Score! Believe it or not this is the first wild snake I’ve seen in almost
6 years in Montana…seriously. It’s a *Thamnophis* species, probably *T.
sirtalis*, the common garter snake and a long acquaintance of mine. I think
this is a female, based on my long experience harassing small colubrid
snakes—males don’t get as long as females in the *Thamnophis* family, and
have slimmer bodies by comparison. Found her upside an irrigation ditch
near Darby, MT, caught her, showed her off to friends, photographed some
details, then let her go down by the pond only a few hundred feet from where
I caught her. While garters can be high-strung and nippy (which is one
reason they often don’t make good pets), this one eventually got accustomed
enough to the control hold I had on her that I could let go, and like most
snakes in that moment with me she tensed up, flicked her tongue a few times,
then just relaxed as if to say “Oh, well, if it’s just *you*…”
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