Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just thought I would mention this. The other day my sister and mother witnessed a garter snake in a bush, eating a bird. Has anyone ever seen this before? I had never heard of them doing that, but then again this garter was found in the middle of a city, so it probaly was not as picky about it's prey.
Just thought I would let you know.
p.s. I hope everyone's herps are doing good, mine are great.

I think they were wrong.That garter would have to be huge to take down a bird.Plus garters teeth are so small they would'nt even penetrate the feathers.It must have been something else.

I agree. Most likely it was some sort of ratsnake or the like. A garter would probably eat a flegdling that had fallen out of the nest, but if an adult bird was grabbed by a garter, most likely the snake would be left with a mouth full of feathers, which as Tom said, is due to their extremely small teeth. Andy
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Andy Maddox
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

They said it looked like either a baby or dead bird ( it's feathers were all messed up and slimy).
Also, both can correctly id most native snakes to this area (including garters and rat snakes). Therefore my guess would be that this garter took the chance at hard to find meal (being that it was in the middle of a big city), even if it was an odd meal.
Anyway, I have to go, but maybe we can talk about this later. And your right, I would not have believed them if they had said the bird was big, or just been killed, but they said the bird look odd, possibly rotten.
Talk to you later.

Sounds feasible. What about the size of the bird though? Most Thamnophis I see and catch are not near large enough to eat anything with feathers other than a sparrow. Any idea on what kind of bird and how large? I know you said that they claimed it was a "dead or baby" bird. Just wondering...would have been a cool thing to get a picture of! Take care. Andy
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Andy Maddox
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

I just read recently about baby birds comprising a large part of the diet of the garter snakes in some locales (possibly San Fran garters--can't remember) in a herpetological journal. So, it's entirely possible.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

in my areah the garters are very large and do eat small birds and rodents!!