This week I saw a garter snake (Thamnophis) while I was walking near a creek. Although this is a common species, I didn’t know much about them, so here are some facts I learned: bullfrogs are one of their natural predators; they’re collected for the pet trade; they almost exclusively utilize habitat near a water source; they hibernate and often in a communal setting in sites called “hibernacula”; lastly, despite belief to the contrary, they are actually venomous, just not enough to kill a human.