Red-sided Garter Snake — printable fact sheet
Free to print or save as PDF. Great for classrooms, homeschooling, and young explorers.
Creature Atlas
Animal Fact Sheet
Name: ____________________
Date: ____________________
Red-sided Garter Snake
Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis stages the largest concentration of snakes on Earth. Around Narcisse in Manitoba, tens of thousands of red-sided garter snakes overwinter together in limestone sinkholes below the frost line — the only refuge available on a prairie where the ground…
Did you know?
- The Narcisse Snake Dens in Manitoba, Canada, host the world's largest gathering of Red-sided Garter Snakes, with tens of thousands emerging from hibernation each spring.
- The Narcisse Snake Dens draw thousands of tourists each spring, and the province built snake-crossing tunnels under the highway after roadkill counts ran into the thousands. Overwintering snakes stack in dens so densely that the mass of bodies raises the temperature of the hibernaculum measurably. A female emerging from the den has essentially one week of frantic sexual attention per year, then does not see another snake for months.
What I learned
Draw the red-sided garter snake
© Creature Atlas · www.creatureatlas.com · Free for classroom & personal use
Want the whole set?
Get printable fact-sheet packs, coloring pages, and classroom worksheet bundles for dozens of animals — ready to download and print.
Browse printable packsGet a free printable each week
Join the newsletter for a new Creature of the Week + printables.