1
00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:06,800
Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh, and there's

2
00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:10,600
Speaker 1: Chuck and Jerry's over there sitting him for Dave, who's

3
00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:14,680
Speaker 1: editing this. Hey Dave, um Dave, And this means say

4
00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,520
Speaker 1: hey Dave. Everybody. No, Dave's not allowed to talk either.

5
00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,160
Speaker 1: We can't play favorites. No. No, I'm telling the listeners

6
00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:22,960
Speaker 1: to say hi to Dave. No. I don't even know. Well,

7
00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,759
Speaker 1: let's just forget all that and just start with the

8
00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,840
Speaker 1: short stuff about the harmless garter snake, who is not

9
00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:35,599
Speaker 1: only harmless, is actually helpful, especially if you garden. That's right.

10
00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:37,960
Speaker 1: I love garter snakes. I love it when I happened

11
00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,680
Speaker 1: upon them. I love to pick them up and hold

12
00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:44,720
Speaker 1: them for a second before I release them back into

13
00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:49,080
Speaker 1: the wild very gently. Do you nuzzle them? Sure? I

14
00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:52,800
Speaker 1: had one bite me once, really where just like on

15
00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,560
Speaker 1: the finger. You know, it's cute. It's an adorable little

16
00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,800
Speaker 1: attempt at a bite. This one was really little, and

17
00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:00,880
Speaker 1: I was just like, look at you. You think you're

18
00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:03,720
Speaker 1: all tough, right, And I acted like I was scared.

19
00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:05,920
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, and I put it down just

20
00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,440
Speaker 1: so it felt good about itself. That. Wow, that was

21
00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:14,039
Speaker 1: really kind of you. They will a little harmless garter

22
00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:16,440
Speaker 1: snake will try and bite you because that is a

23
00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:19,760
Speaker 1: snake is gonna snake. But um, for many many years

24
00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:23,440
Speaker 1: they thought like they had no toxicity whatsoever, but they

25
00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:27,360
Speaker 1: actually do have toxic, neurotoxic venom. It's just it's adorable

26
00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,400
Speaker 1: because it's so little of it and it's so mild

27
00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:33,440
Speaker 1: that it doesn't even harm a human. Now, if you're

28
00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:36,320
Speaker 1: like a little tiny mouse field mouse, you probably don't

29
00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:39,000
Speaker 1: find it very adorable because it'll mess you up. But yeah,

30
00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:41,720
Speaker 1: as far as humans are concerned, unless you have a

31
00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:47,360
Speaker 1: very rare and specific allergy to garter snake venom. Even then,

32
00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:49,040
Speaker 1: from what I saw, I think the worst you're gonna

33
00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:53,040
Speaker 1: face is a skin irritation at the bite site. But

34
00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,080
Speaker 1: for the most you did you're like, oh my gosh,

35
00:01:56,080 --> 00:02:01,040
Speaker 1: this allergy my hand is Yeah, that snake was like,

36
00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,640
Speaker 1: but this little chest out he's very happy. Um. So yeah,

37
00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:07,120
Speaker 1: for the most part, they're just not going to hurt

38
00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,200
Speaker 1: you when there when if you're a human. But even

39
00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,240
Speaker 1: even more than that, garter snakes are notoriously shy. They

40
00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:14,919
Speaker 1: don't want to have anything to do with you. They

41
00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:16,960
Speaker 1: don't want to try to get near you. They don't

42
00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:19,280
Speaker 1: want to try and hurt your pet or your kid

43
00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,600
Speaker 1: or anything. They just want to kind of coexist peacefully

44
00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:26,840
Speaker 1: and remotely from you in your yard, in your garden,

45
00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,520
Speaker 1: and again to kind of help you out. Yeah, and

46
00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:32,639
Speaker 1: it saysn't here and we'll talk about where they got

47
00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:35,760
Speaker 1: their name. But it says that there are sometimes erroneously

48
00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,560
Speaker 1: called garden snakes. I don't think that's erroneous. I think

49
00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,079
Speaker 1: that can just be a sort of a common name

50
00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:43,440
Speaker 1: for him, since you find him in the garden. I

51
00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:46,960
Speaker 1: don't think anyone thinks that's the official scientific name they.

