Tag: snakes

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Garter snake is a common name for the nearly harmless, small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus Thamnophis. They are native to North America.

Garter snakes are one of the few snakes that are both venomous and poisonous. Venomous animals must bite, sting, or barb you to inject you with their toxins; poisonous animals must either be ingested or simply touched.

Garter snakes were once thought to be nonvenomous, but in the early 2000s it was discovered that they produce neurotoxic venom. They are still relatively harmless to humans since they have no effective way of delivering the venom with their very small rear teeth.

Garter snakes that feed on toxic newts are able to retain the tetrodotoxin (a potent neurotoxin) in their own liver for weeks afterwards as a defense against predators that might eat them.