please try to leave it alive if you see it
again. No one can expect EVERYONE to leave snakes alive around their family, but the only absolutely unforgiveable
sin is to kill a KING SNAKE. Since they are reasonably at risk due to their frequent snatching for pets, a 3.5
foot long specimen should definitely be left to breed, especially during global warming and the insect apocolypse.
But of course if he was 3.5 feet long, he was actually 2 feet long, lol. RIBBON snakes make better pets, but they
are not very aggressive as pets, either, although I highly recommend against any snake or turtle as a pet.
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He was very much left alone. I snapped a couple pictures and then we went back to work, by the time we got done he was long gone.

The property is owned by an extremely wealthy man and kind of has a wild life sanctuary going on. There is a man made lake that was built around a spring and never freezes over fully in the winter. This winter I was out there and there was probably 150-200 geese hanging out around the property. Beautiful property.

I'd never kill wildlife unless it was for hunting or such purposes. :-)
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Well, after lots and lots of googling, I think I found the guy.

It's a Red-sided Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis)

Pictures:
http://srelherp.uga.edu/jd/jdweb/Her.../thasirpar.htm

Apparently mostly abundant in western parts of Iowa. Considering I was a mere 30 minutes from the state line, this is most likely the snake.

Anyhow, thanks for the help guys, never seen one like this, was interesting learning was it was.
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You can kill the geese without any complaint from me.....they 5hi+ EVERYWHERE! And a LOT!
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we used to have an herpetologist on staff in the asylum; but I don't know what happened to her or the beard....
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Yes they constantly crap on the Submarines here making a midnight tour topside to check drafts more exciting and slippery than it should be.
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