52
00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:50,160
Speaker 1: I will tell you who thinks it's wrong, Doug Wells

53
00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:55,440
Speaker 1: or Wexler wildlife biologists. Who says who gives the most

54
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,600
Speaker 1: improbable explanation for the name garter snake I've ever heard? Actually?

55
00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:03,560
Speaker 1: Which one is improbable to you? The fact that the

56
00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:07,040
Speaker 1: stripes resemble the garters that men used to wear as

57
00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:14,040
Speaker 1: sock garters used to I've got guarters on right now.

58
00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:17,679
Speaker 1: It's like Krusty the clown. He's trying to be relatable.

59
00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:19,800
Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, when your butler doesn't get all the

60
00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:28,840
Speaker 1: schmutz off of your socks, garters said No, not quite that. Yeah, that, um,

61
00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:30,640
Speaker 1: I guess it does seem a little improbable. I think

62
00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:32,440
Speaker 1: the other one makes a little more sense is that

63
00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,120
Speaker 1: the German word for garden is garden, and it might

64
00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:39,400
Speaker 1: have been just a different or you know, corruption I

65
00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:41,839
Speaker 1: guess of that German version. Yeah, which would make sense

66
00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:44,520
Speaker 1: because again, these are like a gardner's best friend. In

67
00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:47,880
Speaker 1: the United States, sometimes they're called gardeners snakes anyway, So

68
00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,680
Speaker 1: I would find that more likely than the sock garter

69
00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:56,080
Speaker 1: story that Weckler's peddling. Agreed, And you know, it's not

70
00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,160
Speaker 1: like he wrote a book called garter Snakes. Oh wait

71
00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:02,160
Speaker 1: a minute, he did? He did? I feel bad if

72
00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:04,880
Speaker 1: this gets back to him. I'm sure it's a great book, Doug. Yeah,

73
00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:06,960
Speaker 1: well done. Yeah, you can get it. It's published by

74
00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,520
Speaker 1: Power Kids back in two thousand one, and it's probably

75
00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:13,160
Speaker 1: basically evergreen. Plus, it's not like he's just a slouch

76
00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:16,640
Speaker 1: to He's he's um with the Academy of Natural Sciences

77
00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,120
Speaker 1: at Drexel University in Philly, so he's not just some guy.

78
00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:24,520
Speaker 1: You know. It's just promoting a terrible, terrible explanation for

79
00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:28,080
Speaker 1: where this artist snake gets its name. Should we take

80
00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:30,600
Speaker 1: a break, I think, so all right, let's do it.

81
00:04:44,800 --> 00:05:00,520
Speaker 1: All right, Here's what surprised me about the garter snake

82
00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,200
Speaker 1: is that it is the state reptile of Massachusetts. That

83
00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,040
Speaker 1: is very surprising. Did not know that. And they're all

84
00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,960
Speaker 1: over North America, from Canada to Florida. Um. Probably one

85
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,080
Speaker 1: of the most abundant and common snakes in North America. Yeah,

86
00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:17,479
Speaker 1: and it's particularly abundant in the Eastern US, but it

87
00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:19,800
Speaker 1: goes all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

88
00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:24,560
Speaker 1: It's just everywhere. Um, America's snake. And they're very frequently

89
00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:27,920
Speaker 1: in places that you have no idea. Again, they kind

90
00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:29,960
Speaker 1: of try to stay away as much as possible. They're

91
00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,919
Speaker 1: fairly small. They usually are about anywhere from eighteen inches

92
00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:38,160
Speaker 1: to fifty four inches, which is under five feet UM.

93
00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:42,320
Speaker 1: They're very light. Uh, they weighed like less than half

94
00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:45,840
Speaker 1: a pound typically. They're just tiny little snakes. And then

95
00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:48,880
Speaker 1: they've got these three stripes that if you see it,

96
00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:54,360
Speaker 1: you're like, gosh, that looks just like a sock garter. Yeah.

