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Do Garter Snakes Eat Chipmunks? Almost Never

A garter snake is the wrong size and the wrong hunter for a chipmunk. What they actually eat, and which garden snakes do take small mammals.

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A slender striped garter snake tongue-flicking among dry grass stems
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No — and the reason is mechanical. A garter snake has no way to kill a chipmunk, because it neither constricts nor envenomates anything that size.

Why the answer is no

What it takes to eat a chipmunk
Garter snakeRat snake
Adult length18–26 in, very slender4–6 ft, heavy-bodied
Kill methodNone — swallows prey aliveConstriction
Typical preyWorms, slugs, frogs, toadsRodents, birds, eggs
Enters burrowsNoYes
Eats chipmunksNestlings at most, rarelyRoutinely

Swallowing live prey is the constraint. A garter snake grabs something and works it down, which is fine for an earthworm or a frog and hopeless against an animal that bites, kicks and weighs a significant fraction of the snake. Constriction is what makes rodent-eating possible, and garter snakes do not have it.

The one genuine exception: a nest of hairless young found underground. Uncommon, but not impossible.

What is actually eating your chipmunks

In rough order for a suburban garden:

  • Cats. By a very wide margin, and not close
  • Hawks — Cooper’s and sharp-shinned are the garden specialists
  • Owls, at dawn and dusk
  • Foxes, weasels, raccoons
  • Rat snakes, kingsnakes, milk snakes; copperheads and rattlesnakes where they occur

A wild chipmunk often lives barely more than a year. That number is mostly this list.

A garter snake in the garden is on your side

Slugs, snails and insects in quantity, no risk to people, pets or poultry, and no interest in anything you are growing. If one is somewhere awkward, take away the cover it likes — log piles, long grass, sheet material lying on soil — rather than removing the snake.

And if you are worried about being bitten

Garter snakes will flatten themselves, release a genuinely unpleasant musk, and may bite if picked up. The bite can leave mild local swelling, because there is a weak toxin in the saliva — but there is no delivery system for it and no meaningful hazard to a person or a pet. Leave it alone and it leaves you alone.

Common questions

Do garter snakes eat chipmunks?

Almost never. A garter snake is a small, slender, non-constricting snake that swallows soft-bodied prey whole, and an adult chipmunk is close to the upper limit of what a large garter could physically manage while being far more than it could subdue. The realistic exception is a nestling — a hairless young chipmunk found in a burrow — and even that is uncommon. For practical purposes, a garter snake in your garden is not hunting your chipmunks.

What do garter snakes actually eat?

Earthworms and amphibians make up the bulk of it — worms, slugs, frogs, toads, tadpoles and salamanders — along with small fish, insects, and occasionally a nestling bird or a mouse pup. Garter snakes have no constriction and no functional venom delivery for anything this size, so they take prey they can simply grab and swallow. Worms and slugs are the staple in most gardens.

Which snakes do eat chipmunks?

The constrictors and the larger hunters: rat snakes, milk snakes, bull and gopher snakes, kingsnakes, and among venomous species copperheads and rattlesnakes. These kill by constriction or venom rather than by swallowing live prey, which is what makes a struggling rodent a viable meal. Rat snakes in particular are effective rodent predators and will follow a chipmunk into its burrow.

Are garter snakes dangerous?

Not meaningfully. They will flatten, musk foully and may bite if grabbed, and the bite can produce mild local swelling because garter snakes do have a weak toxin in their saliva — but they have no effective delivery system for it and are not dangerous to people or pets. They are among the most useful animals in a garden, eating slugs and insects in quantity.

What does eat chipmunks in a garden?

Cats are the largest single cause in most suburban gardens by a wide margin. After that: hawks, especially Cooper's and sharp-shinned, owls at dawn and dusk, foxes, weasels, raccoons, and the larger snakes listed above. A chipmunk's short life expectancy in the wild — often barely more than a year — is mostly the arithmetic of that list.

Should I get rid of garter snakes?

No. A garter snake in a garden is eating slugs, snails, insects and amphibians, which is a good trade for almost any gardener, and it poses no risk to people, pets or chickens. If one is somewhere inconvenient, reduce the cover it likes — log piles, long grass, sheet material on the ground — rather than trying to kill or trap it.

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