When the Endangered Species Act became law in 1966, the San Francisco Garter Snake was one of the first species to be listed by the Federal Government as endangered. By 1971 the snake was recognized as endangered by the State of California. However the snake population has undergone a decline over the years and now stands on the brink of extinction.

Habitats that the snake likes to live in include lakes, marshes, ponds, and sloughs. Marshy areas are used for both feeding and reproduction. For the snake to avoid predators, these water features need to have vegetation growing along their edges. The snake does not live on water features alone--it needs an adjacent upland terrain of grassy or brushy slopes. It sunbathes on the hills, uses rodent burrows that are typically found in this kind of terrain for feeding and hibernation.

The adult species has an amphibian diet of Pacific treefrogs in spring, and red-legged frogs in summer( which are also on the endangered species list). These primary prey are supplemented at times by California newts and western toads and bullfrogs. It is not been proven that the San Francisco garter snake can live without the red-legged frog, but it has been shown that they have more difficulty eating other frogs.

Some of their predators are (not counting people) Hawks, herons, harriers, weasels, king snakes, and bass.




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