97
00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:56,040
Speaker 1: They have the one I think one striped down the

98
00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,000
Speaker 1: back and then a couple on each side of the belly.

99
00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:02,600
Speaker 1: But there are a thirty five species. So there you know,

100
00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:04,880
Speaker 1: they're different kinds. There can be spots on some, and

101
00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:07,679
Speaker 1: the colors can range from kind of olive to brown

102
00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,080
Speaker 1: to black to gray. Uh. The fact of the show

103
00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:13,279
Speaker 1: for me, I don't know how I got to fifty

104
00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,280
Speaker 1: years old and never knew that Alaska didn't have snakes? Right?

105
00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:22,239
Speaker 1: Did you know that I did not? For some reason,

106
00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:25,920
Speaker 1: it's realing like the most minute bell in my head

107
00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:29,400
Speaker 1: that we've covered it before somewhere. I just that was

108
00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:32,760
Speaker 1: shocked by that because I just figured, like any huge

109
00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:37,160
Speaker 1: natural woodland paradise, there would be snakes everywhere. But there

110
00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,080
Speaker 1: are no snakes in Alaska. Yeah. I think it's just

111
00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:42,920
Speaker 1: generally too cold up there. But in two thousand five,

112
00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:45,400
Speaker 1: somebody found a garter snake that had been killed on

113
00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:50,080
Speaker 1: the road, and um, the Journal of Herpetology published a

114
00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,279
Speaker 1: study by researchers who who studied this thing tried to

115
00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:56,040
Speaker 1: figure out where it came from. So they studied its

116
00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,640
Speaker 1: d n A and they said that it's either a

117
00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:03,880
Speaker 1: from a relict or remnant population, or it was a

118
00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:08,200
Speaker 1: recent natural colonization or a fresh introduction. And if you

119
00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,680
Speaker 1: take all these explanations together, you see that they say

120
00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:15,480
Speaker 1: we have no idea how this snake. Here's what we're saying. Yeah,

121
00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,160
Speaker 1: it's funny. I was like, is there literally one other

122
00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,920
Speaker 1: possibility of how that snake got there unless you talk

123
00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:23,160
Speaker 1: about like you know, it fell from outer space right

124
00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:28,480
Speaker 1: dropped by the hand of God himself or herself exactly

125
00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:32,440
Speaker 1: or their selves. Yes, that's right. So these snakes are

126
00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:36,239
Speaker 1: very active. Uh, they're active during the day, they're active

127
00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:39,559
Speaker 1: during the night. If you are a gardener at your house,

128
00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:41,920
Speaker 1: that's where you're probably gonna find him. If you're doing

129
00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:43,560
Speaker 1: some weeding or something, all of a sudden, one will

130
00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:47,080
Speaker 1: just go yeah, and they'll you'll see him slithering away

131
00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:51,800
Speaker 1: as fast as possible. Exact, but they do. They are

132
00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:53,760
Speaker 1: good for your garden. You know. They'll eat pests, the

133
00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:57,400
Speaker 1: late little rodents, ell eat insects, slugs, sure, get rid

134
00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:02,120
Speaker 1: of the slugs. Snails, yeah, grasshoppers, like all these things

135
00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:04,520
Speaker 1: are things that like eat your garden, and the garden

136
00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:09,320
Speaker 1: snake sorry guard snake um eats these things for you.

137
00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,280
Speaker 1: So they it's like a natural pest clear that again

138
00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,960
Speaker 1: doesn't want to hurt your dog. It doesn't want to

139
00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:18,800
Speaker 1: hurt your dog or your kid or whatever. And in fact,

140
00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:21,280
Speaker 1: it can be a really fun way to introduce your

141
00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,080
Speaker 1: kid to snakes, uh, and let them hold a guard

142
00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:26,800
Speaker 1: snake because they're, um, they're you know, they're kind of

143
00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:28,440
Speaker 1: fun to hold. In it, you can get rid of

144
00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:31,200
Speaker 1: some of that fear of snakes that we tried so

145
00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:34,520
Speaker 1: hard to dispel in our Snakes episode. Right, It's a

146
00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:38,200
Speaker 1: good starter to teach your kid how to create their

147
00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:41,200
Speaker 1: own like freaky thing. It's like their thing that they're

148
00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:45,360
Speaker 1: known for throughout high school. It's a starter snake. I

149
00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,200
Speaker 1: love it. Sure, you can't have them as pets, but

150
00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,040
Speaker 1: they say if you find one in your garden, don't

151
00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:54,720
Speaker 1: just just let it go. Don't take that thing inside.

