Oct 9, 2011 – Snakes And Social Lives
QUESTION:
Some questions about snake pits please. Where and how do they occur, can snakes make their pits anywhere they want or is the pit already made by other snakes? Can a snake make its pit in a hole such as a gopher hole? Can snakes make pits near residental areas or only out where there's nobody around? Please help me out with as much information as you can give me. Thank you
ANSWER:
The most famous snake "pits" that you may be thinking of are those of garter snakes, and there are some really famous ones in North America, such as the Narcisse Snake Pits in Manitoba, Canada, where tens of thousands of garter snakes gather as a winter hibernation site. They do not make these pits but use naturally occurring caverns created in the limestone rocks there. This site just happens to provide some perfect conditions for the snakes to survive the winter, including a lot of space to allow so many snakes to be in one place. Garter snakes are one group known to return to the same hibernation site (called their hibernaculum) each fall to spend the winter, and they may travel over 2 miles to return to that site.
Snakes are not necessarily social animals, but there are many times that you may find a lot of them gathered together. The garter snakes, again, are often found in writhing masses of hundreds of snakes where males compete to mate with females. There are also these kinds of mating events with other snakes, such as rattlesnakes. Females will take care of their offspring for a short period of time, so you may find a female with many young snakes near her.
Since that perfect place for hibernation may not be commonly found, where they do exist many snakes will gather and use the same dens. These will always be large holes or caves that already exist, as the snakes themselves are not particularly good at digging. The den may be a large burrow from a mammal that is now abandoned, or cavities under rock piles, or caves created by mining. The presence of snakes within burrows such as gopher holes is probably related more to their hunting for food rather than denning up for the winter. Generally speaking snakes are rather shy animals, so they really would prefer to be where people are not. There probably is no reason why a den of snakes could not occur in someone's back yard if the conditions were right, but it seems more likely that more snakes would occur in more rural areas where there is less human activity. If you have a residential community bordered by woodlands or grassy fields this could bring the snakes closer to the residences.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
Some questions about snake pits please. Where and how do they occur, can snakes make their pits anywhere they want or is the pit already made by other snakes? Can a snake make its pit in a hole such as a gopher hole? Can snakes make pits near residental areas or only out where there's nobody around? Please help me out with as much information as you can give me. Thank you
ANSWER:
The most famous snake "pits" that you may be thinking of are those of garter snakes, and there are some really famous ones in North America, such as the Narcisse Snake Pits in Manitoba, Canada, where tens of thousands of garter snakes gather as a winter hibernation site. They do not make these pits but use naturally occurring caverns created in the limestone rocks there. This site just happens to provide some perfect conditions for the snakes to survive the winter, including a lot of space to allow so many snakes to be in one place. Garter snakes are one group known to return to the same hibernation site (called their hibernaculum) each fall to spend the winter, and they may travel over 2 miles to return to that site.
Snakes are not necessarily social animals, but there are many times that you may find a lot of them gathered together. The garter snakes, again, are often found in writhing masses of hundreds of snakes where males compete to mate with females. There are also these kinds of mating events with other snakes, such as rattlesnakes. Females will take care of their offspring for a short period of time, so you may find a female with many young snakes near her.
Since that perfect place for hibernation may not be commonly found, where they do exist many snakes will gather and use the same dens. These will always be large holes or caves that already exist, as the snakes themselves are not particularly good at digging. The den may be a large burrow from a mammal that is now abandoned, or cavities under rock piles, or caves created by mining. The presence of snakes within burrows such as gopher holes is probably related more to their hunting for food rather than denning up for the winter. Generally speaking snakes are rather shy animals, so they really would prefer to be where people are not. There probably is no reason why a den of snakes could not occur in someone's back yard if the conditions were right, but it seems more likely that more snakes would occur in more rural areas where there is less human activity. If you have a residential community bordered by woodlands or grassy fields this could bring the snakes closer to the residences.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
