Why are these snakes all intertwined?
This is a mating ball of common garter snakes! After spending the winter communally brumating in the protection of a chipmunk burrow, woodchuck den, or other cavity where they won’t freeze, garter snakes emerge from their winter dens to bask in the spring sunshine (usually in April). Males come out first in groups and later females emerge singly. The males, sometimes over a hundred, will wiggle around a female forming the mating ball. The females incubate the developing embryos within their body until around August when they give birth to live young.
In areas of Canada, like Narcisse, limited den sites lead to snakes migrating and gathering together in groups of tens of thousands!