152
00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:57,120
Speaker 1: It's a wild animal. It may even be against the

153
00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,319
Speaker 1: law depending on where you live. But also, they actually

154
00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:03,640
Speaker 1: do breed garter snakes as pets, and I would guess

155
00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:07,800
Speaker 1: it's probably better for the garter snake to be born

156
00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:10,800
Speaker 1: in captivity and kept in captivity, then raised in the

157
00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:17,719
Speaker 1: wild and brought into a thirty gallon aquarium, you know, right. Um.

158
00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:21,840
Speaker 1: The other thing about garter snakes that you'll notice too is, again,

159
00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:25,560
Speaker 1: they're venomous, but they're harmless to humans. And one of

160
00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:28,079
Speaker 1: the reasons people thought they were non venomous for so long.

161
00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:30,679
Speaker 1: Is because their head is about the same size as

162
00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,200
Speaker 1: like the rest of their body, and that's usually a

163
00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:36,760
Speaker 1: big differentiator. Um. Just as a rule of thumb, a

164
00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:38,760
Speaker 1: thumb that you want to keep away from whatever snake

165
00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:41,400
Speaker 1: you're sizing up to that moment, that if the head

166
00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:43,800
Speaker 1: is about the same size as the body, is probably

167
00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:48,640
Speaker 1: not venomous. Yeah. Here in the United States for sure. Um.

168
00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:51,400
Speaker 1: And there are no you know, I've seen a lot

169
00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:55,040
Speaker 1: of erroneous uh hardened fast rules that aren't really always

170
00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:58,280
Speaker 1: hardened fast. But definitely, if you see a snake that

171
00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:02,160
Speaker 1: has a big sort of you know, diamond shaped head,

172
00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:05,480
Speaker 1: give it some space. It would just be my advice.

173
00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,720
Speaker 1: It might be fine, but give it space anyway, especially

174
00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:11,720
Speaker 1: if it's making a rattling sound with its tail. Yeah,

175
00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:14,240
Speaker 1: that's a dead giveaway. Um. There's one other thing about

176
00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:16,520
Speaker 1: garter snakes too that you should know that if you

177
00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:18,240
Speaker 1: are going to get curious and pick it up, which

178
00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:20,200
Speaker 1: is mean again, they're very shy. They don't want to

179
00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:22,160
Speaker 1: have anything to do with you, and they certainly don't

180
00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,080
Speaker 1: want to be picked up. Um. It may not only

181
00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:27,360
Speaker 1: bite you on the finger, like the one bit, chuck,

182
00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,959
Speaker 1: but it also could emit a foul smell. They're very

183
00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:33,240
Speaker 1: well known. Snakes generally do this, but garter snakes are

184
00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:38,240
Speaker 1: well known for basically spring poop, pea and musk combo out.

185
00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:40,160
Speaker 1: And that makes you want to drop it because you're

186
00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:43,760
Speaker 1: just like, yeah, and you should play that up too,

187
00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:46,600
Speaker 1: because they like hitting up props for that too, like,

188
00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:48,880
Speaker 1: oh my god, the smell. I can't take it. That's

189
00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:52,680
Speaker 1: very nice, Chuck, I love it. Are you got anything else?

190
00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:55,720
Speaker 1: I have nothing else, sir, well, And that's it for

191
00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:59,520
Speaker 1: short stuff, everybody. Hope you enjoyed. Be kind to garter snakes.

192
00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:02,120
Speaker 1: I think that the big takeaway from this one, which

193
00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:08,439
Speaker 1: means short stuff is out. Stuff you should know is

194
00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:11,320
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my

195
00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:14,640
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

196
00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:19,280
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H