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The western terrestrial garter snake can live in habitats or life zones where most other snakes or reptiles can not survive. They usually live in places in Colorado up to 11,000 feet above sea level, but some western terrestrial garter snakes have been found high in the apline life zone during the summer. They are not poisenous and usually can be found around water. The garter snake is not a picky eater. The garter snake will eat slugs, leeches, tadpoles, salamanders, frogs, worms, insects, fish, eggs, voles, and other small animals.
During the long cold winter, garter snakes must find deep underground dens where the ground temperature keeps it just above freezing. Since there may be only a few of these dens in an area, many garter snakes will share one den. In spring lots of snakes may come out of one hole. Another trick that helps them survive is that they do not lay eggs like other snakes. They give birth to live young. This is very important since the time the snakes have to put on fat before the next winter is short. It is pretty impressive that the western terrestrial garter snake has found a way to live in the cold and snowy montane and subalpine life zones when few to no other reptiles could.
Sources of information and to find more information: CO Herp Society, CSU NDIS, Utah Div of Wildlife,eNature
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