Butler's Gartersnake

Scientific Name: Thamnophis butleriThamnophis

Status: Endangered

Habitat: Grasslands, overgrown fields.

Threats: Loss of Habitat, Roads, Human Persecution

Photographed: May 2024, Windsor, ON.

Story: Distinguishing a Butler's gartersnake from an eastern gartersnake might seem like a daunting prospect...especially in the field. In Canada, Butler's gartersnakes are found only in and around Windsor, Ontario, and a few other scattered areas in southern Ontario. Adam, along with Peter Westaway, were determined to photograph one in the wild, and to do so, teamed up with one of Canada's top snake experts, Dr. Jonathan Choquette, who studies Butler's gartersnakes and other species in Windsor's Objiwa Prairie Complex. After driving down to Windsor, Adam and Peter met up with Dr. Choquette and his research assistant, Corentin Fournier, both of Wildlife Preservation Canada, who led a tour of some of their work in the Ojibwa Prairie. This is the best place in Canada to find Butler's gartersnakes and also happens to be the site of a proposed future urban national park. On our hike, we saw three of them, along with a number of other snake species (eastern gartersnakes, eastern fox snakes, red-bellied snakes, and Dekay's brownsnakes).

At first glance, it seemed impossible to tell a Butler's gartersnake from the more common eastern ones, until Dr. Choquette explained the differences. The eastern gartersnake has a more elongated head and neck, while the Butler's have a smaller head and little apparent neck; Butler's also often have a distinct chestnut colouring on their undersides, and last but not least, counting the position of the snake's lateral stripes by the scales reveals differences between the two species. To learn more about Wildlife Preservation Canada, check out their work here.

Did you know?

Found only in a few areas of southwestern Ontario and adjacent areas of the United States, concentrated around the lower Great Lakes.
Originally these snakes fed mainly on leeches, but their diet has since shifted to earthworms after they were introduced to North America by European contact.
Gives birth to live young
Non-venomous

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