garter snake

/ˌgɑrdər sneɪk/

Other forms: garter snakes

Garter snakes are long, narrow reptiles that are found across a wide variety of habitats in North and Central America. Nearly all garter snakes have a thin, yellow stripe on their backs.

There are many species of garter snakes, none of them harmful to humans. These scaly invertebrates are the most common North American snake, often found near bodies of water but also in forests, fields, and suburban lawns. Unlike most snakes, garter snakes don't lay eggs, but give birth to live baby snakes. Their name comes either from the German word for garden, or the resemblance of their stripes to the garters men once used to hold their socks up.

Definitions of garter snake

1. noun

   a small, nonvenomous snake with stripes, common in North and Central America
   synonyms: grass snake

   types:

   Thamnophis sirtalis, common garter snake

   a garter snake that is widespread in North America

   Thamnophis sauritus, ribbon snake

   slender yellow-striped North American garter snake; prefers wet places

   Thamnophis proximus, Western ribbon snake

   yellow- or reddish-striped snake of temperate woodlands and grasslands to tropics

   type of:

   colubrid, colubrid snake

   mostly harmless temperate-to-tropical terrestrial or arboreal or aquatic snakes