# Garden snake (*Thamnophis sirtalis*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/garden-snake  
Data as of: 2026-11-14

The garden snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) is a species in the family Colubridae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh 138 g to 170 g and live up to 8.99 years.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 138 g – 170 g |
| Length | up to 1.4 m |
| Lifespan | 8.99 years |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 20 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | forest |
| Egg incubation | 100 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 7.6 – 32.5 |
| Age at maturity | 22.5 months – 3 years |
| Litters or clutches a year | 0.23 – 1 |
| Reproduction | Live birth |
| Active | By day (diurnal) |
| Brain mass | 77 mg – 123 mg (0.182% of body mass) |
| Conservation status | Not recorded |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Recorded prey and predators

Recorded prey: American toad (*Anaxyrus americanus*), Northern leopard frog (*Lithobates pipiens*), Fowler's toad (*Anaxyrus fowleri*), Pickerel frog (*Lithobates palustris*), Red-backed salamander (*Plethodon cinereus*), Cascades frog (*Amerana cascadae*), Willow flycatcher (*Empidonax traillii*), Spotted salamander (*Ambystoma maculatum*), Pacific tree frog (*Pseudacris regilla*), Southern toad (*Anaxyrus terrestris*), Gray treefrog (*Dryophytes versicolor*), Mink frog (*Aquarana septentrionalis*). Recorded predators: Racer (*Coluber constrictor*), Great blue heron (*Ardea herodias*), Milk snake (*Lampropeltis triangulum*), Red-shouldered hawk (*Buteo lineatus*), Red-tailed hawk (*Buteo jamaicensis*), Barred owl (*Strix varia*), Broad-winged hawk (*Buteo platypterus*), Eastern copperhead (*Agkistrodon contortrix*), Raccoon (*Procyon lotor*), Red fox (*Vulpes vulpes*), American crow (*Corvus brachyrhynchos*), Massasauga (*Sistrurus catenatus*). Each pair is recorded by at least two datasets compiled by Global Biotic Interactions (https://www.globalbioticinteractions.org/, CC0 1.0).

## Introduced range

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists it as introduced in 1 country. Introduced: Belgium. Source: https://griis.org/ (CC BY 4.0).

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Reptilia
- order: Squamata
- family: Colubridae
- genus: Thamnophis
- species: *Thamnophis sirtalis* (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms: *Coluber ibibe*, *Coluber infemalis*, *Coluber ordinatus*, *Coluber parietalis*, *Coluber sirtalis*, *Coluber taenia*, *Eutaenia dorsalis*, *Eutaenia infernalis*, *Eutaenia sirtalis graminea*, *Eutaenia sirtalis melanota*, *Eutaenia sirtalis obscura*, *Eutaenia sirtalis obscura*, *Eutaenia sirtalis semiifasciata*, *Eutainia dorsalis*, *Eutainia pickeringii*, *Eutainia sirtalis*, *Eutainia sirtalis trilineata*, *Thamnophis sirtalis lowei*, *Thamnophis sirtalis semifasciatus*, *Tropidonotus bipunctatus*, *Tropidonotus concinnus*, *Tropidonotus obalskii*, *Tropidonotus ordinatus*

## Common questions

### How big is the garden snake?

An adult garden snake weighs 138 g – 170 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

### How long does the garden snake live?

The garden snake has a recorded lifespan of 8.99 years.

### Is the garden snake an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the garden snake as introduced in 1 country: Belgium, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

### What kind of animal is the garden snake?

The garden snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) belongs to the family Colubridae in the order Squamata.

### What eats the garden snake?

Animals recorded preying on the garden snake include racer, great blue heron, milk snake and red-shouldered hawk. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.

### Which animals does the garden snake eat?

Animals recorded as prey of the garden snake include american toad, northern leopard frog, fowler's toad and pickerel frog. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size](https://animaltraits.org/), CC0 1.0, 1.0.7. Herberstein, M.E., McLean, D.J., Lowe, E. et al. (2022) AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size. Scientific Data 9: 265. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01364-9. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6468938
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI): interpreted data products](https://www.globalbioticinteractions.org/), CC0 1.0, 0.11. Poelen, J.H., Simons, J.D. & Mungall, C.J. (2014) Global Biotic Interactions: an open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics 24: 148–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.08.005. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22691479, with each record's original reference.
- [Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS)](https://griis.org/), CC BY 4.0, 2026-11-13. Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group.
- [ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4), CC BY 4.0, v1-2. Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4
- [SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b), CC0 1.0, 1.0-dryad-v5. Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b

Cite as: Garden snake (Thamnophis sirtalis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/garden-snake