Reptilia · Squamata
Thamnophis equesReuss, 1834
Mexican Garter Snake
Photograph by tzeducation, CC BY, via iNaturalist
A day-active, meat-eating snake from the Nearctic region, reaching 200 cm nose to tail.
Reptilia › Squamata › Colubridae › Thamnophis
- Grows to
- 2000mm
- greatest recorded
- Eats
- Carnivorous
- Active
- Diurnal
- Lives
- Semi-aquatic
Longer than 95% of all colubrid snakes anyone has measured.
The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 98 to 3,800 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.
What is known
37 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.
Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.
Standing in the world
- Still living
- Extant
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
- Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
- 2007
- Population trend
- Stable
The animal itself
- Limbs
- None
- Pupil
- Round
- Venomous
- Yes
- Fangs
- At the back of the mouth
- Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
- 20.05°C68 °F
- Body temp in the wild · mean, when active
- 9–35°C48–95 °F
mean body temperature of active individuals in nature
body temperature of active animals in nature
Size
- Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
- 2000mm6 ft 7 in
- Hatchling length · snout to vent
- 165mm6.5 in
- Body mass · greatestcomputed
- 1937.7g4.3 lb
- Body mass at hatchingmeasured
- 2.04g0.07 oz
snakes only in this source
2000 mm total length (Feldman et al. 2016), neonates 165 mm SVL (Rossman et al. 1996)
computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed
How it lives
- Dietcomputed
- Carnivorous
- How it hunts
- Active foraging
- Active
- Diurnal
- Where it lives
- Semi-aquatic
- Habitat
- Wetlands
- Biome
- Tropical & Subtropical Coniferous Forests
- Region
- Nearctic
- Mainland or island
- Mainland
- Elevation · above sea level
- 610–2590m
- Range size
- 734,669km²
no actual data but can be imputed as carnivorous like all snakes
Active (Feldman 2015)
Feldman 2015
Aquatic (Feldman 2015), Semi Aquatic (Deepak et al. 2022)
610-2590 (Feldman 2015)
Breeding
- Reproduction
- Viviparous
- Average clutch
- 12.58eggs
- Eggs or young per clutch
- 12–14eggs
- Mean clutch
- 12.6–13.6eggs
- Clutches a year
- 0.5per year
- First breeds at
- 24–36months
Feldman et al. 2015, Meiri et al. 2019
mean 12.58 (Meiri et al. 2019), mean 13.6 (Rossman et al. 1996)
Naming and history
- Suborder
- Serpentes
- Infraorder
- Alethinophidia
- Subspecies
- Thamnophis eques eques (REUSS 1834) Thamnophis eques carmenensis CONANT 2003 Thamnophis eques cuitzeoensis CONANT 2003 Thamnophis eques diluvialis CONANT 2003 Thamnophis eques insperatus CONANT 2003 Thamnophis eques megalops (KENNICOTT 1860) Thamnophis eques obscurus CONANT 2003 Thamnophis eques patzcuaroensis CONANT 2003 Thamnophis eques scotti CONANT 2003 Thamnophis eques virgatenuis CONANT 1963
- Described by
- Reuss
- Moved to another genus · since it was first described
- Yes
- Described in
- 1834
- Type locality
- Mexico
Keeping one
6 ft 7 in × 3 ft 3 in × 4 ft 11 in(200 × 100 × 150 cm)
Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.
The standard sizes snakes as a fraction of total length: 1 × 0.5 × 0.75.
Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.
From this animal’s own total length of 6 ft 7 in (2000 mm), at 1 × 0.5 × 0.75 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.
Active animals measured in the wild averaged 68 °F (20.1 °C).
Mean body temperature of active individuals measured in nature. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.
Feeding
A prey item should be between the same width as the widest part of the snake's body and about 1.5 times that width.
Widely used across snake husbandry references. An alternative formulation gives prey at 10-15% of the snake's body mass. This is established practice, not a measurement.
164kJ per day
Worked out for an animal of 1,938 g, the heaviest recorded for Mexican Garter Snake — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.
An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.
What nobody knows
These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.
- — Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
- — Length snout to vent · adult female mean
- — Length snout to vent · adult male mean
- — Length snout to vent · adult mean
- — Female length · mean, nose to tail
- — Length nose to tail · adult male mean
- — Length nose to tail · adult mean
- — Largest female · snout to vent
- — Largest male · snout to vent
- — Largest female · shell length
- — Largest male · shell length
- — Hatchling length · nose to tail
- — Largest juvenile · snout to vent
- — Largest juvenile · shell length
- — Egg length
- — Egg width
- — Body mass · a typical adult
- — Body mass · adult female, mean
- — Longest recorded life
- — Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
- — Eats arthropods
- — Eats vertebrates
- — Eats plant matter
- — How the young develop
- — Gestation or incubation
- — Clutches in a year
- — Hatchling length · smallest recorded
- — Hatchling length · largest recorded
- — Age at first breeding · female
- — Mature from · youngest recorded
- — Mature by · oldest recorded
- — Size at maturity · smallest recorded
- — Size at maturity · largest recorded
- — Colour on the back
- — Pattern on the back
- — Sex decided by
- — Red List criteria
- — Active season · shortest recorded
- — Active season · longest recorded
- — Density · lowest recorded
- — Density · highest recorded
- — Home range · largest recorded
- — Active in
Others in Colubridae
Take this data
Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.
This species as JSON · the whole dataset
Cite this page
The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Thamnophis eques. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/thamnophis-eques
@misc{thamnophis_eques_2026,
title = {Thamnophis eques},
author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/thamnophis-eques}
}Sources
- Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
- Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
- Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.